Happy Halloween!

Just a couple of vintage Halloween postcard images.
Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Margaret!

My sister and I have birthdays within one day of each other, mine was yesterday, Margaret's is today, which meant we shared a party and a cake every year!

Happy Birthday Margaret!

The thoughts of the moment

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable. Francis Bacon

My thoughts today I am knee deep in words, my science paper, my packet work for school and editing. I got an unexpected bonus the snow storm means we are closing the restaurant early so I have more hours to get my work done. No blogging until Monday though...see you then!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Submitting your work to a literary journal

How to Submit your creative writing to a Literary Journal

A quick reminder list before you send in your creative writing to a literary journal.

For many creative writers submitting to a literary journal and getting published is a writing goal. These reminders will help you reach that goal.

Going Home to the Mountains

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity...”
John Muir

outdoor adventure gear, tent poles, replacement tent poles, char cloth, fire piston, trekking poles, camping tarp, camping, backpacking, hiking

Statements about writing poetry

Found this great list from Marvin Bell on writing poetry on the Copper Canyon Press website.

Some more pictures from my trip back east as I work on my packet work due Monday, November 2nd.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

The Poet's Trade

"No one expects a man to make a chair without first learning how, but there is a popular impression that the poet is born, not made, and that his verses burst from his overflowing heart of themselves. As a matter of fact, the poet must learn his trade in the same manner, and with the same painstaking care, as the cabinet-maker. His heart may overflow with high thoughts and sparkling fancies, but if he cannot convey them to his reader by means of written word he has no claim to be considered a poet. A workman may be pardoned, therefore, for spending a few moments to explain and describe the technique of his trade. A work of beauty which cannot stand an intimate examination is a poor and jerry-built thing."
Amy Lowell

Explore Haibun

"Few travelers pass that way at any time.

Now that the snow has come,

Whom can she hope to see

On Yoshino's steep mountain path?"

As I Crossed A Bridge of Dreams

Recollections of a Woman in Eleventh-Century Japan

It is snowing outside, very slow, soft feathery flakes and I am reading haibun, specifically this book mentioned above. And perhaps this week I will try my hand at it.

Here is a good description of haibun online with links to some contemporary haibun.

And another one from instructor Rebecca Brown at the last residency, "haibun is an ancient Japanese form of writing that incorporates short passages of poetry (often haiku with longer, usually autobiographical prose."

Just when I think I have written in every style, I find another culture or language to explore. Back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Reaching your goal

"The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach." --Benjamin Mays

Zuihitsu

Zuihitsu-occasional writings,random jottings, brush strokes, stray notes, journal entries "made famous in The Pillow Book"

Wikipedia's definition of zuihitsu.


This week I read The Narrow Road to the Interior Poems by Kimiko Hahn




Here is an example of Kimoko Hahn's Zuihitsu I found online.


Is blogging zuihitsu? I'm unsure because I think most bloggers write not only for themselves but to gain an audience and make money, but if you truly use your blog as a place to randomly jot down thoughts I would guess that it would be comparable or similar to this Japanese style of writing.


Thinking about random thoughts,
The Writing Nag

Blog Action Day

"It is a simple fact of life on earth that there is going to be no successful mitigation of the climate change problem without a truly global effort. All developing companies or all major developing countries have to be part of that and accept substantial constraints on greenhouse gas emissions." Ross Garnaut

Today, October 15th is Blog Action Day, a day set aside for bloggers around the globe to discuss one issue and unite on a topic that effects all of us, this time it's climate change. Whether climate change is your cause or not, take a look at the top 100 effects of climate change. You may be surprised what's on the list...I was.

If climate change is your cause and you're ready to change the world or your part of it, look for ideas here, scroll down to the bottom of the page to take action today.


Read the Scientific American article on the top 10 solutions for climate change. Some of them are easier than you might think.

Do your own independent research on climate change and perhaps you may decide that climate change is your cause.

Today, if you're a blogger consider writing even one sentence on your blog about climate change what you are doing and what you can do to effect change. Add your voice to all of the voices that are uniting today to talk about climate change.

Lovingly... walking to work,
The Writing Nag

The Love of October

"A child looking at ruins grows younger
but cold
and wants to wake to a new name
I have been younger in October
than in all the months of spring
walnut and may leaves the color
of shoulders at the end of summer
a month that has been to the mountain
and become light there
the long grass lies pointing uphill
even in death for a reason
that none of us knows
and the wren laughs in the early shade now
come again shining glance in your good time
naked air late morning
my love is for lightness
of touch foot feather
the day is yet one more yellow leaf
and without turning I kiss the light
by an old well on the last of the month
gathering wild rose hips
in the sun."
- W. S. Merwin, The Love of October

I am back at my desk after almost two weeks away, weighed down with books, self-imposed writing assignments, images, memories, anxiety, excitement, lots of pictures of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and probably 10 pounds heavier from caramel apples, apple cider donuts, pumpkin pie, apple cider, lobster rolls, Maine crab, diner breakfasts, seafood platters, mom-made cookies and banana bread, east coast pizza, and more...

I'll upload more pics tomorrow when my brain catches up with my body.

Today, based on a prompt from Fruitflesh pick a color and take a walk. Photograph everything you find of that color, notice the different shades of the color. When you come home upload the pictures and see if any words emerge from the images. As a writer we need to train our eyes to notice all of the details.Now get back to work!

Lovingly very much jet-lagged,

Writing Nag

Courage over talent

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary.
Jessamyn West

Rainy cold October

The most beautiful of all is the music of what happens. Irish proverb

There is one full day left of the residency and I have found it hard, no...difficult, to write here. This afternoon I got caught in a rainstorm that left me soaking wet, my sneakers are soggy and the lower half of my body is numb with cold. Thinking, writing, researching, and living your study plan for a week is pretty intense and I feel that words fail me every time I sit down to post.I hope to be back to regular posting on October 15th. Before I got drenched, I took some pictures on my walk to the library. No matter how many times you see the autumn leaves in New England you are still struck speechless by their beauty.

Today a poetry prompt courtesy of poet Walter Butts' poetry workshop.

Write a poem that includes all of the following:

• something mechanical
• something scientific
• a rock, jazz or blues song
• grocery store or bakery
• an article of clothing
• an animal
• automobile or train
• type of weather

Now get back to work! I need to go change my socks.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Find Your Real Job

The first duty of a human being is to assume the right functional relationship to society -- more briefly, to find your real job, and do it. Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Back at school

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. Vita Sackville-West

After a two hour delay I arrived at school at 2:00 a.m., needless to say I'm a little delirious today. I hope to post tomorrow with a clearer head.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag