I’ve been dabbling with collages for a few years now. It helps me clear my head and express what I can’t with words. But somewhere down the line, I got stuck. The process of cutting and pasting became too important. I’d wind up crushing a finished collage under the weight of what I expected itContinue reading “somewhere to be terrible”
Category Archives: writing
get bored
I’ve had problems working on one thing at a time for my entire life. Call it a kind of creative ADHD. I’ll sit down to write a story, get bored or confused or frustrated, then decide to work on something else. With as many ideas as I have, this happens all the time. I’ll swapContinue reading “get bored”
why we want mirrors
I’ve written several times about Fran Liebowitz’s discussion of books from the Netflix series, Pretend It’s a City. The most striking of her comments, being of course, the moment when she says, “a book isn’t supposed to be a mirror, it’s supposed to be a door!” Jennifer Egan expands upon this idea in this interviewContinue reading “why we want mirrors”
morning pages
Some days you’re just stuck. There’s no blood flowing. It’s hard to come up with anything to say. That’s what the morning pages are for. You show up and write three pages long hand. It’s not art, it’s not even really writing. It’s thinking on that page. It’s allowing your mind to roam and beContinue reading “morning pages”
write it anyway
This morning, I committed to working on a project that scares me. It’s a story that isn’t mine to tell. It delves into a topic I’m by no means an expert in. It makes me nervous. It would probably get me “cancelled.” I’m writing it anyway. Bad things happen when we censor ourselves as weContinue reading “write it anyway”
one thing at a time
For a long time, I’ve suffered from a kind of creative ADHD. I think it’s caused by a variety of things: promiscuity of interest, a broad range of influences, having too many ideas all at once, and the unconscious fear of bringing something to completion. Currently, I’m tinkering with an idea for a novel (composedContinue reading “one thing at a time”
stuck
Austin Kleon recently posted a great interview with Paul Simon, where he tells Dick Cavett how he wrote “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” There are many things at play here (art as theft, input influencing output, accessing the unconscious), but the thing that speaks to me most is the idea of being “stuck.” “Everywhere I wentContinue reading “stuck”
portals to other places
For some reason, the concept of the portal has been on my mind lately. It could be the hypotrochoid set I bought at a thrift store recently, but it was also likely brought on by this interview with Jennifer Egan, in which she says, “reading is always about finding a portal into another world.” InContinue reading “portals to other places”
inflection points
I’ve had a variety of creative pursuits: writing, drawing, music, photography. I’ve dabbled in a lot. But very few creative endeavors were much more than hobbies. It seems there’s always a roadblock when pursuing something creative, that hump that require practice to overcome. It’s the obstacle that separates the amateurs from the professionals. If you’reContinue reading “inflection points”
diving deep
Normally as I read a book, I’m thinking about how it works. I ask myself what the sentences are doing, what’s happening with the characters, how is the storyteller drawing me into the story and what are they trying to convey. I think it’s asking these questions that prevents me being fully immersed in aContinue reading “diving deep”
joshua chamberlain 