Sue Fagalde Lick writes about the ups and downs of being published. I have three books coming out next year: A memoir, a full-length poetry book, and a poetry chapbook. Different genres, different subjects, different publishers. I didn’t plan it this way, but it’s happening. I have also had a run of acceptances for short pieces. I should be overjoyed. Isn’t this what I wanted? But I feel guilty boasting about my three books when other writers are not able to get even one acceptance. It’s the “people are starving overseas while I’m complaining about ice cream making me fat” conundrum. After years of mostly no’s, I’m reading proofs, approving cover designs, and preparing for “pub dates” like a real writer. How will I promote three books at once? What if something goes wrong between the signing of the contract and holding the books in my hands? I’ll deal with it. Just…
You are a real writer if . . .
“You are a real writer if you are writing, if you are working on your craft, listening to critique, and striving to be better.” —Lauren Danhof Excerpt from the July/August 2023 issue of Writer’s Digest magazine #justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
Dorothy Parker’s Ashes
Dorothy Parker’s Ashes “Dorothy Parker’s Ashes” is an online magazine that publishes fresh, contemporary first-person essays and art by women and gender non-conforming writers. “For our contributors, middle-aged or older women who have seen a thing or two, the act of writing is the act of living more purely distilled. Many have spent their careers shepherding other writer’s work and now, in their retirement, they’ve got something to say. The longer we live, the more memories settle deep within, emitting an invisible, occasionally noxious gas. By giving them form, we set ourselves free. We elongate some things, cut others short. We probe the seams underneath for the weak spot, hoping the puncture of our attention will allow all the pent-up emotion to rush through the hole where it escapes with a long sigh. In the end, that is the reward. (In other words, we don’t pay.)— Rebecca Johnson and Bex O’Brian…
Shadows, fears, insecurities . . . Prompt #736
“We all have shadows, fears, insecurities, and doubts. Acceptance of them all leads us to realizing an unconditional love for ourselves. When we can begin to love the parts of ourselves that we’ve deemed to be unlovable, when we invite in our shadows and let them know they are welcome, when we acknowledge and become curious to our fears, doubts, and insecurities, then we begin to realize that our innate nature (Love) has the capacity to hold them all. Everything within us is part of us. When we accept this, our true nature is revealed.” —Alister Gray Writing Prompt: Explore your fears, doubts, and insecurities as a curious child would explore sand, rain, flowers. Observe. Imagine. Create. Invite your shadow self to peek around the corner. Take a deep breath in. Let it out. Another deep breath in. Hold for a moment. Release. Acknowledge your fears, doubts, and insecurities. Give…
Beats Plunge Readers Into Scenes
Guest Blogger Jan Pezarro shares what she learned about beats, using her experience with lung cancer to illustrate physical, emotional, and setting beats. I hope you enjoy this entertaining and informative writing about different kinds of beats as much as I did. — Marlene Jan Pezarro: “A few beats missing here.” In the first year of my MFA program, after 40 years in business and on my way to fulfill a long-held ambition to write a book, my mentor added this comment to my submission. I was pretty sure she wasn’t referring to golden or purple beets, but neither did I know exactly what she meant by “beats.” My knowledge gap of storycraft tools and techniques was formidable. Lectures on structure, place, scene, and character sent me repeatedly to the internet for supplemental tutoring. The process reminded me of trying to read a text in the original Greek by translating…
The Right Thing . . . Prompt #735
Write about a time you did the right thing, even though it was difficult and you didn’t really want to do it. Or, write about a time you didn’t do the right thing. What happened?
What is your gift? Prompt #734
Someone said to me: Everyone has a gift. What is your gift? #justwrite #amwriting #iamwriter
If you could learn a new skill . . . Prompt #733
If you could learn a new skill, what would it be? #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter
Stressed? Sensory Awareness might be the answer for healing.
Today’s Guest Blogger Jean Grant Sutton writes about why we are stressed. The Great ‘Post Covid’ Unwinding It has become so very clear to me of the havoc that has been wreaked on our world from the Covid Pandemic. Of course, for most of us the disruption to our financial stability is still having ripple effects. For those in small business or even those that lost jobs or needed to let their job go because of the lockdown may still be struggling to get back above water. Where I am experiencing the most clarity of devastation is in our human nervous system. With the knowledge of physiology and how we are wired in our brainstem for survival, I personally feel and witness in others the huge contraction that was triggered by this threatening virus. Huge repercussions to many connected systems take place when the stress response is activated as it…
Valuable Lesson . . . Prompt #732
Things don’t always go your way. Sometimes the blooper is not your fault. Other times, you did a dumb, silly thing. Did you learn a lesson? Did you make the same mistake again? #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter