Wed 29 Feb 2012
Don’t forget…
Posted by PJ under contest, writing
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the monthly first line writing contest run by Jaime Lee Moyer, also known as stillnotbored. The February contest will be up and running for the next week.
Archive for February, 2012
Monthly Archive
Wed 29 Feb 2012
Zora
Posted by PJ under prejudice, quote of the day, racism
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Random quote of the day:
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“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.”
—Zora Neale Hurston, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,†The World Tomorrow, May 1928
Disclaimer:Â The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Tue 28 Feb 2012
Without hope, without despair
Posted by PJ under art, creativity, despair, hope, writing
[2] Comments
Today’s quote from Isak Dinesen—”I write a little every day, without hope, without despair”—strikes me as great advice. Not just for writing, but for living. I can see why Raymond Carver liked quoting it so much.
The thing is, though, it’s extremely difficult advice to follow. Much of the time life seems to take us—creative people as well as “normals”—on a crazy seesaw of hopes and disappointments. Our expectations and wants get us muddled as we try to do the tasks before us, and when we can’t meet all those desires and self-imposed goals, we fall into fits of despondency, think ourselves failures. The inner harpies of self-criticism kick in big time then. They rend and claw without mercy.
For creative people, this extends to and is magnified by the work we do. All creative work is a risk, a thing considered unnecessary by the larger world. There are so many layers of perceived failure available for us to choose from and beat ourselves up about. Creative people seem inevitably to go there, but it’s never a helpful place. It does us no good, it does our work no good.
So…without hope, without despair. Just you and the work. Just me and the work. A little every day, without expectations and the larger-than-life burdens we pile upon ourselves. Maybe this isn’t a recipe for the “current publishing environment,” but it is a recipe for doing the work when it feels like you just cannot. It’s a method of moving forward, even when the mudslides flow around your knees. It’s a practice that keeps the insanity at bay, the practice of doing the best you can with each day, and cutting yourself some slack about the other stuff.
When the harpies start piercing and biting, as oh ye gods they inevitably will, throw them a scrap of hope to gnaw on. Let them chew on that as much as they like so they stop distracting—because we don’t need it at the moment of creation any more than we need the despair.
Tue 28 Feb 2012
Without
Posted by PJ under quote of the day, writing
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Random quote of the day:
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“I write a little every day, without hope, without despair.”
—Isak Dinesen, as quoted by Raymond Carver, Paris Review, Issue 88, 1983
Disclaimer:Â The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Mon 27 Feb 2012
Something for knitters, crocheters, and art and coral lovers
Posted by PJ under art, nature
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Here’s a cool story. Some artists have decided to do something about the shrinking coral reefs around the world. They’ve been making statues our of “safe” concrete and anchoring them in places for coral to grow on—sometimes whole galleries of statues. They hope to take the “human pressure” off existing coral beds.
Not wanting to be left out, some artists who knit and crochet wanted to make their own coral. They asked for volunteers who came up with some amazing “coral” pieces which were later exhibited in Pittsburgh.
Go to the article to see more amazing statues and knit/crochet.
Mon 27 Feb 2012
Vulnerable
Posted by PJ under growing up, quote of the day, what the living do
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Random quote of the day:
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“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability…To be alive is to be vulnerable.”
—Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
Disclaimer:Â The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Sat 25 Feb 2012
Signs I thought I saw
Posted by PJ under misreading, signs
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PLEASE KEEP UNVACCINATED PUPPETS* OFF THE LOBBY FLOOR.
*PUPPIES
(Although that would have been a much more interesting visit to the vet.)
Mirrored from Better Than Dead.
Fri 24 Feb 2012
J. K. Rowling’s new book
Posted by PJ under books, poll
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In order to actually vote in this poll, please go here.
What do you think J. K. Rowling’s new adult book will be about?
â— About a struggling lower-middle-class British couple & the horrible child under their stairs (johnmcusick tweet).
â— About 600 pages, give or take a few hundred.
â— A story exploring the angst of a middle-aged author trying to come up with a new and different story after an initial huge success.
â— A retelling of the Dracula story from the point of view of his phletbotomist.
â— About a group of teachers at a posh British school who suspect their pupils may not be quite ordinary.
â— The story of a detective named Phillip, um, Harlowe who finds this mysterious bird statue called the Maltese, um, Goose, and there’s this woman who betrays him and stuff.
â— A scholar’s discovery of an earth-shattering secret kept in France for millennia: foie gras is people!
â— About a ragtag band of misfits infiltrating Hitler’s Germany in order to do something involving a lot of explosions.
â— Some stuff about grown up men and women and working and getting married and having babies and probably sex.
â— No, it’s not about any of that. I think it’s about… (please answer in comments).
â— Ticky thinks you’re just making all this stuff up.
â— Other.
Fri 24 Feb 2012
The source
Posted by PJ under art, new things, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:
“In order to do something new we must go back to the source, humanity in its infancy.”
—Paul Gauguin, interview with Eugène Tardieu, L’Écho de Paris, May 13, 1895
Disclaimer:Â The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Wed 22 Feb 2012
Been laid low
Posted by PJ under illness
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the last couple of days with this cold/flu that’s making the rounds. I feel slightly less like Death Warmed Over today than yesterday. I’m hoping I can get back with the routine and go to work tomorrow. February has not been the kindest month to me–but onward! Things could be so much worse and I’m grateful they aren’t. If that makes any sense at all…
