Face Your Writing Fears

Realized I forgot to mention my latest article… again. I really do suck at self-promo. Anyhoo! My new Absolute Blank article at TC is “Face Your Writing Fears.” It’s been getting some good (unsolicited!) feedback, so check it out! Bonus: photo of me with a snake 🙂

Summer Berries

Changed my header again. Already happier with this one.

Am pretending it’s really summer. Even if it doesn’t feel like it. Brr.

Our myth of the soul mate

But perhaps most damaging of all is our myth of the soul mate. We have certain expectations — nothing short of total emotional support from our spouses. We also require rocking sex, a perfect other half of the parenting team, and our go-to playmate. We expect to share everything in our lives with just this one person, and then we wonder where all the magic went. There’s no magic if there’s no mystery, and there’s no mystery if you are sharing space with your significant other every moment of every day. Add to that the instant buffet line of possible replacements that you can find on any dating website, and it’s no wonder people are finding it difficult to commit.

—Jessa Crispin

Photography feels like outward movement

When you’re floundering in grief, photography can get you out of the house, while writing is a key for a different door. I find I do my most coherent writing at home, and create my best photographs when I’m outside. Photography feels like outward movement, reaching out into the world, my eyes open, creating new images. Writing, on the other hand, is an inward retreat, as I sink into myself to find the words, dropping into my body and swimming with the currents of my past, locating memories that hold clues to today.

—Susannah Conway
excerpt from This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart
@ Poppytalk

Project 366 – Week 26

176/366
when the sun comes out
people remember why they
live in Vancouver

177/366
breathing in + out
zen yoga experience
mmm, scent of a skunk

178/366
am I the only
one who can’t believe good news
till it’s official?

179/366
on the way home stop
at the farmers market to
buy ripe strawberries

180/366
home and native land
of the free, home of the brave
weeknight baseball game

181/366
after accomplishment,
the letdown. a run, a beer,
then a good night’s sleep

182/366
all day drizzly rain
air thick with humidity
clings, toilet tank drips

Project 366 – Week 25

169/366
2 white plastic chairs
sit next to the small RV
living on the street

170/366
don’t you hate it when
“updates” break your computer
half a day wasted

171/366
another Tuesday,
another day stuck in
grading jail (that’s life)

172/366
woman wearing a
typewriter around her neck
old-tech hipster kitsch

173/366
first day of summer
no sun in the sky but I’m
all caught up on sleep

174/366
frantic birds scrabbling
on the roof — am I in an
Alfred Hitchcock film?

175/366
old women in pink
beside cancer agency
smoking cigarettes

Project 366 – Week 24

162/366
Sunday evening smells
of barbecue sauce and grill
smoke floating like fog

163/366
what’s got into me?
conquering my to-do list
Monday morn machine

164/366
today it’s gray and
dripping rain. darkness hovers
around the edges.

165/366
production station
is a wind tunnel, vortex
of shivery cold

166/366
wandering the aisles
late night at the grocery store
foraging for food

167/366
dear self: sharing your
“deadlines” doesn’t speed you up
it stresses you out

168/366
working on weekends
is for chumps (and grad students)
welcome to my life