Writing exposes what the heart refuses to acknowledge.
-- Barbara Ling
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Quote for 7/30/09
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
--Maria Robinson
--Maria Robinson
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
"you like him?"
the woman at my job asked.
Oh yes I do.
My future husband, I told her.
She laughed, but he so is.
Oh yes I do.
My future husband, I told her.
She laughed, but he so is.
I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO JEALOUS!
I offered cookies to a woman where I work but she declined, said she was going on vacation and she needed to watch what she ate 'cause she wanted to look good.
When she came back, I asked where she'd gone and she said "New Orleans."
For whatever reasons the Essence Music Festival came to mind and I asked if she'd gone to that. She said yes.
"Did you see Idris Elba?"
She grinned, said she'd met him.
I moaned. I asked if he was as great looking in person as in photos.
"Uh-huh," she said. "And he smells even better."
sigh.
When she came back, I asked where she'd gone and she said "New Orleans."
For whatever reasons the Essence Music Festival came to mind and I asked if she'd gone to that. She said yes.
"Did you see Idris Elba?"
She grinned, said she'd met him.
I moaned. I asked if he was as great looking in person as in photos.
"Uh-huh," she said. "And he smells even better."
sigh.
Quote for 7/28/09
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
--Henry David Thoreau
--Henry David Thoreau
bought a box
for a manuscript! Giddy and crazy scared, but that collection is getting in the mail.
Bought some large envelopes too. Some contests -- deadline the 31st.
And now to find Nat Sobel's address.
Dear Mr. Sobel,
'memba me??
Bought some large envelopes too. Some contests -- deadline the 31st.
And now to find Nat Sobel's address.
Dear Mr. Sobel,
'memba me??
Life is so funny
So a little while back, I decided to quit running. Have no idea what I've been running from, just a crazy skill I acquired during childhood (moving targets are not so easily hit) but it's pretty useless now.
I'm never gonna outrun "it." I don't even know if "it" exist-- what "it" is-- I just know I've been determined to stay one step ahead of "it" but I'm done.
Decided to stop running-- entering that cave as Mr. Campbell said-- and then Life starts giving me what I need to make it happen. Dropping the crumbs to entice me down the path I need to travel. But not literally 'cause GJM has reached the end of the road.
I'm never gonna outrun "it." I don't even know if "it" exist-- what "it" is-- I just know I've been determined to stay one step ahead of "it" but I'm done.
Decided to stop running-- entering that cave as Mr. Campbell said-- and then Life starts giving me what I need to make it happen. Dropping the crumbs to entice me down the path I need to travel. But not literally 'cause GJM has reached the end of the road.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Creativity quote for 7/22/09
The most potent muse of all is our own inner child.
– Stephen Nachmanovitch
– Stephen Nachmanovitch
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Writing quote for 7/21/09
A writer lives, at least, in a state of astonishment. Beneath any feeling he has of the good or evil of the world lies a deeper one of wonder at it all. To transmit that feeling, he writes.
-- William Sansom
-- William Sansom
Quote for 7/21/09
Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you'll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don't have a plan. That's why it's easy to beat most folks.
- Paul "Bear" Bryant
- Paul "Bear" Bryant
Monday, July 20, 2009
Quote for 7/20/09
Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.
--Anne De Lenclos
--Anne De Lenclos
but it's a really good idea
Okay Robert Olen Butler would not agree with the "idea" of stories -- in "From Where You Dream" (if I'm remembering correctly) he says that stories come from, well, where you dream and not from an idea 'cause ideas come from the mind. But, anyway, one of the new/recent "ideas" that came to me, that I was working on yesterday has a voice that I love, so I'm going to shoot this work to the top of the pack and work on it some more today.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
How do you turn this thing off?
Started a new story. Actually started three new ones. Argh! I'm trying to revise some early drafts and get some other stories that I've been pondering, done. Don't need any new ideas, though I'd much rather have the too many ideas than not enough.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Another book recently finished. Found a wonderful quote by Joseph Campbell in it which lead me to today's quote. Actually there were many wonderful passages and quotes in the book. Like this one from Tony Robbins: "Dreams don't come true. They are true."
Anyway, some things shifting in my life. Some calls out to me and I see how the "stuff" that was going on was preparing me to answer. The confusion is lifting and I can see a little bit further down the road.
Sunflowers
I am working with the enthusiasm of a man from Marseilles eating bouillabaisse, which shouldn't come as a surprise to you because I am busy painting huge sunflowers.
- Vincent Van Gogh, Aries, letter to his brother Theo
O, wonderful bartering. I can have a sunflower in exchange for a bear. Yay, yay! I hope I can do this on a weekly basis.
- Vincent Van Gogh, Aries, letter to his brother Theo
O, wonderful bartering. I can have a sunflower in exchange for a bear. Yay, yay! I hope I can do this on a weekly basis.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Three stories recently published
a list of 64 stories that I'm revising (yes, some of the 100 I wrote a while back and some new pieces) and chugging along through a novel :)
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
fighting with a dj
I was listening to the radio 92Q -- Kenny Smoov-- and I wrote this note to the dj 'cause I believe if Steve McNair was in his home WITH HIS WIFE then he might not be dead. They said that McNair cared about kids and mentioned his football camps-- I think it's time to stop focusing young black men's attention of playing ball and being rappers. Playing football is not a life skill!!!!!!!!
Lots of people do charity work but charity begins at HOME!!! How you treat those closest to you says more about you than how you treat strangers.
The dj said on the air that it was a nasty email and he invited me to call, even threatened to read the email on-air if I didn't and he called me a COWARD 'cause I sent an email in the first place. I don't have a phone but I would have called him if I did.
He said I just wanted my 15 minutes! Ha. Baby, I'm going to earn my fifteen. They pointed out that I wasn't from here and I probably didn't understand what McNair meant to the community. Here's what I do know: That lots of people I've come into contact with, black people who live in Nashville don't know who Diane Nash is. They haven't a clue about Nashville's part in the Freedom Rides and the Civil Rights movement.
I ride the bus and listening to the conversations, I am deeply distressed. Can someone teach these young children their history-- let them know that they come from fighters and people who put their lives on the line so that future generations of blacks and other minorities could have more. Can you teach 'em that instead of some game plays?
No, I just have a problem with athletes being idolized as if their off-field behavior is unquestionable. I bet there are guys out there who think Kobe isn't a rapist. And Oj's showed us who and what he truly is. Or does it not matter 'cause he was good on the field?
And what's so wrong with saying it? Out loud, even. It's called consequences. I didn't say he deserved to die. Man no one deserves to be killed and not the way it happened to him, but if he had CHOSEN to be AT HIS HOME at ONE IN THE MORNING, then . . .
People should have ONE LIFE not multiple ones. ONE LIFE with integrity. Decency. Honesty. Imagine that.
Lots of people do charity work but charity begins at HOME!!! How you treat those closest to you says more about you than how you treat strangers.
The dj said on the air that it was a nasty email and he invited me to call, even threatened to read the email on-air if I didn't and he called me a COWARD 'cause I sent an email in the first place. I don't have a phone but I would have called him if I did.
He said I just wanted my 15 minutes! Ha. Baby, I'm going to earn my fifteen. They pointed out that I wasn't from here and I probably didn't understand what McNair meant to the community. Here's what I do know: That lots of people I've come into contact with, black people who live in Nashville don't know who Diane Nash is. They haven't a clue about Nashville's part in the Freedom Rides and the Civil Rights movement.
I ride the bus and listening to the conversations, I am deeply distressed. Can someone teach these young children their history-- let them know that they come from fighters and people who put their lives on the line so that future generations of blacks and other minorities could have more. Can you teach 'em that instead of some game plays?
No, I just have a problem with athletes being idolized as if their off-field behavior is unquestionable. I bet there are guys out there who think Kobe isn't a rapist. And Oj's showed us who and what he truly is. Or does it not matter 'cause he was good on the field?
And what's so wrong with saying it? Out loud, even. It's called consequences. I didn't say he deserved to die. Man no one deserves to be killed and not the way it happened to him, but if he had CHOSEN to be AT HIS HOME at ONE IN THE MORNING, then . . .
People should have ONE LIFE not multiple ones. ONE LIFE with integrity. Decency. Honesty. Imagine that.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
me time
Long time. A month, well how time flies.
News: June became a bust. Not one thing I wanted to attend, not even the coveted workshop. Things fall apart.
Took it in stride-- what else could I do? Learning to focus on inner stuff and not so much that which happens outside me; I can only control my attitude;-)
Exercising, lost 8 pounds and got the best blood pressure reading I've had in a looooooong time. "It's still a little high," the med tech who took it told me, but I was thinking at least it's not stroke-waiting- to happen, you know?
Just got off work, though it was just for the 4th of July, a temporary thing. Big news story- Steve McNair was shot and killed. Wow. At the job I previously had-- restaurant-- there was a bit of hulabaloo; Steve McNair had come in. Who? Former NFL player. Oh. But he was killed today. wow.
& Michael Jackson's dead. & Farrah. & Ed McMahon. & the Oxyclean guy. & all those people on those planes. wow. wow. wow.
The governor of S.C. should stop playing the too-much-information-game and Sarah Palin, well, what do you think she's got up her sleeve, hmmmmm??????
I got a chapbook out to a publisher. That collection of short stories is gonna take me another month or so. Some sloppy writing on some early drafts of some of the stories. Some damn sloppy writing. Anyway have two more chapbooks I want to enter in a contest; one I need to search out the stories that fell off the web. Do I have them back in Las Cruces? Gotta go back there. Soon.
Anyway, not much else. Hope you're having a grand (but not hot like me) summer. Am having a birthday this month and there is something I said I would accomplish before I got a year older so I'm gonna be working on that so I may not be back here till August, maybe later.
Maybe sooner. Who knows? It is GJM we're talking about.
News: June became a bust. Not one thing I wanted to attend, not even the coveted workshop. Things fall apart.
Took it in stride-- what else could I do? Learning to focus on inner stuff and not so much that which happens outside me; I can only control my attitude;-)
Exercising, lost 8 pounds and got the best blood pressure reading I've had in a looooooong time. "It's still a little high," the med tech who took it told me, but I was thinking at least it's not stroke-waiting- to happen, you know?
Just got off work, though it was just for the 4th of July, a temporary thing. Big news story- Steve McNair was shot and killed. Wow. At the job I previously had-- restaurant-- there was a bit of hulabaloo; Steve McNair had come in. Who? Former NFL player. Oh. But he was killed today. wow.
& Michael Jackson's dead. & Farrah. & Ed McMahon. & the Oxyclean guy. & all those people on those planes. wow. wow. wow.
The governor of S.C. should stop playing the too-much-information-game and Sarah Palin, well, what do you think she's got up her sleeve, hmmmmm??????
I got a chapbook out to a publisher. That collection of short stories is gonna take me another month or so. Some sloppy writing on some early drafts of some of the stories. Some damn sloppy writing. Anyway have two more chapbooks I want to enter in a contest; one I need to search out the stories that fell off the web. Do I have them back in Las Cruces? Gotta go back there. Soon.
Anyway, not much else. Hope you're having a grand (but not hot like me) summer. Am having a birthday this month and there is something I said I would accomplish before I got a year older so I'm gonna be working on that so I may not be back here till August, maybe later.
Maybe sooner. Who knows? It is GJM we're talking about.
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