"You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sandcastles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander." — Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

When I let my imagination wander…

"You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage--pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically--to say 'no' to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger 'yes' burning inside." --Stephen R. Covey

What do you need to say “no” to? What “yes” is burning inside?

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” --Henry David Thoreau in his journal (1851)

Tell me about a time you stood up to live—a time you lived fully, with courage, stepping out into the unknown future. (It’s okay if you were terrified or scared—you stepped out anyway). Tell me everything you can about that time.

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, then it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” --Frank A. Clark

Tell me about one of the biggest obstacles you’ve faced on your path.

Paris “That city feels so far away from me today, yet daily her old fragrance squirms beneath my skin and rises through my pores, exciting me so senselessly and stirring up my longing for her scent. That City gave me wings and took my breath away. She took my wallet, my security, and solid self-control. She stole away my logic and then asked for my heart. I gave it freely, gladly, broken open. If I was once clear sighted, that city blinded me. She spun me round in dizzy circles, then grabbed me by the hand, and ran full heartedly, leaving me lost in mazey alleyways of cobblestone and charm. It rained the wettest truest rain upon those streets and I was left to wander lost for days, lonely and intoxicated by a dreamlike haze of awe. “That city found me everywhere and led ... [Continue Reading]

“All the troubles of life come upon us because we refuse to sit quietly for a while each day in our rooms.” --Blaise Pascal

While I was sitting quietly, I noticed…

“How can a writer express what is most vital in her experience while anxiously watching her tongue lest she slip the wrong word?” --Jan Clausen

Tell me what is in your heart today. Every time you want to censor yourself or the critic snipes at you from his perch on your shoulder, tell him, “I will talk to you later,” and continue to write. Write the difficult words. Admit the real truth. Don’t hold anything back.

“It got so cold in the house that icicles hung from the kitchen ceiling, the water in the sink turned into a solid block of ice, and the dirty dishes were stuck there as if they’d been cemented in place. Even the pan of water that we kept in the living room to wash up in usually had a layer of ice on it. We walked around the house wearing our coats and wrapped in blankets. We wore our coats to bed, too. There was no stove in the bedroom and no matter how many blankets I piled on top of myself, I still felt cold….We fought over who got to sleep with the dogs.” --The Glass Castle

Now tell me a story where the weather played a predominant role. Describe it so we can feel the wind, sense the accumulation of snow, or hear the storm cellar door slamming shut. ... [Continue Reading]

Bookmobile by Joyce Sutphen I spend part of my childhood waiting for the Sterns County Bookmobile. When it comes to town, it makes a U-turn in front of the grade school and glides into its place under the elms. It is a natural wonder of late afternoon. I try to imagine Dante, William Faulkner, and Emily Dickinson traveling down a double lane highway together, country-western on the radio. Even when it arrives, I have to wait. The librarian is busy, getting out the inky pad and the lined cards. I pace back and forth in the line, hungry for the fresh bread of the page, because I need ... [Continue Reading]

“Time can do all sorts of things. It’s almost like a magician. It can turn autumn into spring and babies into children, seeds into flowers and tadpoles into frogs, caterpillars into cocoons, and cocoons into butterflies. And life into death. There’s nothing that time can’t do. Except run backwards. That’s its trouble really, it can only go one way.” ―Alex Shearer, The Stolen

Tell me about your relationship to time.