The Tuesday Project: Update with Pictures

The Tuesday Project that my mother and I have embarked upon together is going quite well.  By “quite well,” of course, I mean we are having a blast.  Some things I have learned thus far:  I cannot paint.  My mother can paint.  I don’t knit very well.  My mother knits fairly well.  Knitting makes us both laugh for no apparent reason (of course, when you see our knitting, you may laugh too!).

We are off by a week because the painting took us so long, so we won’t start our next project until next week.  For the next few weeks, my mother is going to teach me the ancient art of Tai chi (we were going to cook, but neither of us really wanted to do that – presumably, there will be no dishes to clean up after we practice Tai chi).

To see some pictures of our efforts, click on “Read the rest of this entry.”  Please keep in mind that we are not claiming to be good at these things we are trying to learn about by putting our hands to them: that’s exactly why I am showing you these pictures.  Maybe it will inspire some of you to try a new process, regardless of the “success” of the outcome.  Continue reading “The Tuesday Project: Update with Pictures”

No “Three Poems for Thursday,” So How About “Fiction Friday?”

Is it weird that I can figure out how to post video and use a webcam, but I can’t figure out how to turn off the ringer on my phone? Anyway, this is me reading the prologue of the historical novel on which I am currently working.

I first started doing the research for this novel about ten years ago.  I know that sounds like a long time, but I let my curiosity take me wherever it would.  In the meantime, I got busy actually writing other things.  After a few false starts a couple of years apart, finally within the last year I streamlined my research and began the writing of the novel in earnest.

Feedback is very welcome and appreciated.  Sharing my draft fiction is a bit scarier for me than sharing my draft poetry, but here goes.

Knowing and Taming The Enemies

One of the most frustrating things for a writer is not writing.  In my case, I sometimes sit down at my desk or in one of my favorite chairs with good intentions, but the phone rings or I remember the clothes in the dryer or I decide to check out The Weather Channel … in other words, nothing happens.   Why not?

For me, the reasons vary, and it depends on what I am trying to write.

I somehow ritually rid myself of the fear of putting down a terrible poem.  In my world, I no longer write terrible poems – they are “drafts.”  My friend Scott Douglass once said to me, “I have yet to meet the perfect poem.”  Scott meets a great many poems, not only as a poet himself, but also as an editor and publisher, so I found his statement to be quite comforting.  I still do. Continue reading “Knowing and Taming The Enemies”

A Little Friday Funnin’

(wherein I explain why I didn’t read Three Poems for Thursday yesterday, and give you some information about snow cream.  In the first clip, we begin by knowing that if you have no electricity/power, you won’t be able to cook on an electric stove; and, if your power is out for a long time, the stuff in your fridge is going to spoil … In the second clip, I actually read some poems.)

Three Poems for Thursday

Welcome to a mini-reading! In the first frame, I read Dannye Romine Powell’s poem “Everyone is Afraid of Something” from her wonderful book, A Necklace of Bees (that title comes from a line in this poem); and, I read Jennifer K. Sweeney’s poem “Nocturne” from her beautiful new book, How To Live On Bread and Music. In the second frame, I read my poem, “Making Peace,” which was an Honorable Mention in The Writers’ Workshop 2003 Poetry Contest.  Hope you enjoy these vids – I suspect they will get “rowdier” once I am comfortable with the technology (look out!).