I’ve had a busy weekend, and I can’t believe it’s already Sunday evening. I haven’t done much writing, but I cleaned my house, entertained guests (and talked about Nathaniel Hawthorne, movies, children, and my novel), and I thought a whole bunch about my novel. Meanwhile, my friend Carla Shafer is doing the August Poetry Postcard fest […]
It’s my third morning of work — back on the novel — and, just as I predicted, I’m feeling better about it. And about life. I’ve also been reading The Pen and the Bell, a splendid new book about writing and meditation by Holly Hughes and Brenda Miller. One exercise they suggest is to write about how one begins. This […]
I am in a blue mood, what my husband calls “the Dempsey Dumpster.” Yesterday was my first real day back at work on the novel and it did not go well. I stayed in my office, groaning and fidgeting and not writing for four hours. I have forgotten how to write. I was never […]
So I have been thinking about mentors, and then today my friend Carolynne gave me a piece of writing about courage. I think what the ideal mentor does is to give us courage. In Homer’s Odyssey, Mentor is a friend of Odysseus, an older, trusted adviser. The goddess Athena later takes the form of Mentor in order […]