Curtiss Ann Matlock's Blog, page 24

Gleanings: Writing Goals and First Things First, and balancing values

“These, then, are an artist’s goals: to work and to affirm the value of that work; to find success and make success; to play a role in the maintenance of culture and to affirm the value of that role; to find love, provide love, and affirm the value of love; and to minimize self-hatred and despair…” ~ Eric Maisel, Affirmations for Artists

Today, as most days, I followed routine. Dear heaven, I love my rut for the bit of security it gives my psyche. 8:45 am, and I reached the part in my routine...

Gleanings: Providing Room to Breathe

The artist who, craving solitude, achieves it too little, feels sad and cheated; a dozen busy days are no substitute for one rich hour of solitude. ~ Eric Maisel, Affirmations for Artists

On Sunday morning, after a full week of enjoying grandchildren and contending with responsibilities of elder care and a busy household,I got four hours of solitude. It was not at all planned, but a time dropped in my lap: here, a blessing.

A rainy morning. I curled in an overstuffed chair in the living room...

Gleanings: Experimenting in the Writer Life

“Experiment. Try something new. Maybe you won’t like it. Maybe you’ll make a mistake. But maybe you will like it, and maybe you’ll discover something you love.” ~ Melody Beattie, Language of Letting Go.

Monday morning, and I looked at all I had to do. I tried to jettison some things that were not truly ‘have-tos’. Couldn’t find any. In fact, I thought of a few more things that had been put off too long. I ended up taking one of those things and jumping in to do it. Nothing at all to do with w...

Gleanings: Predicaments

“Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament.” ~George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet, novelist.

I laughed when I read the quote. Then I looked up the word predicament, to make certain I was understanding. The definition given in the Oxford Dictionary for the word predicament is: ‘a difficult, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation’. So then I laughed again, because yes, I understood, all too fully. The quote is a perfect description of my life.

Every day there are a myriad...

Gleanings: Time, Dirt, and Money, and Writing

Time, Dirt, and Money was the working title of the book writer Olive Ann Burns was working on when she died. The title came from a sentiment her mother often put forth that life came down to a struggle with three things: time, dirt, and money.I have over the years come to see the clear truth of that statement.

This morning I was up at my usual 5:30 am, going through all my routine of tea, reading, prayer, and then, 6:30 arrives along with my 8 year old grandson, and it is as if I get shot out...

Gleanings: One Small Act of Self-discipline, armament for the writer

“In order to be a good writer, you’ve got to be a bad boss. Self-discipline and stamina are the two major arms in a writer’s arsenal.” ~ Leon Uris

I went looking for self-discipline quotes to boost me. I am boosted just to see I want to read about self-discipline. I used to avoid the mention of the word. It scared me, because I felt I couldn’t do it, that it would be too hard, that I was a failure in that area. Today I know that self-discipline is nothing more than giving things one more try....

Gleanings: Writing Indulgence–go for it.

“It strikes me as interesting that if someone loved banking, he wouldn’t chastise or castigate himself for choosing that life. If someone loved history and wanted a life as a history professor, that would be a socially acceptable choice, although it is, in fact, ever bit as self-indulgent as doing anything else you love–writing, for example. ~ Julia Cameron, The Right to Write.

I am struck by the question: So what if it looks self-indulgent? Who is to judge?

When I first began writing, eons ago...

Gleanings: You Become What You Read, Techniques of the Selling Writer

“Read all sorts of things, especially in your preferred genre…Read everything that’s good. Start with Pulitzer Prize winners and National Book Award winners, the Booker Prize and Whitbread winners…” ~ Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Pen on Fire.

The above advice is good, with exceptions. I once read a Pulitzer Prize winning novel in which men had sex with cows. I stopped with that scene and started to laugh. Did the author even know cows up close? Did those Pulitzer people know cows?

I have heard and...

Gleanings: No Negative Criticism Allowed, and Writing is Medicine

“I hammer it into all my students: You must shut out all the negative voices that say you’ll never write as well as you hope, that you are just no good and why bother.” ~ Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Pen on Fire.

Boy, these voices are loud, and so authoritative sounding. Many come from outside ourselves in the voices from friends and family. I can recall a neighbor who said, “Oh, those romances, they’re all the same,” and dismissed my efforts. Then once my book was published, more than one person...

Gleanings: The Perfectionism Block and Pen on Fire

“See if this sounds familiar: You sit down to write and as the words begin to flow, you start to judge them. You cross out words or delete them. You fuss with sentences before they’ve even been written, and then you beat yourself up for not being good enough.” ~ Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Pen on Fire.

It’s called the perfectionism trap. Perfect is the enemy of the good is a truth that comes to mind. It’s an affliction born in some of us, grown in others. The above paragraph describes perfectly m...