writer
But. I’m kind of floored by the plot twists I didn’t see coming and the random couplings that pant in and out of this novel. I want to say that Eleanor Catton is a genius but that word has almost thoroughly lost its meaning. I mean, it’s applied to the most hideous of songsmiths imaginable. Let me just make a list of what she does flawlessly in this book:
Read More Book review: Birnam Woodsome prompts for your pleasure Should you be experiencing some fizzy joy as I have been, cherished reader, that has ideas jostling each other in your head and your wrist aching from transcribing missives from the grooviest muse, you can skip this post. Otherwise, I’ve added some delightful prompts to shake free your fruitful work […]
Read More promptapalooza4 things you can do right now to help your writing and writer’s career
Read More 4 changes writers can make NOWDo your fucking homework -your mom Writers are notoriously creative. When we get together and talk about writing, the extroverts among us wax poetic—the introverts (if given a chance, and enough pauses by the chatty extroverts) often have great ideas about improving and augmenting a text in workshop. But more loquacious workshoppers and their quieter […]
Read More Writing workshop etiquetteLearning our craft through community. Finding ourselves inspired by workshops, craft lessons. Writer’s inspiration grows in diverse environments. Lighthouse LitFest 2021.
Read More You write because you mustWhat the Dead Say: A memoir of life after death Excerpt: Paranormal circus Before I could stop myself I said, “Ha! Paranormal circus for you, huh?” to the owner, as she was checking my daughter out. “What?” “No one has said anything about the guy in the back? He doesn’t bug you?” “What guy?” I’d flustered […]
Read More Which witch are you?Find the gold in the pan. Revisioning your work as a writer with care and effect.
Read More Revision: re-envision, discoverWhen you find your voice you find your power. Learn how creating art creates new choices for trauma survivors to express joy and their inner creativity.
Read More Song: Selfish as a SphinxI’m never getting over it. I’m never going to heal. The number of family members who supported the evil president and the way we shied away from talking about it. For me, it was like endless, internal bleeding. I kept loving them and I hated them for it. I have so much fucking white privilege […]
Read More Blown awayGive yourself a midcentury modern overhaul or channel the Grandmillennial chic of The Queen’s Gambit.
Read More Baby gimme modPronounce the title as “live–on earth– LIE-V” A concert for the end of the world. The King of Lies conducts. A volcano choice to erupt against them, the OTHER the ones who will not see it the way they should. Channy sees her feet on soil as a prayer on earth, for earth, pulling from […]
Read More Live on earthFemale Black poets
Read More Being an ally: #amplifymelanatedvoicesStarting National Poetry Writing Month 13 days in with a found poem prompt.
Read More Been caught stealingWhatever your reaction to this, please be kind to yourself.
Read More Be where you need to be82,404 The latest count of infected here on this land of plenty Times two—one hundred sixty-four, eight hundred and eight. This many lungs pulling fur in the sac instead of air, we pant for hours, we gulp in infected skies The rest of us hold our breath—the spores in the air in flown sputum from careless […]
Read More COVID-19 poemFear and hand sanitizer and the coronavirus.
Read More Coronavirus: Obsessive Hand Sanitizing and Other ObservationsJoin me March 6 in Manitou Springs Colorado for an art opening at Commonwheel –Responding to Climate Change
Read More Climate Change: Poems for Gaia- Chapbook Launch5 ways from successful writers to keep a writing schedule going. The schedule includes sane plans for marketing; submitting; and spending time in community.
Read More 5 ways to keep to a writing scheduleToday I sit at my desk with emails answered. I have incredible peace of mind. Why? I finally decided to eat a healthy breakfast! Up at five this morning, it was dark and 6 degrees Farenheit. I couldn’t see Pikes Peak out of my window. I first tackled the dishes from my marathon meal prep […]
Read More Making every Monday my B&^tch (Hound)The problem with Christmas is: The two sides of my personality are arrayed against one another in hand-to-hand, bloody red and money-green-colored combat. On one hand, I revel in movies about sorority houses being invaded by murderous Santas– Krampus is my spirit animal of the season, not Rudolph. On the other hand, I am recording […]
Read More The problem with ChristmasWhen I use imagery, often I use the animal world as inspiration. I culturally appropriate their innocence; their victimhood; their beauty. Many of my horror writer idols use beasts and monsters as inchoate expressions of the darkest part of the mind of womyn. If you want to see what you can do with the two […]
Read More New flash fiction: inspired by beastsBillie Eilish is brilliantly broken–but it’s not her fault.
Read More Billie Eilish: Ms. Magnificent MalaisePlease join me on October 19 as costumed revelers in our very own, gritty, grimy rock n’ roll circus. Based on my chapbook of the same name, Rock and Roll Hootchy Koo follows a young artist as her lives intersect with the songs of rock-poets like Lorde, Jim Morrison, Morrissey, Leonard Cohen, PJ Harvey, Bjork, […]
Read More ArtPop 2019: October 19Why isn’t the ambient sound of each echoing soul okay on its own? The answer is—it absolutely is—but it gets less interesting unless the meaning of the sound is coordinated and organized into a “song”—a coherent narrative of art, creativity harnessed, into something the rest of us can absorb.
Read More The Memory in MemoirReviews of the weather, books and other distractions Winter feels interminable this year. When doesn’t it? AI generated art by me, above. I’ve allowed myself to be a reader, not a reviser. My memoir is languishing, jostling the bits and bytes in my Macbook, sending up summer popsicle smells and unease. Mispellings in my emails […]
Read More Fallow TimesThe beauty of a lumpy, bugeyed tannic elastic species of toad.
Read More CanNibalistic tadpolesLetter to my son: What do you hear when you hear the music that changed my life? There was an alcove between the restrooms at a bar called Dizzy Duncan’s in the Morris County Mall. In the alcove, an old cigarette machine squatted mellowly in the thin golden light spilling out of the bar. Adjacent, […]
Read More Assless chaps
Patty Tomsky 