Marion Dane Bauer's Blog, page 17
July 11, 2017
What’s the Point?
First published on Karen Cushman’s blog post “What’s New?” in response to the following question: “I find it profoundly difficult these days to be a writer. My inspiration and enthusiasm have been buried so far below an onslaught of awful news headlines and downright hate, trauma, and tragedy that I struggle to reach them. What’s […]
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July 4, 2017
This is Precisely the Time
This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore […]
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June 27, 2017
An Invitation
I’ve done it three times in the past few months and have loved it so much I’ve decided to make it a part of my life. I’ve invited a writer into my St. Paul, Minnesota, home and provided comfortable, private space, meals and mentoring. The writers who came to me were all previously published, though […]
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June 20, 2017
The odds against us …
…the odds against us are endless, our chances of being alive together statistically nonexistent; still we have made it, alive in a time when rationalists in square hats and hatless Jehovah’s Witnesses agree that it is almost over, alive with our lively children who – but for endless if’s – might have missed out on […]
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June 13, 2017
Wide Open
When I first began attempting to write children’s books, I didn’t know another person in the world who wanted to write anything, let alone know anyone who was publishing in the juvenile field. I started in complete isolation. It didn’t matter so much that I didn’t have contacts to let me in on the “tricks […]
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June 6, 2017
Believe in yourself …
Believe in yourself when no one else does. No one will believe you can do it until you do, so you have to want your own dreams. Others can want your dreams for you, but you’re the only one who can make them happen, and you’re the only one who can succeed or fail in […]
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May 30, 2017
Telling the Truth
The task of calling things by their true names, of telling the truth to the best of our abilities, of knowing how we got here, of listening particularly to those who have been silenced in the past, of seeing how the myriad stories fit together and break apart, of using any privilege we may have […]
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May 23, 2017
Into the Unknowable
…into the unknowable, uncomfortable, vulnerable place where the root of creativity lies . . . Terri Windling
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May 16, 2017
Horrible
“your book on my honor is horrible.” Savannah The e-mail sent to my website made me smile. No, I’m not a masochist reveling in abuse. Rather I’m a lover of honesty, even when someone honestly dislikes one of my books. Most of the letters I receive from young readers pass through teachers’ hands before […]
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May 9, 2017
Freedom
We are resolved to protect individual freedom of belief. This freedom must include the child as well as the parent. The freedom for which we stand is not freedom of belief as we please, not freedom to evade responsibility, but freedom to be honest in speech and action, freedom to respect one’s own integrity of […]
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