Thoughts on Thanksgiving...

"For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Less than a week to Thanksgiving. Once Thanksgiving is over...Black Friday hits and the swift countdown to Christmas and the holiday season begins. And once again I find myself thinking where did this year go? And did I accomplish my goals?

Last Thanksgiving our house was full of friends and family, there was a lot of excitement a year ago this week preparing for their arrival but this year we are celebrating by ourselves. Sunday I will make a big batch of cranberry chutney for Thanksgiving dinner and for Christmas gifts, bake my Nana's raisin bread, pull out the holiday decor and the house will begin to smell and look like the holidays.

Today, consider starting a new tradition in your family, get together and write a collaborative poem to be read on Thanksgiving Day. Brainstorm together on what Thanksgiving means to you, what are you grateful for this year, how is this year different? What hopes do you have for next year that you can express poetically? Now get back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

My new favorite vintage postcard

Concrete Couch

Colorado Springs residents learn more about volunteering in a creative way.

Thoughts on being creative

This is long, almost 20 minutes but very good, interesting words from the author of Eat, Pray, Love. So you might want to clean your office and just listen.

Sunday morning snow

Sunday morning, view from my screened in office door.

An Early Christmas Gift

I posted this last season but for those creative artists who missed it, another chance.

Download a FREE copy of the Artella eBook, Stunning and Simple Seasonal Salutations, an eBook featuring 10 beautiful handmade cards, complete with photos and descriptive "how-to" instructions, showcasing a variety of techniques such as rubber stamping, collage, and innovative paper and mixed media arts.Download your copy here!

On Reading

READING

"My eye frees what the page imprisons:

the white the white and the black the black."

Ibn 'Anmar of Silves

One of the first things every creative writing teacher will tell you is that you must read to be able to write. You must read across genres and eras, read the classics, read your contemporaries, read, read, read... And there are writers that don't heed that advice because they don't want to be influenced by other writers. I don't trust writers that don't read.

During the times I'm at school I read a lot. Sometimes 5-6 books a week, but I still can't wait for the semester downtimes when I can pick up a book to read strictly for pleasure. I don't need to remember any of it, or annotate it, or quote it in a critical essay. Those are the books I treasure. I think the first books we read can be life changing, they can change how you feel about reading and writing. What early books influenced your life? How does reading help you in your writing? Now get back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag