Writing Salon Mistress Muses

Birds of a Feather

I know almost nothing about anything. But one thing I do know is that writing requires considerable self-discipline. Another thing I know is that it's a myth that writers are antisocial misfits who, by definition, must live as lonely hermits in order to live as writers. I am reminded of this every time I begin to teach another Round Robin class.

Writers need community just like anybody else. It's not a sign of weakness to join a writing group or to take a writing class because you want to hang out with other writers and talk shop. It's not a sign of weakness to need other people's support, encouragement, advice, suggestions, and camraderie on a regular basis. 

People often call to sign up for Writing Salon classes and sheepishly "confess" that they need to take writing classes because without them they don't write as much or as regularly. But they perceive the classes as crutches, and they're imagining that someday they'll be able to write without the aid of a group of peers and/or a teacher. Well sure, maybe. But then again, maybe not. Maybe they'll NEVER enjoy writing in a vacuum. Maybe they'll always need to  seek out the community of other writers.

What the heck. If taking a class or being part of a writing group gives you the structure, inspiration, kick in the ass or pleasure that you need and/or want, fabulous! Toss out the myth.

It Bears Repeating

It seems I continue to be more interested in my health issues than in my writing. I have no problem blathering on and on about the ups and downs of having breast cancer and trying to treat it "alternatively," but when it comes to writing about writing. . . I dunno. Muteness seems to have set in.

But I'll try to break my lamentable silence. Here's my two cents worth for today: You can learn what you have to say IN THE ACT OF SAYING IT. I have stressed this to my students a million times, and to myself a billion times. Still it bears repeating. If you walk (or sit or mope) around all day trying to figure out what you want to write, you'll never write. Thinking about writing does not lead to writing. WRITING leads to writing. You put your reluctant fingers on the keyboard, and you start hitting letters that turn into words and words that turn into sentences and sentences that turn into paragraphs, and so on and so forth, as far as you want to take it.

We all need to have more faith in our fingers. They are connected to more than our palms, which are connected to more than our wrists, etcetera, etcetera.

Yummy Cruciferous

Black Bean Soup

1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, (you guessed it: chopped)
2 leaves kale or bok choy, finely chopped
2 fresh shitake mushrooms, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp. ground cumin, or to taste
2 cans (15 ounces each) low-sodium (or not) chicken stock
2 cans (15 ounces each) low-sodium (or not) black beans
3 cups water
Plain low-fat yogurt
Chopped parsley

1. Cook the onion, garlic, celery, kale, mushrooms, and cumin in 2 tablespoons of the chicken stock in a large nonstick skillet for about 10 minutes, or until soft.

2. Add the remaining stock, beans, and water. Simmer for 20 minutes (or until it's at the consistency you like)

3. Pour the soup into bowls and top each with a dollop of yougure and some parsley (or not)

4. Have a bite, and say out loud: "Yum, this tasty soup is packed with 'super foods'— cruciferous cabbage family vegetables, beans, and shitake mushrooms. A bonus is that preparation takes only about half an hour (or more, if you are a slow chopper with a dull knife, but still)."

Flowers in the Yard

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don't enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family and friends, then the chances are that you're not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage, or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard,  a drink, or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness." —Andy Rooney

If You Want Your Dreams to Manifest

Yesterday I held a gun to my head and forced myself to go through two boxes of utterly disorganized Important Papers that should have been filed neatly away months or even years ago but were not. I whimpered, trembled and begged myself to let me go. No such luck. Thus I came across this excerpt from a newspaper article, written by someone named Marcia Wieder (a "dream coach," apparently, whose website I have NEVER been to and don't necessarily plan to go to, but I'll pass it on in case someone else wants to check it out). I no longer remember having clipped this article out of the SF Chronicle back in 2004, but I still like its advice, which is simple, clear and stellar:

1. Get clear about something you want and write it down.
2. Share your intention with someone in a way that will supportively hold you accountable to taking action.
3. Do something today to demonstrate your commitment to your intention.
4. Acknowledge that you did what you said you would and then, take the next step.

By setting an intention, you make it clear to yourself and others, what you plan to do. Set an intention to redefine what it means to be serious about your dreams.

Obviously this advice can apply to any dream you have. In this context, I'm suggesting you apply it to your writing dreams.

Today's WOW: It's a Good Thing to Read a Book Every Now and Then (Duh)

I actually read a book while I was in Montreal!  That's what it took (a trip to a city in another country) for me to finally find (make) the time to stop working long enough to read ONE novel. What a blessed relief - and pleasure.  Also a good reminder of why we aspire to write. If you start wondering, Why am I trying to do this writing thing? What's the point?  try reading a good book.  It will re-inspire you to keep at it. You'll also be continuing to learn about the craft of writing, even if you don't feel like you are. It's penetrating your skull via the mode of delight. What better way to learn something?

I read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audry Niffenegger - grabbed it at the airport magazine shop. It was a NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post and Publisher's Weekly bestseller, but I decided not to hold this fact against it. Later I noticed that it was first published by our own local publishing house, MacAdam/Cage, which, incidentally, has also published books by three Writing Salon teachers - Michelle Richmond, Pamela Holm, and Janis Cooke Newman. You can read more about MacAdam/Cage and the good work they are doing in this Poets & Writers article.

I was hooked by the time I reached the bottom of the first page of the prologue:

"Sometimes it feels as though your attention has wandered for just an instant. Then, with a start, you realize that the book you were holding, the red plaid shirt with white buttons, the favorite black jeans and the maroon socks with an almost-hole in one heel, the living room, the about-to-whistle tea kettle in the kitchen: all of these have vanished. You are standing, naked as a jaybird, up to your ankles in ice water in a ditch along an unidentified rural route. . ."

Possessed, Obsessed, Yes!

The well known blogstress Maude Newton reigns over a blogsite that averages 4,000 hits a day,  according to a piece she wrote for Maisonneuve about blogging, back in October of 2004.   Maude is a person obsesseed. Obsessions are such interesting things. Fabulous fodder for writers.

My WOW for today: Mine your obessions obsessively.

Technorati tag: blogging

Find Inspiration Wherever You Can

My Words of Wisdom (WOW!) for today: Find Inspiration Wherever You Can

Five years ago I flipped to the Sundance channel one morning while eating my Cheerios and happened into the middle of a documentary film titled Amargosa, about a dancer named Marta Becket whose devotion to her art led to one of the quirkiest life stories I’d ever heard. I vowed to myself that someday I’d go see her perform.

Two years later, I did just that. I traveled to Death Valley Junction, CA, and saw Marta do her thing at the Amargosa Opera House. What a trip!

Back It Up, Baby!

My Words of Wisdom (WOW!) for Today:

Back it up. As you go.

There are various ways to do this. I have my Microsoft Word document preferences set to do a "save AutoRecovery info" every 1 minute. You can choose to set this for every 1 minute up to every 120 minutes, but I don't see why any self-respecting writer would want to set it at  120 minutes if she could set it at every ONE minute. I mean, why risk losing pages or paragraphs when a crash occurs (and it WILL occur), if you can cut your losses down to a few sentences?

Also, back up ALL your documents (to another hard drive) every day or at least once a week. I back up to my old LaCie Pocket Drive, but I hear tell that iPods are perfect for this. Anyway, do SOMETHING; back up to CDs or zip drives or whatever. Just don't wait until you've had  some nightmarish crash/corruption/data loss before you get smart. Trust me on this, oh ye of little backup brains. Having myself been backup-brainless on more than one sad occasion, I know whereof I speak.