Sophfronia Scott's Blog: Sophfronia Scott, Author, page 22
January 17, 2019
It’s Time to Start Writing
On today’s morning walk I ask, “Are you writing?” It seems we talk a lot about writing, perhaps even more than we’re doing it. Sometimes the best thing you can do as a writer is just get started.
This week’s Morning Walk video. Hope you enjoy it!
If you’ve set a goal to take an inspiring trip to fire up your work, don’t forget we’re still enrolling my Write of Your Life Retreat, taking place in Italy in this September. Read all about it here at Grand Tourist UK.
January 10, 2019
When Life Intervenes
Obstacles already popping up? That happens. You plan, you schedule, you have the best intentions. Then life intervenes. In this week’s Morning Walk video you’ll see that despite wind and despite snow, I did what I said I would do today. Here’s how to lean into your writing goals when life throws a few curveballs.
If you’ve set a goal to take an inspiring trip to fire up your work, don’t forget we’re still enrolling my Write of Your Life Retreat, taking place in Italy in this September. Read all about it here at Grand Tourist UK.
January 3, 2019
The Right Writing Goals for You
Do you need someone else to achieve your goals? In my new “Morning Walk” video I talk about why the answer to this question can make or break what you want to do as a writer this year.
If you’ve set a goal to take an inspiring trip to fire up your work, don’t forget we’re still enrolling my Write of Your Life Retreat, taking place in Italy in this September. Read all about it here at Grand Tourist UK.
December 20, 2018
The Magic of Debi Lilly Style
I worked for Time Inc. during the creation of three lifestyle magazines that became so popular they re-energized the form: Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, and InStyle. These publications would come across my desk each month and I would particularly marvel over the party articles, especially in Martha Stewart Living, detailing recipes and decorations and showing Martha herself hosting as the party came to life with friends and family populating the room.
“Why go through the trouble of actually having the party?” I wondered. If all the effort was for the sake of the article, why not just photograph the food and decorations? Why have the people, unless you were just being conscientious of not wasting the food?
Still, the photos intrigued me. Something was going on in the space, something happening because of what the lifestyle expert had created.
I didn’t understand it before. I do now.
photo credit: Hallie Duesenberg Photography Recently I made plans to visit Chicago and was looking for a bookstore where I could do a reading and celebrate my book Love’s Long Line (Mad Creek Books/The Ohio State University Press). Then my friend Debi Lilly contacted me and offered the opportunity to have something more than your average run-of-the-mill reading. This is Debi Lilly of A Perfect Event. She’s one of the top event planners in the field, on par with the Martha Stewarts of the world. When Debi spoke, I listened. I said yes and couldn’t wait to see the results.
I knew everything Debi did would be beautiful. How could it not be? But when I walked into DL Studio, one of her Chicago event locations, Debi and her team surprised me with the sky-high level of witty, endearing details. They created a wine punch inspired by my book and flavored with spiced apple, rosemary, and cinnamon. Even the container label featured elements of my book’s cover. Golden balloon installations and orchids and gorgeous furniture decorated the room. Towers of treats including cupcakes topped with my book’s cover filled a table. The whole studio sparkled with light and energy. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
But then people began to arrive.
It was like a spark ignited. There were friends from Women On Fire, the organization through which I first met Debi Lilly, and there were people I didn’t know. And my classmates–so many classmates!–from both Harvard and Vermont College of Fine Arts. One drove all the way from Indianapolis to be there. Some of these classmates I hadn’t seen in years and yet my heart did remember them. In fact my heart immediately flooded with affection and memory and the feeling was so full I wanted to weep because I’d come to understand deeply the meaning of these words: love never dies.
I’m not sure I can express how much I enjoyed being in that space with those people. Even now I feel like I’m babbling incoherently as I try to explain it. Yes, I read from my essays and I answered questions and I signed books. But this event was quite different from others and at first I wasn’t sure why.
But when Debi posted photographs a day or two later I looked at those pictures and saw it right away: I had experienced a real life version of those parties I’d seen so many times in the magazines.
And now I understand that both at my book event and in those articles, these images weren’t simply people gathered at a party. These photos were showing that when you go through the trouble of such preparation, you’re creating a magical opening, a space of potential. When people enter it maybe they sense that potential (I know I did) and can open themselves up for connection, for discovery, for love. I’m attached to the people in these photos in a way that didn’t exist before. I don’t know how it happened. It just did. I guess that’s why I’m calling it magic.
I’m sharing some of these images with you so you too can feel the magic of Debi Lilly. I’m so grateful she wielded her brilliant power on my behalf. I hope one day you’ll have the opportunity to enlist Debi and A Perfect Event to do the same for you.
November 25, 2018
Sophfronia Scott Featured on Good Morning Connecticut
Sophfronia Scott and WTNH Chief Meteorologist Gil Simmons
(WTNH) – Dealing with anger and grief in today’s society can be extremely difficult, especially from a parent’s perspective.
Mother, and author Sophfronia Scott joined Good Morning Connecticut at Nine to talk about her book “Love’s Long Line.”
You can view the video of Scott’s conversation with anchor Jocelyn Maminta at this link.
In “Love’s Long Line,” Scott contemplates what her son taught her about grief after the shootings at his school, Sandy Hook Elementary; how a walk with Lena Horne became a remembrance of love for Scott’s illiterate and difficult steelworker father; the unexpected heartache of being a substitute school bus driver; and the satisfying fantasy of paying off a mortgage.
Scott’s road is also a spiritual journey ignited by an exploration of her first name, the wonder of her physical being, and coming to understand why her soul must dance like Saturday Night Fever’s Tony Manero.
The Common Reader Interviews Sophfronia Scott
Writer Michaella A. Thornton of The Common Reader: A Journal of the Essay recently interviewed Sophfronia Scott about her book Love’s Long Line. She writes:
In 2016, I was captivated when Sophfronia Scott read an excerpt from her essay, “Why I Didn’t Go to the Firehouse,” at the River Pretty Writers Retreat in Tecumseh, Missouri. The essay is a meditation about why Scott, when confronted with the news that a deadly shooting had just occurred at her third-grade son’s school, Sandy Hook Elementary (December 14, 2012), chose to stay put until more was known. As you may imagine, Scott’s prose confronts life, death, faith, and everything in between.
When I learned Scott was returning to lead writing workshops at River Pretty this October, I jumped at the chance to interview her for The Common Reader. During our Oct. 6 chat, we discussed her recently published collection of essays, Love’s Long Line, how to navigate writing about family in creative nonfiction, and why transforming grief and anger into art may be one of the ultimate acts of grace.
Read the complete interview at this link.
The Common Reader is published by Washington University in St. Louis.
October 16, 2018
For Memoir: You Can Research Your Life
In my new “Morning Walk” video I’m at Harvard, on the banks of the Charles River, discussing how it is possible–and a wonderful thing–to research your own life. Here’s how to do it, and a few things to keep in mind.
October 5, 2018
On Revision: A River Runs Through It
Today’s video isn’t a “how to” on revision. Let’s talk about a way to think about revision. I often find that if I know how to think or create a mindset around something, the “how” will take care of itself. So here are some thoughts toward a view of seeing revision in a natural element.
The retreat I mention in the video is the River Pretty Writers Retreat and I’m here this week giving a lecture, teaching in workshop, and delivering a public reading. If you’re interested in this little community of writers and our meetings in the spring and fall, the website is www.riverpretty.org.
Happy revising!
September 28, 2018
How Magnetic Is Your Writing “Why?”
Today’s video continues a conversation I started yesterday when I asked, “Why do you write?” I hope you came up with an answer because now I invite you to consider this: Is your “why” strong enough, magnetic enough? Why do I ask? Watch and I’ll tell you more. Oh, and here are a few of the photos I mention in the video.
Your Morning Walk with Sophfronia, September 28, 2018
September 27, 2018
Question: Why Do You Write?
A new video: I said last week it is a crazy thing we do, this writing. So today I’m thinking about “Why?” On this morning’s walk, during a pause in a hike in Paugussett State Park, I share why I write. What are your reasons? Would you still write if you weren’t going to get published? Watch the video and share your thoughts in the comments section. Curious to hear!
