I am embarking on a strange new way of living, one that is structured only by my own self-discipline, rewarded in a currency of my own making, and with a high possibility of some type of failure. After ten years of teaching in a formal high school classroom, I am leaving behind that structure to live amongst…
Category: the countdown
tracking my writing life
from the desk of Marlon James
The author posted this note on FaceBook and it instantaneously illuminated for me a sensation I hadn’t been able to completely define. Marlon James Yesterday at 7:50pm · So I’m on a panel last night and somebody asks, how does one write when overcome with emotion, mostly grief I’m assuming. How does one get words…
rest-abundant muse
The restless muse The term ought not be restless, rather it should be rest-abundant, my muse has been dormant for too long. Now it tugs and begs and cajoles and dares me to feed it. Where once I was content to do what had to be done, my inner imp continues to berate me with…
Escape is inevitable.
My universe has been tilting over the last year onto a new axis. Exterior markers that had defined my world shook and crumbled. Change in how I see myself is inevitable. Everywhere I turn signals point onto the next highway I am mapping. Five recent articles in major publications are all versions of pieces I have wrote,…
writing takes so much out of me. I am in a new land, with plenty to explore, but the words just follow me everywhere. Shame, queasy, face crinkled in confusion, seeking respite. I just want it to be over, I just want it to be done, and then what, stash it away or gasp share…
the joy of sentences
Originally posted on collective failure:
A writer wants to work with words. A writer finds struggle and joy in using words. I was full of doubt, anxiety, fret, and uncertainty when I went off to a writing retreat for a week. I kept torturing myself with just one word “writer”. What did it mean to…
Memes in place of writing
Okay so it is true that I am spending my time – my precious time on my laptop with free space in my mind – making memes about writing. But we all need a good kick in the pants sometimes. I owe my pictures to the amazing work being done on this website: http://writersatwork.pfauth.com/
only fools fall in love…with words
who would ever be foolish enough to fall in love with words, words are devilish, hiding among us waiting to pounce words contain dangers unforeseen, and we walk among them blind as can be words can communicate so much, or nothing at all. images, scents, sensations can be understood throughout this wide world. even numbers…
fear of mediocrity
I was a mediocre photographer. It was one of my creative outlets when I was younger, an outlet I thought could perhaps be refined and polished. I took a few great photographs, but I could not be consistent nor obsessive in the necessary way an artist must be. I learned the core components of a…
chick lit genres
As far I can tell and have encountered, the majority of books with female protagonists are tales of survival. The moral of each story being that a woman’s strength is like no other, and the reader can be inspired to find their own strength in the reading. Women survive it all, and sometimes thrive, but…
33 Brilliant Quotes From Legendary Black Women Writers
Originally posted on Our Legaci with J.A.M. Aiwuyor:
? Ntozake Shange Growing up as a Black girl writer, various books and writers sustained me. One such writer was Zora Neale Hurston. I lived by her. Her robust unveiling of Black human experiences were the literary nourishment to my young mind. I read over and…
underdog mode
Being the underdog is the place I most excel from. It is a great thrill to prove people wrong, and blow away their preconceived expectations. This has fueled many of my greatest feats. But it is unsustainable. It is not a model for growth. It means that I am seeking out detractors at every turn….
collective failure 