Drew Myron's Blog, page 79

Thankful Thursday: Oh, Florence!

It's Thankful Thursday. Joy expands and contracts in direct relation to our sense of gratitude. What are you thankful for today? A person, a place, a thing? A story, a song, a poem? What makes your world expand?

On this Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for cellos and harps. For lush lyrics and sweeping sound. For the transformative power of music. For Falling by Florence + the Machine.

I've fallen out of favor and I've fallen from grace
Fallen out of trees and I've fallen on my face
Fallen out of taxis, out of windows too
Fell in your opinion when I fell in love with you

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Sometimes I wish for falling, wish for the release
Wish for falling through the air to give me some relief
Because falling's not the problem, when I'm falling I'm at peace
It's only when I hit the ground it causes all the grief

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Whoa-oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

This is a song for a scribbled-down name
And my love keeps writing again and again
This is a song for a scribbled-down name
And my love keeps writing again and again
And again and again and again and again
And again and again and again and again
And again and again and again and again
And again and again and again and again

I dance with myself, I drunk myself down
Found people to love, left people to drown
I'm not scared to jump, I'm not scared to fall
If there was nowhere to land I wouldn't be scared at all
At all
At all

Fall
Fall

Sometimes I wish for falling, wish for the release
Wish for falling through the air to give me some relief
Because falling's not the problem, when I'm falling I'm at peace
It's only when I hit the ground it causes all the grief

Lyrics by Isabella Janet F Summers and Florence Leontine Welch

 

Get a grip & other rules

Weather Report

All this time on the the planet, and still I am no wiser
than I was thirty years ago, when I began to write,
scratching on a yellow pad while the voices in my head
screeched not good enough. They're still shrieking
their shrill words in my left eat, just above the migraine
that's singing a high E sharp from its perch in my brain.
Not good enough, and I know it, but today the sky
is that low blue note that comes after a storm,
and the locust is sending out round green messages
as it bobs and weaves in the wind. There's a flock
of cedar waxwings in the sumac, wearing
their little black masks, stealing the afternoon away.
The light streams in from the west, still I wrestle
with my old friends faith and doubt. A thin scribble
of clouds float by, obscuring the sky, and all the words
are hiding, elusive as that bird over there, the one
that's singing its heart out, just out of sight.

— Barbara Crooker
from Calyx, Summer 2011

 

November is National Novel Writing Month and writers are rattling across keyboards in a rush to create a novel in a single month. I'm exhausted already.

And the poets, not to be outdone by their driven brethren, are pressing pen to paper to pull a poem a day from the mysterious fog where poems reside. And this, too, wears me out. 

With a mixed mind I enter this writing challenge. I don't like group-think, though I do like structure. Don't like obligation, but favor commitment. Don't care for frenzy, but crave productivity.

I'm not writing a poem-a-day. Can't take the pressure. But I am writing every day. Already, just a week in, I'm feeling good and stretched. The following reminders have helped with my writing pledge:

Drew's Rules for Daily(ish) Writing 

1.
Set low expectations
I'm not writing profound poems or epic tales. I am writing one word and another word and maybe a few more. I am writing lists that turn into poems, and dreams that turn into trippy descriptions. I'm doodling with words. If something reaches higher, great. If not, so what, I've exercised my mind. (Tip of the pen to Kelli Russell Agodon for this suggestion).  

2.
Any bit of time will do
I don't write all day. Five minutes will do. If it's going well, I keep writing. If it isn't, I let go and return the next day. By establishing a daily pattern, I've lessened the pressure to write good each time.

3.
Play
Have fun. Let go of results. Remember the mystery of pen, paper, mind.

4.
Get a grip
Stop whining. Writing is not manual labor.

Thankful Thursday: Running, Writing

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Today I ran 30 minutes and nearly three miles without stopping.
I am beyond thankful. I am weeping with gratitude.

It's not a huge accomplishment for most people but it is a big deal to someone who has lived a life of asthma inhalers and emergency room rushes, and then, years after breathing was enhanced, a tumor was discovered and a hunk of lung removed. 

And so, running is a big deal. While my childhood was largely sickly and sedate, my adult life has not been inactive; I hike, ski and swim. Respiratory treatment has greatly improved since my first visit to National Jewish Hospital, where I lived as a child.

Still, until recently, running alluded me. I envied those lean, long runners. I wanted to experience legs and lungs working together. A few years ago, with encouragement from my husband, I started a slow jog — to the end of the street. I'd pant and wheeze and nearly cry with discouragement, and he would rally me to go just a bit more.

And then last winter my asthma flared. I couldn't run. A murky x-ray suggested infection, demanded stronger medication. This was no emergency. This was how I had always lived: try, progress, stall, repeat.

Last summer, my lungs stronger, I began to run regularly again. Encouraged by my sister, my friends at Daily Mile, and coaching from Running Mate, I have now — this week — achieved a 30 minute run without resting, stopping or stalling.

Now I realize how much running is like writing. I never really want to run but once I start a sense of wonder and accomplishment kicks in. I can do this! Each time, my body surprises me with its ability. But, really, it never feels easy.

Writing often feels the same. Some days words flow and everything clicks. And the very next day I am stuck in the sludge wondering, How do I do this?

On the difficult runs, when the lungs shrink and the couch calls, my husband nudges me: Look how far you've come! And in the writing life, too, it helps to have friends and mentors, or just a crazy neighbor who appreciates your pursuit.

Running, like writing, like asthma, will offer both struggle and ease. I will start and start and start again. On this Thankful Thursday, I am grateful for the chance to keep showing up, slogging through, and shining on.

 

It's Thankful Thursday. Joy expands and contracts in direct relation to our sense of gratitude. What are you thankful for today? A person, a place, a possession? A story, a song, a poem? What makes your world expand?

Ignore everybody

by Hugh MacLeod

Hugh MacLeod, artist and writer, offers some sage advice:

1. Ignore everybody.

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours.

3. Put the hours in.
 

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.

5. You are responsible for your own experience.
 

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.

7. Keep your day job.
 

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.

9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.


10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
 

11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.

12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
 

13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.

14. Dying young is overrated.
 

15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.

16. The world is changing.
 

17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.

18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
 
19. Sing in your own voice.
 

20. The choice of media is irrelevant.

21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
 

22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.

23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.
 
24. Don't worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.
 

25. You have to find your own schtick.

26. Write from the heart.
 

27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.

28. Power is never given. Power is taken.
 

29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.

30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.
 

31. Remain frugal.

32. Allow your work to age with you.
 

33. Being Poor Sucks.

34. Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.
 

35. Savor obscurity while it lasts.

36. Start blogging.
 

37. Meaning Scales, People Don't.

37. When your dreams become reality, they are no longer your dreams.

 

Enjoy more fun and insight from Hugh MacLeod at Gaping Void.

 

Thankful Thursday: Acknowledgements

[image error]When you get a book, what's the first thing you read?  The front cover raves? back cover blurbs? dedication?

I go straight to the Acknowledgements. This section, usually situated in the front of the book, often reveals an author's history and demeanor. Here, in many cases, is a listing of previous publications, writing group membership, fellowships earned, workshops attended, and even endearments.

Some writers maintain a distance, providing a straightforward accounting of publications in which the works first appeared. Others, like my friend who after 40 years of writing published her first book, gushed for two pages (in small type), reaching back to thank her grade school teachers.

I am intrigued with a writer's narrative, the thread of gratitude that chronicles a creative life.

The other day, on a long drive, I reached that trance-like state in which thoughts expand and unwind. What, I wondered, if I wrote my acknowledgements right now? What would my page include?

As I examined the turning points in my life — first job, influential teacher, kind doctor, family friend — I found a thread of people who had widened my path, lightened my heart, and energized my steps. My first "real" job, for example, offered a mentor, who later became a colleague, and 20 years later is my very good friend. And then there's the volunteer work writing with teens that stretched my heart and changed my life.

It's a great exercise, to find the thread of people and places that have pebbled your path. My Acknowledgements page grows each day, and I am flush with gratitude. 

It's Thankful Thursday! Gratitude. Appreciation. Praise. Please join me in a weekly pause to appreciate the people, places & things that bring joy. What are you thankful for today?

Come here often?

What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?

No really, it's time for some market research. I need your help. In the interest of better blogging, I want to know:

How did you find me, and how will you find me again?

Do we know each other? Are we strangers connected only by this blog? And now that you are here, what keeps you coming back?

How do you read me? Through an email subscription? With Google Reader? With Blogger? With your own browser bookmark?  Or did you stumble upon this page in a website stupor (if so, happy to have you here, please have a seat, settle in).

So, do you come here often, and can I buy you a drink?

 

Begin here

Preparation

Before you write
sit and notice your breath.

Allow a gentle carousel of words
to flow in their current around you,
then on your breath
into your space of longing
where hunger lies. Become

a body of invitation and hospitality
where words are welcome, where
breath moves freely, where sparks
ignite and your own fire burns.

— Linda Gelbrich

Go deeper:
Listen to this poem at Oregon Poetic Voices.

 

Kill your darlings

Orphans, confessions and artist statements

1.
Today, I press against a story still moving.

2.
I check my email. You are never there.
I do not know who you are.

3.
This dense fist of worries, a mad distance.
Your voice in my ear, miles away.

4.
This is not warning, sign or symptom. This is the artful unravel. 

5.
I write letters in my head. Entire conversations exist in my mind.
We are fine, thanks for asking.

6.
This is how much a letter means: At the post office I can't wait to open my mail. In the car, I tear open the envelope and enjoy a surge of floating hope: I can do this, I think. This is life, driving home, making dinner, holding on.

7.
Lived so long in gray, I've forgotten the taste of heat.

8.
Know your part: In this poem and nearly every poem, I say we. I say all of us. This is false. There is no collective. There is only too much of me.

9.
The postman says:
You look dressed up today.
I showered, I say.
Well, he says, you clean up good.

10.
I have enough ends. Tell me a story of starts.

 - Drew Myron

Kill your darlings, they say (William Faulkner, Mark Twain, and later Stephen King and many others). It's good advice. Every writer has "darlings," lines and passages that shine bright but just don't fit the current work. While I am an incessant editor, sometimes I just can't hit delete. Instead, I nudge my darlings to the curb and hope they find a home in my next poem (or the next . . . ). These are my orphans. I keep them close until they find a forever family.

Do you have orphans? What do you do with your little darlings?

You are a winner!

Following an unscientific but honest drawing — I closed my eyes and picked a name from my Women Writers Box — I am happy to announce the winner of The Voluptuary by Paulann Petersen. 

And the winner is . . .

Jill Hardin

Thanks to all for playing, reading and writing.

Don't let the poetry love end with this drawing. Purchase The Voluptuary here.

Learn more about Paulann Petersen, Oregon's Poet Laureate, here and here.

 

Thankful Thursday: Hey kiddo!

Happiness is not what makes us grateful.

It is gratefulness that makes us happy.

— David Steindle-Rast

 

It's Thankful Thursday!

Gratitude. Appreciation. Praise.

Please join me in a weekly pause to appreciate the people, places & things that bring joy.

This week, I am thankful for:

Kiddo, as a term of endearment

Phone calls with family

Invigorating exercise

Epsom salt baths

My coffee, conversation & play-with-words friend

Insurance companies that pay their bills (yes, this actually happens!)

The low light of autumn afternoon

The word simper 

Genuine smiles

Hush, as in reverence

 

It's Thankful Thursday! What are you thankful for today?