La Belle Dame de Merci

2012 Goals: Second Month Check In

2012-02-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

~ T.S. Eliot

According to my calculations, I haven’t gotten very far in reaching my goals, even though I took a risk with such a huge list this year. Try as I may, I tend to get overwhelmed pretty early in the journey, and simply stop looking at the road signs. No wonder I get lost and end up looking over the Resolution Ravine ~ I see a lot of dried old bones and fresh carcasses down there!

So while I am trying to figure out what method of tracking my goals will help me to actually accomplish them, I have decided that in at least one department, I can add something that will definitely help: posting here weekly about my goal struggles and progress [when there is any!] and asking for your input on how you conquer the Overwhelmedness Ogre.

Together, let’s see how far we can go this year!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Gettin' Your Green On

2012-02-10T17:35:00.003-05:00

Salad "freshens without enfeebling and fortifies without irritating."

~ Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)

Last week I highlighted my top five favorite soups. This week we look at salads. I know ~ you don’t like to eat your veggies. I understand that salads are easier to munch on in the summer time when the tomatoes are red and juicy and warm from the sun’s caress in your garden, and your hands smell like the crisp and spicy basil leaves you just plucked. But salad has its place in the winter too. And even if you haven’t had a mild winter like we have had so far here in Virginia, you can still enjoy the energy and pick me up you get from eating your veggies.

Cornbread Salad

Also known as layered salad, I make this for summer BBQs and it is a great way to get those veggies down! The recipe I have actually used is in one of my coveted Southern Living cookbooks, but this one has most of the ingredients and the point of these salads is to play a little.

Fig and Goat Cheese Salad

I discovered this sexy little salad while searching Epicurious for a 4 course dinner for fourteen friends I hosted a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I took this recipe as a suggestion and made substitutions all over the place. Figs are not in season, so I used dried instead; raspberry and run raisin goat cheese instead of the yogurt; arugula instead of pepper cress; and I topped it off with balsamic vinegar and EVOO. Wow. Now I know why figs are known as nature’s candy. Even my friends who do not like salad ate it up!

Heirloom Salad

Okay, I agree: this salad really is better in the summer when everything is straight from the garden. But it still makes the list as one of my top five salads. I adore fresh tomatoes and basil still wet with dew. If you are dairy-intolerant like me, forgo the cheese altogether or use Daiya’s Mozzarella ~ love that brand! It’s not only non-dairy, it’s non-soy. Yay!

Panzanella Salad

This is a great winter salad because it has bread in it. And although I try to eat as little gluten as possible for health reasons, fresh French bread is my weakness. I have used a variation of this recipe several times and each time it’s a hit. The key is to let the salad sit for a little while so that the bread absorbs the juices from the tomatoes, cucs, and the EVOO. This one can be an entrée.

Warm Beet Salad with Bacon

Growing up I hated beets. Now I love them. Especially in the juicer. Ahh! My favorite café in North Arlington is Cassatt’s Kiwi Café and they serve a simply amazing beet salad with goat cheese and honey. This recipe has the same idea (brown sugar), but with the added yumminess of bacon. And as we all know, everything is better with bacon!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What are your favorite salads ~ for winter or summer?

Top Five Friday: "No Soup For You!!"

2012-02-03T10:00:00.001-05:00

First-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.

~ Abraham Maslow

Looking through past posts from 2011, I realize I haven’t posted any menus or recipes since March or April of 2011. Time to rectify that sad state of affairs! As it is February (although these past few days have felt more like April), what better place to begin a new month of Top Five Fridays then with food? So today I highlight my top five soups. And given the roller coaster weather we have been having, some of these recipes are on the lighter side ~ in texture, if not in calories!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Epicurious is the best recipe archive hands down. And even my friends who do not like squash ~ or any type of vegetable ~ love this soup. I made this for my cousins when they visited the United States for the first time in October and they were blown away. I guess they don’t puree vegetables in Poland?

Since I don’t “do” dairy, I substituted coconut milk for the cream and a soy-based product for the sour cream. I do not normally eat or recommend soy products (perhaps a topic for another post) but I have yet to find a good non-soy substitute for sour cream. Love to hear your suggestions in the comm box!

Cream of Mushroom Soup with Sherry

Again, I substituted coconut milk for the heavy cream and didn’t notice the difference. And yes, I do still use real butter (margarine is just evil ~ it’s chemicals, people! Blah!) And even with a dairy intolerance, organic butter does not seem bother my system. (Thank God! My reputation as a good Southern cook is intact!)

African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans

This is wonderfully hearty soup for when winter nights are actually cold! Don’t turn your nose up at the secret ingredient ~ peanut butter. It adds a rich and creamy texture to the soup and you hardly notice it. Serve this with corn bread dripping with butter and honey ~ yum!

Pumpkin Chili

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin custard, pumpkin bread ~ you name it, I’ve put pumpkin in it. I love this sweet squash! Having said that, you may not think pumpkin and chili could get along in the same pot. But just like the peanut butter in the Sweet Potato Stew, pumpkin adds more texture than noticeable flavor in this chili. I even served this to my manly men friends for Super Bowl Sunday in the past and they went back for thirds!

Corn and Crab Chowder

Ok, so corn is really a summer starch. And I really try to do the seasonal eating thang. But this chowder is too good to wait until summer to make. And I love crab, although not as much as I love pumpkin (Crab pie? Crab custard? Ewww!)

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What are some of your favorite soup recipes? Share your links or lists with us!

Writing Challenge: A Month of Letters

2012-02-01T22:00:00.010-05:00

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call.

~ Liz Carpenter

Really, nothing beats going to the mail box and finding a handwritten letter tucked between the utility bills, political posturing, and snail-mail spam. Even better when that handwritten envelope is unexpected. So it was with great joy that I read Tia’s post (of Depression Cookies fame) about the Month of Letters Challenge, brought to you by Mary Robinette Kowal.

The rules are simple: during February, snail mail at least one item during the days the post office is open. And make sure you write back to everyone who writes back to you. For more info, visit Mary’s website.

With several pen pals, one would think I had enough letters to mail for more than twenty-four days. Perhaps ~ we’ll see how it goes. I signed up ~ join me, and if you’re so inclined, drop me an email with your POB and leave the digital world behind for the next month!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Twitter Art Exhibit: Creativity + Charity

2012-01-26T17:20:00.000-05:00

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.

~ Amy Lowell

Sullivan just told me about a great art exhibit that any artist in the world can contribute to. The caveat? The artist has to be on Twitter.

David Sandum is a Swedish artist living in Norway. Last year, he came up with the Twitter Art Exhibit to benefit the Moss Public Library and it was a roaring success. This year the exhibit will benefit The Women’s Crisis Center in Moss. All submissions are must be the size of a postcard and the deadline to send your artwork in is March 30.

To learn more about David, his art and the details of this fantastic charity art exhibit, visit his website.

And let us know if you submit any artwork!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

2012 Goals: Mid-Month Check In

2012-01-18T17:29:00.000-05:00

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

~ Diana Scharf Hunt

Eighteen days into my goal setting extravaganza; time to check in! How am I doing?

Writing – Blogposts

Five posts in January so far; that’s at least two blogposts a week ~ so far so good! I am so glad I gave myself this goal; it is forcing me to write and let go instead of keeping my writing under lock and key. The written word is like a child; it needs to get out and make some mistakes or it will never mature.

Writing – Letters

I said 2 weeks and it’s been about 2½. But I did mail one letter yesterday and am in the process of replying to two more and writing another two after that.

Writing – Submitting

Ok, I admit it. This one I forgot about, but the month isn’t over yet! I still have time!

I did compose a new poem, so before the month is out, I need to submit [or another one] and let the words fall where they may!

Writing - Journaling

I’ve simply flown on this one. I have journaled almost every day since the start of the month. It was a rough start ~ being sick makes doing anything seem impossible, including lifting a pen. But now I’m on a roll. The strange thing? I’ve found myself typing all my journal entries because my fingers can keep up with my rapid-fire thoughts and I don’t lose anything. Writing it long-hand, I lose track of the thought or the emotion I want to capture. My next lesson will be to not beat myself up for typing instead of the more romantic long-hand. I do still hand write my letters, so there is that.

Personal Growth/Giving Back Goals

Perhaps I should have broken my goals down by month. As in, focus on writing goals in January, personal goals in February, etc. I say this now because the other two main goals (Personal Growth and Giving Back) have fallen by the way side. And by that I mean that I haven’t even looked at them in the last 3 weeks. Go me. Ah well. I can start tonight!

Not bad for the first couple of weeks!

How about you? How are you doing with your 2012 Goals/Resolutions?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Fear the Thirteenth!

2012-01-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

Fear makes us feel our humanity.
~ Benjamin Disraeli

Happy Friday the 13th! I am not a overly superstitious person nor am I OCD ~ although sometimes for the sake of my cluttered home office and bedroom, I almost wish I were! But I love stories that deal with the dark side. Not the blood-and-guts, chop-chop horror stories full of scantily-clad screaming teenagers and no plot. But stories that tackle the dark side of humanity ~ something I think we are all too familiar with.

So in honour of Friday the 13th, I offer up my top five picks for artistic explorations of the dark side of humanity.

Criminal Minds – CBS
In my opinion, Criminal Minds is one of the best dark police procedurals on television right now. I have been watching the show on DVD the past couple of months, starting with Season 1; I’m in Season 5 at the moment. The writers for this show are incredible ~ every episode I watch has some aspect that makes me green with writerly envy. I’m the type who becomes completely enmeshed in the story [i.e. do NOT talk to me while I’m watching]; however, there have been moments when the writer in me detaches and thinks “that was a brilliant line or plot twist!”

In terms of fear, CM has got it: they’ve had episodes dealing with almost every type of sick psycho out there, including a Satanic-esque cannibal. What fascinates me is the myriad factors that go into making a criminal who he or she is, family background being the most important.

Grimm – NBC
The Grimm Fairy Tales as criminal profiles? Brilliant! The development of myths, how they affect us and what they say about a culture is a fascinating study. And NBC has a winner with this show. The pilot was a little slow, but set the stage and the episodes after have not disappointed. Imagination is not dead, folks! It’s alive and well in the minds of Stephen Carpenter, David Greenwalt, and Jim Kouf.

There’s fear aplenty and it airs tonight at 9pm!

Fringe – Fox
J.J. Abrams is my hero. He comes up with the most amazing plots and story lines that push the boundaries of the mind. He must wake up every morning thinking “What if…?” Mad scientists, parallel dimensions, other selves, and Joshua Jackson. Plus a haunting soundtrack.

Downside? Also airs on Fridays at 9pm. Tivo, baby!

The Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Remember reading this for English 101? A fascinating psychology study. A modern adaptation is Apocalypse Now, starring Martin Sheen and set in Vietnam instead of the Congo. Read the book ~ again ~ and then rent the movie.

The Tell-Tale Heart – Edgar Allan Poe
Picking five stories to read or watch for Friday the 13th is tough ~ there a re many great authors and stories out there. But you can’t talk about scary stories without mentioning Poe. The man was a master of the macabre and a brilliant writer. Masque of the Red Death is one of my personal favorites, but the Tell-Tale Heart is sheer brilliance because it Poe wrote it before “profiling” was invented. It’s a crime story told by the criminal who committed it.

I would love to see this re-imagined on Criminal Minds in Season 8. A violent and possibly schizophrenic yet organized protagonist becomes fixated on the old man’s eye, sadistically shines a light on it night after night for several weeks. After the vile deed is done, he chops up the body and arrogantly invites the police into the room and talks to them at length. Come on, it’s perfect!

What noir fiction do you like to read or watch and why?

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

Finding the Right Words

2012-01-11T18:34:00.000-05:00

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
~ Buddha

Yesterday I attended the wake of a dear friend of mine. Sharon was the light in the life of so many people: she always had a kind and encouraging word to say to everyone, was a tireless worker in the vineyard of the Lord, and had a mischievous sense of humour. She will be greatly missed around here.

As I was tidying my hair before going into the chapel, one of her daughters-in-law came up to me and introduced herself. She'd been crying and didn't seem to know what to do with herself. I took her hand and told her who I was and how I knew Sharon, and how it was a shock to think she was actually gone from us. And then I walked into the chapel and sat down several pews back from the family.

Every word of comfort, every poetic prose and turn of phrase I had ever thought of ~ out the window, up in flames, hidden behind a wall I couldn't penetrate. Why is it that when people need the right words the most from me, I stumble and hesitate or merely grimace, hold their hand, and say nothing at all?! I'm a writer for heaven's sake! I should be able to say something worth remembering!

After the wake was over and I was driving home, I thought of a few things I could have said that would have been sincere, authentic and comforting. But to write them down for later use would be to run the risk of turning into a Mr. Collins!

I know I'm not the only one with this lapse of. . . what? Memory? Prose? What do you do in these types of situations? How have you handled a loss of words before?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

You're Invited to Abbey's 54th Poetry Party!

2012-01-09T16:55:00.001-05:00

Poetry is what gets lost in translation.

~ Robert Frost

Christine over at Abbey of the Arts is hosting her 54 th Poetry Party! This party’s inspiration: the bare trees of winter. We are invited to write a poem and then post the image below (with a link back to Abbey of the Arts) and an invitation on our blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter.

Invite your friends to the party!

My contribution to the party:

The Naked Tree

Alone and forgotten

She stands straight.

Each gust of wind bends her back -

Bends but doesn’t break.

She stretches her limbs

Up, up

Toward the pale sun

And touches his warmth

In a fleeting embrace.

As the days wane

And the nights trace

Her outline by the moonglow,

She is transparent,

Vulnerable –

Stripped naked.

Still, none can see

The hope of spring

Hidden

Deep, deep

In her hibernating heart.

Oremus pro invicem,

Mikaela

Writing Without a Devil on Your Back

2012-01-07T08:00:00.006-05:00

Words betrayed her: beautiful butterflies in her mind;

dead moths when she opened her mouth for their release into the world.

~ Glen Duncan

I said that I wanted to post at least twice a week, and here it is the end of the first week of the new year, and voila: my second post, just making it across the finish line like a sweat-flecked favorite at the Derby, his nostrils spewing white gusts of breath.

Better late than never I suppose.

G.K. Chesterton once said (or at least it is attributed to him) that a thing worth doing is worth doing badly. But I don’t know about that. Bad writing is just plain bad writing. And usually when I read it (or see it played out on the big or small screen), I want to gouge out my eyes or have a book-burning party. (Can one burn DVDs?) Some writing should never see the light of day, it’s so bad.

Unfortunately, bloggers have two demons chasing them: a daily deadline (if we want our words to get out there; you can’t change the world with words if no one reads them!), and no editor.

Deadlines. I can live with deadlines. Like most writers, nothing I write is ever perfect enough to publish, and without an editor riding my procrastinating rear, self-imposed deadlines can simply fade away like pixie dust.

But editors!

Some writers will tell you they hate their editor. I only wish I had one to hate! Sullivan does a pretty good job of catching my grammatical mistakes and pointing out better ways to convey whatever it is I’m trying to say. But for the most part, I’m on my own.

And I hate poor writing.

Actually, hate isn’t a strong enough word. Despise? Abhor? Loathe?

You thought I was kidding about burning books, didn’t you? I have two working fireplaces in my house and sadly, I have enough kindling in poor writing to get me through the winter!

Who wants to be that writer? I do not want to be that writer!

But of course I have been. A lot of the kindling are my own scribblings, bits and bobs of poems never pursued, first drafts of stories that I strangled at almost their first breath, songs only half remembered. But that’s ok. Bad writing should never see the light of day, but it must still be written. Think of it as getting the poison out, or sowing your wild writing oats. Get it over with so you can get on to the good stuff.

And by the way, don’t burn the bad stuff. It just might be the seed of something new.

And good.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Breaking Writer's Block

2012-01-06T16:55:00.002-05:00

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.

~ Vladimir Nabakov

Day six of the new year ~ are you still psyched about realizing your dreams and goals!? I have to admit, I’m not quite as energetic about it all as I was when I was laying out my goals and planning how to reach them. A faulty thyroid, a severe vitamin D deficiency, and a low iron count may be contributing factors, but honestly, reaching any goal, no matter how badly we want it, involves sacrifice and hard work.

Stares at a blank page for an hour.

What I wouldn’t give for Harry Potter’s wand!

Checks FB four times in that same hour.

Actually, what I wouldn’t give for J.K. Rowling’s brain!

Page still blank. And now throat is dry. Pours herself a drink.

Ok, there must be a better way than this to get motivated to write. For crying out loud, six days in and I haven’t written one, single, bloody word! The brand new journal is blank. My poetry book hasn’t been written in since God only knows when. My folders for blog posts has moths flying out of it. And my pens and keyboards are covered with a fine film of dust.

Ok, Maybe it’s not that bad.

Looks at blank sheet of paper.

Maybe it’s worse! What is an earth-bound muggle writer to do!?

And voila! My own writer’s block is broken and I have my top five list for you today: Mikaela’s Top Five Ways to Break Writer’s Block.

Read

I love reading book reviews; a good one can be like Cliff Notes, giving you enough of the book to give you a flavor and the desire to read more. Tia Bach over at Depression Cookies recently read and reviewed Stephen King’s On Writing. Tia pointed out that Stephen King reads a lot of books and he recommends that writers read a lot of books. It’s an old but true proverb: the best writers are well-read. Meaning, they read. A lot.

Just Write

Stephen King writes 1,000 words a day, and there’s rarely a day he doesn’t write. Now, perhaps 1,000 words a day is too much to tackle. So make it 500. Or maybe a timer works better. Set a simple kitchen timer for 20 or 30 minutes, put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and don’t stop writing until the timer goes off. Don’t worry about perfect prose and elegant poetry. Just put words down on the page. It’s amazing how doing this unlocks topics and connections you hadn’t thought of before; you won’t be able to stop writing. The key is to write the same amount of words every day.

Get Active

Sometimes you just need to step back and get a different perspective on what you’re writing about. Get outside and take a walk. Or a jog. Dance with your children, play with your dog, hug your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend. Just get away from the desk, breathe in some fresh air, and get the blood pumping. But don’t dilly-dally. Once you feel rejuvenated, get back to the desk and start writing again.

Talk to a Friend

Criminal Minds is one of my favorite TV shows, and I don’t watch a lot of the idiot box. Right now I’m on Season 5 of the DVD set from Netflix. Every episode my respect (and perhaps a little envy?) of their writing team grows. And I realized something: it’s a team effort. Most writers will tell you that the art and craft of writing is a solitary endeavor, and for the most part I agree. But I have seized upon some of my best ideas when bouncing things off of fellow writers. Sullivan is writing more poetry then blog posts these days, and we still get together as often as we can to watch the spark of creativity explode into some great projects.

Meditate

In this plugged in age, you would not believe the benefits of just sitting in silence. No text message beeps, no voicemail dings, no vibrating hum ringtone, no electronic hum at all. The human brain can only handle so much. Turn things off, get comfortable, and just breathe. Empty your mind of your to do lists, schedules. Breathe. Relax. Focus on one thing only: that you are loved and accepted by God ~ however you understand Him. Do this for 15, 20, 30, or even 60 minutes once a week, and you’ll be surprised at how much calmer you will be. And when your body is calm, your mind is calm. And when your mind is calm, oh the ideas you’ll think!

What about you? Do you have any tried and true methods for breaking writer’s block?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Last Top Five Friday of 2011: Learning to Set Goals

2011-12-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

~ Victor Frankl

This weekend, we will all make resolutions. And we will keep them for about a week; two if we’re strong; all year if you’re Mother Teresa. As I mentioned on Tuesday, I set out to start 2012 out differently. This time, I would make goals and by gosh, by golly, I was going to keep them and realize them! But where to begin? And how to make it stick this time?

A wise man once said that you should surround yourself with people smarter than yourself so that you can learn from them. So I did what I do best ~ read what other, smarter and more successful goal-setters were saying on the subject.

Some articles were about as helpful as a raincoat in Death Valley. Others were too clichéd. And some knocked my pen top off. Today, I bring you the top five articles I found helpful in setting my 2012 goals.

Abbey of the Arts

I have mentioned Christine Valters Paintner here and here before. She is an amazing person with a big heart, a gifted writer, and an affirming mentor. In Give me a Word, she encourages us to do some soul searching and come up with a word for the year.

I’ve been choosing a word to describe how I want my year to be for awhile now and was excited to learn that someone else does this too! I’m still pondering and meditating on what my word for 2012 will be.

Goodlife Zen

In addition to Goodlife, Mary Jaksch is also one of the main writers behind the great writers blog, Write to Done. Which reminds me, I need to do one of their blogging boot camps in 2012 ~ add that to the goal list!

While this article is not about goal setting specifically, Mary lays out some great steps to help find peace amidst the turmoil and chaos that life can throw at us. I don’t know about you, but peace seems like a pretty good goal to me!

I love how silence is step number one. With all of us being plugged in 24/7, now is a good time to make an appointment with and for yourself to unplug, unwind, and take time to just think about where you are and where you want to be.

Live Bold and Bloom

I love Barrie Davenport. She’s another great writer and mentor in the blogosphere. Her posts break things down in manageable steps and she’s always ready with an encouraging word.

Personal Development highlights twelve steps to prepare for goal-setting. She takes the tired old resolutions we all used to make [lose weight, exercise more] and repackages them in ways that make “the medicine go down” so to speak.

For instance, Barrie asks “What have you been feeding your beautiful, amazing body over the last year?” A question that forces you to examine your eating habits while at the same time affirming your beauty and the goodness of the body. So much easier than “I resolve to lose weight.”

Mind Tools

I keep returning to this site for career and business advice. But it can also be used for mapping out personal growth. From this article, they link to several other ones on goals, such as Backward Goal Setting, and Motivate Yourself.

Untitled

Allyson Whipple is a blogger on SheWrites. She has an excellant list of broad writing goals with a breakdown into categories and smaller steps for 2012 that is worth reading and adpating to your own writing goal needs. I found it helpful when developing my own list.

The key to goal keeping is to break things down to a manageable level, something most of these sites do. Having one large list of broad goals is not only unrealistic, it’s overwhelming. Not everyone throws up their hands at such a list and gives up right at the start, but for most of us, it’s tempting.

Smaller steps give us opportunities to succeed early in the game and reward ourselves. They also give us permission to fail and try again, thereby ensuring we actually will try again.

Here’s to growing stronger and healthier on all levels in 2012!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Goal Time!

2011-12-27T16:42:00.000-05:00

It is never too late to be who you might have been.

~ George Eliot

It is almost January. Another year gone. Where in the world does the time go? A long time ago, when I was just turning thirteen or fourteen, someone told me that once I hit high school, time would simply fly. They were right. And each year it just seems to go by faster and faster.

This year is no different. Once September hit, life began to resemble the Indy 500 and things didn’t slow down until yesterday. Planning an arts festival, Thanksgiving dinner, and a Christmas party beats the stuffing out of you. Not to mention having pesky gallstones earn you a couple of stays in the hospital and catching a nasty cold that leave you too weak to eat even the bland diet the gallstones have you on. Autumn 2011 was a hell of a time!

Now I am pain-free (although not yet gallstone-free) and have some time to reflect on where this year has taken me and what path I’d like to take next in the coming months. And since telling someone your goals makes it (hopefully) more likely that you will actually accomplish them, I am going to share mine with you, dear readers.

Goal #1: Write More

This is always the first goal/resolution I make every January. And I do fairly well in January. February I lose a little steam. March comes and I get a second wind. April brings spring fever, and by the time May arrives, I’m exhausted. It just does downhill from there!

So this year, I decided to tool around reading what other writers and normal people (ha!) were saying about their goal making. I’ll be posting a list of the top five ones I found, but I’d like to highlight one (consider it Number Five and a Half if you will) today: http://www.michelleschaeffer.com/. Michelle always has great tips for blogging, marketing, etc. Read her entire article on setting goals here.

She suggests breaking your goals down into steps and targets. Doh! Why didn’t I think of that!? Not only is this helpful for mapping out where you want to be in twelve months, you can break things down into manageable steps that hold you accountable, so this year you may actually not default on your goals! Yes!

With this new power tool in hand, my writing goals now look like this:

1. Post to this blog at least twice a week.

a. If I post more than three times a week for a month, I get to treat myself to a new pen! (I really, really, like pens. Especially fountain pens.]

2. Respond to all personal letters within two weeks of receiving the letter. (I have a lot of pen pals and friends who write deliciously long, snail-mail letters!)

a. I would have put a reward of stationary here, but I already need a twelve-step program for the boxes and boxes I have already.

3. Submit one piece of poetry or personal essay a month to five different magazines or journals.

a. I think this is its own reward ~ especially if I get published.

4. Journal at least three times a week.

a. This can include Morning Pages, poetry, or general personal rants and raves. Just journal!

b. I already have my reward for this: a gorgeous, new, hardback journal. I hope to have the spine broken in by February.

Goal #2: Personal Growth

5. Develop one new healthy coping mechanism.

a. They say it takes thirty days to develop a new habit, and our coping mechanism are just that: habits. Usually bad ones. Learning a new, integrated one will help heal the wounds that the old mechanism was simultaneously protecting and scratching at.

6. Develop a weekly exercise routine that is sustainable.

a. This means fun. And being outdoors as much as possible.

7. Hire a professional organizer and be clutter-free in 2012!

a. This will also help with Goal #1.

8. Eat 80% raw (already doing this for the most part)

a. Reward? My gallbladder will thank me. Not to mention having to buy yet another new pair of jeans in the last four weeks because the old new ones are already falling off of me. Yes!

Goal #3: Giving Back

9. Plant a sustainable, organic vegetable and herb garden in the Spring.

a. This includes research, planning, and hiring some manly labor if necessary.

1) Beer and pizza are acceptable forms of payment for aforementioned manly labor.

b. Donate any surplus produce to the local food bank or soup kitchen.

10. Volunteer at least once a month at the charity of your choice.

a. Yes, The Saint Cecilia Group counts.

b. No, it can’t SCG every month.

11. Write your mother a letter.

a. You would be surprised at how difficult this one can be!

12. Go on retreat.

a. Because if you don’t first give back to yourself, how will you be able to give back to others?

12 goals for 2012. Whew! That’s seems a tall order! Actually, that means I should add one more:

13. Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s okay to fail. It means you tried.

What are your goals for 2012? Feel free to share in the comment section!

Oremuc pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: How I Found Peace (or Avoiding the Crowds on Black Friday)

2011-11-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.

~ George Bernard Shaw

One of the blessings of being back in a relatively small town is the downtown area. Historic Fredericksburg is one of my all time favorite places to be, and I’m not just saying that as one of its proud Southern daughters.

Today is Black Friday. A day when manners, already almost completely forgotten on a normal day, are completely thrown out and insanity and incivility rule. Just as I sat down to write this, I heard on the news about a woman in California who maced other shoppers just so she could get the last Xbox or some such nonsense. I would like to think this is something that only happens somewhere else, but several years ago I witnessed two grown women, well into their 40s, having a screaming match ~ complete with hair pulling and punching ~ over some item, now long forgotten. It was my first and last foray into the hell known as Black Friday.

This year, since I was home, I opted instead to support local shop owners and producers. What a contrast to the big, noisy chain stores! Shopping was actually pleasant and was an almost centering experience. I talked and joked with each store owner, clerk, and customer that I met. The gifts I bought were unique and special and chosen with care. More importantly, I planted a seed of kindness and generosity at each store that I hope will grow into a life-long relationship and maybe, if we’re both lucky, friendship.

If you are ever in the area and would like to experience warm Southern hospitality while you shop, check out my top five favorite stores and boutiques and all the other great places in and around Historic Fredericksburg.

A Place in Time

Vera Bradley. Need I say more? You will also love the almost two story Christmas tree decorated with beautiful ornaments, including some Christopher Radko. Upstairs you’ll find some of the most luscious linens ever to grace your table ~ holiday or otherwise!

Riverby Used Books

Books. Books. And more books. Can you tell I love books? A couple of friends on my nice list are avid bibliophiles. So shopping for them was a cinch here. Especially since they especially like old, out of print, or rare books. Riverby’s is a book lover’s haven, with three stories and couches in different nooks and crannies where you can settle down with your favorite Jane Austen or Walt Whitman. Of note: check out the Art and Civil War sections.

Whittingham’s

This has always been my go-to shop for gifts for my home chef and foodie friends. Which sometimes includes “Merry Christmas to me!” Ah well. Today I bought a few stocking stuffers for my close “Captivating” girlfriends, and also a metal food mold ~ think sushi shape, and a tiny silver spoon just for fun. They also have ornaments, tablecloths and unique gifts in the home section. Always artfully decorated at this most wonderful time of the year.

Du Jardin

This home store was new to me and I fell in love with it. It was like stepping into the parlour in an old French chateau. The wall colour is a muted blue ~ almost a pale, pale Wedgewood. I ended up purchasing twelve adorable little pear candles to use a place holders for an elegant dinner.

Tanya Richey Gallery

Another new to me store. I got to meet Tanya and her watercolours are beautiful. I bought a couple of original pieces depicting fall scenes in Fredericksburg and the Shenandoah Valley. With the right frame, it will be perfect for my friend who moved away from all her family and friends in Virginia ~ a little piece of home on her wall.

There are lots more stores I could tell you about, but this is Top Five Friday after all!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Eighth Annual Saint Cecilia Arts Festival: The War Between the States

2011-11-23T15:30:00.000-05:00

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.

~ Twyla Tharp

Well, we did it again. Another November, another successful Saint Cecilia Arts Festival! And by all accounts, it was the best one yet.

Once again we wooed and wowed the audience by turns with poetry, Broadway, original music, moving monologues, and side-splitting comedy. But this year we added a twist: a theme.

2011 marked the 150^th Anniversary of the American Civil War, so that was our main theme. To broaden it a little for our artists, we added four sub-themes: War, Tragedy, Honor, and Survival. Both Sullivan and I wondered how the artists would interpret the theme. They did not disappoint.

The Civil Strings

Civil Strings was our Featured Artist this year. They performed four beautiful pieces, two of which are personal favorites: Theme from Schindler’s List and Ashokan Farewell, from Ken Burns’ Civil War series. Over Farewell, Donald Maclean, one of the members of the quartet, read the Gettysburg Address. It was a moving performance that ended the evening on a wonderful note (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Michelle Jacobeen, mezzo-soprano

Michelle Jacobeen returned and performed two numbers from Broadway musicals. One was as a Civil War nurse – I Never Knew His Name and one from the musical Jekyll and Hyde – A New Life. As she did last year, Michelle won the hearts of our audience with her lyricism and dramatic interpretation.

Janet Purdy, mezzo and Maria Bissex, sorprano

Maria Bissex, soprano, sang two songs not normally associated with a Civil War theme: an incredible version of Empty Chairs and Empty Tables, and a moving duet arragement of Into the West, where she was joined by mezzo Janet Purdy. The latter was one of my personal favorites; believe me when I say that the Annie Lennox version does not do this piece justice. You need to hear this duo’s harmonies!

Eric J. Kingsepp, Hannah DeRegibus,
Paul Dunlap, and Mikaela D'Eigh

I think it is safe to say that the highlight of the evening was the Went with the Wind skit by Carol Burnett. I remember watching this skit back in the day, and laughing until my sides ached. The drapes weren’t green velvet, but the red silk still got the desired response: Starlett [yours truly] had to wait a full minute and a half for the laughter to die down so she could say her next line!

The menu this year matched the theme, with some stalwart favorites sticking around: Fried Chicken Bites [my mother’s receipe], Sausage Balls [Paula Deen’s recipe], Petite Ham Biscuits, Bacon-Wrapped Dates, Petite Pumpkin Pies, and Pecan Tassies.

We also had a cheese board donated by Fields of Athenry, a sustainable and organic farm located in Purcellville, Virginia. And this year’s spotlighted winery, Breaux Vineyards, is located in Loudon County, not that far from Athenry. The owners down at The Virginia Wine Experience in Fredericksburg were kind enough to give us a discount on a case of some of Breaux’s nicest vintages.

To see more pictures, read the event program, or simply to learn more about the great work these group is doing to renew culture in the local community, visit The Saint Cecilia Group at www.saintceciliagroup.org and click on Past Events. I promise you’ll be marking your calendars for Saturday, 17 November 2012!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Eighth Annual Saint Cecilia Arts Festival

2011-11-03T16:38:00.001-04:00

To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.

~ Schumann

Every November, an exciting event celebrating the beauty of Art and the art of Beauty takes place in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Now in its eighth year, the Annual Saint Cecilia Arts Festival has grown from a small group of friends gathered around a piano to almost two hundred attendees and over two hours of outstanding performances!

For the first time this year, The Saint Cecilia Group has chosen a theme for the festival: the commemoration of the 150^th Anniversary of the Civil War, with the sub-themes of war, tragedy, honor, and survival. Although not all the works performed will deal directly with the Civil War, the heartbreak, pain, suffering, and acts of heroic sacrifice of war are recurring themes no matter if it’s 1865 Gettysburg, or 2011 Afghanistan.

The show will be at St. Mary’s Lyceum,

313 Duke Street

in Alexandria, Virginia and tickets are on sale now through November 12 at The Saint Cecilia Group. But get them now; they sell out fast!

Thank you so much for supporting local and regional talent! Yours truly will be performing once again, in among other things, a skit with one English know-it-all and one with a very well known Southern rascal in a skit involving . . .a curtain.

See you on the 19^th!

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

November 2011 PAD Challenge

2011-11-02T18:09:00.000-04:00

Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.

~ Percy Shelley

It’s already Day 2 of Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem a Day (PAD) challenge for November. I wish I could say I’m late posting this because I was busy writing a poem. However, today I will take up the challenge. You go read all the rules and find out more at Robert’s blog.

November is a month dedicated to writing. You have the National Novel Writing Month, and also a Non-Fiction version. I would have loved to do either of those, but my track record for writing isn’t so hot. So I will start small. A poem a day may seem insane, but for me, it just flows. Sometimes it flows like spring water and other times it flows like some other kind of water! But the point is to write. Every day.

And hopefully at the end of 30 days, there will be 10-20 poems worth keeping and publishing in a chapbook.

Writers, dip your pens!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

P.S. So what have I been working on?? Just one song and two skits for the Annual Saint Cecilia Arts Festival ~ but that’s another post for another day! ;)

Spirits of the Dead - Edgar Allan Poe

2011-10-31T11:52:00.000-04:00

For your ghoulish Halloween reading pleasure: Poe’s “The Spirits of the Dead”

(from: The Complete Poems and Stories of Edgar Allan Poe )

Thy soul shall find itself alone

’Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone—

Not one, of all the crowd, to pry

Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,

Which is not loneliness—for then

The spirits of the dead who stood

In life before thee are again

In death around thee—and their will

Shall overshadow thee: be still.

III

The night, tho’ clear, shall frown—

And the stars shall look not down

From their high thrones in the heaven,

With light like Hope to mortals given—

But their red orbs, without beam,

To thy weariness shall seem

As a burning and a fever

Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,

Now are visions ne’er to vanish;

From thy spirit shall they pass

No more—like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze—the breath of God—is still—

And the mist upon the hill,

Shadowy—shadowy—yet unbroken,

Is a symbol and a token—

How it hangs upon the trees,

A mystery of mysteries.

Top Five Friday: Whistling in the Semi-Dark of Morning

2011-10-28T17:30:00.011-04:00

The following post was meant to be published last Friday, 28 October, but my home internet was being its usual 3G pain. So here it is ~ just in time for Halloween!

Pixie, kobold, elf, and sprite,

All are on their rounds tonight;

In the wan moon's silver ray,

Thrives their helter-skelter play.

~ Joel Benton

Not only elves, but other creatures are out as well, and not quite as friendly. As you know, I moved back to the country recently. I love being back in the midst of nature, but there are some things that I had forgotten about. Such as, you can’t put food down the kitchen sink because there’s no garbage disposal. [I want to compost anyway.] And there’s no landlord to call when things break down, you need to call the repair guy yourself. And there’s a good reason to buy a shotgun when you have medium to large wild animals prowling around your backyard in the wee hours of the morning.

Gulp. Did you say large wild animals?

Yes sirree bob. And what’s worse, I didn’t get a good look at them [yes, there were two], but they were charcoal gray to black and very agile. One of them jumped over the woodpile to get away from the truck’s headlights as I drove closer for a better look. Coyote? They’ve been sighted around. Mountain lion? Well, I did hear a sound like a woman screaming one morning, and they sound like that. [Remember Pa in Little House in the Big Woods? That can still send shivers down my back!]

The next morning, as I left the comfort and safety of the garage and walked to the truck to leave for work, I sang. Some people whistle when they’re afraid. I sing. Or talk out loud to myself. Maybe it actually makes the things get a better sense for where I am. But since a shotgun’s a little too big to take to work with me. . . .

So in honor of the Halloween festivities going on this weekend, today’s Top Five Friday list is of the best songs to sing [or whistle] when trying to convince the resident coyotes or mountain lions that you’re really not afraid. [Although personally I’d feel safer with Mossberg at my side!]

Whistling in the Dark – They Might Be Giants. They cater to a slightly younger audience these days [and by young, I mean under 12], but their old tunes are still wonderfully quirky and singable. Or whistle-able in this case.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf - Disney Does anyone else have a tape or 45 vinyl record of Disney’s The Three Little Pigs? The song went something like “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf? Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, la la la la la.”

Beat It – Michael Jackson Aha! You thought I was going to say Thriller, didn’t you? I do love that song, but Vincent Price’s voice is too creepy, and the beat is not conducive to calming the nerves or showing how “strong is [my] fight.” Beat It is your best bet when showing the wild creepies who's boss.

Monster Mash – Bobby Boris Pickett A classic. And still very fun to sing. Especially if you’re afraid of the big bad wolf. Just say Transylvania Twist and then laugh like the Count on

Sesame Street

and the world is bright and sunny again.

Ghostbusters Theme – Ray Parker, Jr. No stick-it-in-their-creepy-shiny-eye playlist is complete without this ‘80s gem. “Who ya gonna call?” Need I say more? I ain’t afraid of no ghosts!

Just coyotes. And mountain lions. And panthers. And bears. And spiders. And . . .

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Rainy Day Reads

2011-09-23T13:47:00.000-04:00

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy.

~ Edward P. Morgan

It is raining in Washington. A day made for staying in bed ~ alternately napping, cuddling, and reading. If it’s raining where you are and you’re lucky enough to have the day off, here are my recommended top five books to read on a rainy first day of autumn.

Young Woman Reading by a Window, Delphin Enjolras

Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season – One of my pen friends recommended this book, along with the companion books of the other three seasons and I absolutely love them! They are all collections of essays about the particular season; some authors penning odes of adoration and others complaining about the things they hate about Autumn [I didn’t think that was possible!]

Sherlock Holmes – It’s always raining in Victorian London. What better way to while away the hours than curled up on a velvet sofa in front of the fireplace at 221B Baker Street? If pushed to choose just one story ~ a challenge indeed! ~ I would have to say my favorite is “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” But I generally save that for the end of October. So today, read “The Speckled Band.” And stay away from vents!

Oliver Twist – Another literary favorite set in rainy London. Of all of Dickens’ works, this is my favorite [a close second is Tale of Two Cities] and not just because I played Nancy in a college production of the musical. And not just because I had a crush on Mark Lester when I was 12 years old. However, now that I mention it, it is a great movie adaptation. If I’m reading the book, I’ll put the soundtrack on in the background.

Christmas with Southern Living – No, I am not one of those people who begin decorating for Christmas in September! However, entertainer and planner extraordinaire that I am, I do like to get a head start on planning for the annual Christmas bash ~ which this year will indeed be an even bigger deal than in years past. The link above will take you to the 2011 edition, but if you can get a hold of any of the other editions, from about 1998 and on, the decorating tips and pictures are generally classy and timeless. And the recipes ~ always winners!

A Thousand Days in Venice – I’ve mentioned this wonderful book before, and it is still a great read for a rainy day. When it’s raining here, I can escape to the seaside, smell the fresh baked bread and pastries from Pasticceria Marchini, feel the Venetian warm breeze, and sit in Piazza San Marco watching the colourful city unfold.

What about you? What are the books you reach for when the skies turn grey and cloudy?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Going Home: 53rd Abbey of the Arts Poetry Party

2011-09-20T12:17:00.000-04:00

Poetry is a packsack of invisible keepsakes.

~ Carl Sandburg

Christine Valters Painter over at Abbey of the Arts is hosting her 53rd Poetry Party! Here’s how it works:

Christine picks an image, suggests a theme and title and you write a poem or poetic reflection in response. If you have a blog, post it on your blog and then post the link at the Poetry Party. On September 25, Christine will pick a random name and that lucky poet will win a space for her online retreat: Honoring Saints & Ancestors: Peering through the Veil

The theme for this party is Going Home. I wrote the poem below back in May, when my father was in the hospital and we thought we were going to lose him. What poetry or poetic thoughts come to mind when you hear the phrase “going home?”

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

-----------------------------------------------------

The Old Maple

© Mikaela D’Eigh 2011

The tree stands tall

And old –

had already sunk its roots deep into the heart

when we arrived thirty odd years ago.

Who knows

how long

it stood watch over lilac, pine, barn and cow,

its trunk full of secrets and memories.

How it comforted

brothers –

one blue, one gray, lying beneath its shade,

leaving only bullets and bones behind.

And the rain

silent, sad

that mingled with mother’s tears

when Flanders’ fields kept back her sons.

Then, ah peace!

A child, small

there found Austen and Bilbo

among the wide and changing leaves.

And solved mysteries

with Nancy

and the Twins and the Boxcar Children

while cradled in its strong and loving arms.

I stand now before it

a woman grown –

my life thick with experience and history

my heart full of secrets and memories.

This tree, this land

strong, solid --

brings the comfort as of old friends,

and keeps me grounded and alive.

Top Five Friday: These Are a Few of My Favorite Autumnal Things

2011-09-16T17:08:00.001-04:00

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

~ George Eliot

Delicious quote! I know it’s not officially autumn for another six days, but the past two days have been gloriously chilly and blue-grey! The seasonal change bug has been biting me for two weeks, but it was too warm to think about getting out the winter clothes and unpacking the blankets.

But a lover is impatient for any sign of the beloved and any change to be with him. And I love Autumn ~ absolutely everything about this season thrills me from the folds of my perky cranberry scarf to the tips of my chocolate toned boots. So today’s Top Five Friday is all about Autumn!

The Colours – I don’t care what the fashion mags say, the fall colours that are always in for me are the rich, velvety hues that nature puts on: cranberry red, chocolate brown, squash yellow, pumpkin orange, midnight blue, pine green, and plum. Dressed in those colours, you’ll look good enough to eat!

The Tastes – Speaking of eating, the orchard is simply bursting with plump, beautiful apples and luscious pears [minus any chemicals, pesticides or anything else unnatural of course!] that just ache to be baked! Hot apple cider, fried apple fritters, fresh made cinnamon doughnuts. But the star of the autumnal table is the pumpkin. I think I’ve tried that lovely squash in every manner possible: custard, bread, pudding, chili [oh yes!], soup, fried, rolled, and of course, the ever traditional pie.

The Scents – With all that baking, frying and cooking going on, it’s easy to see why no scent says home and hearth and love like the scent of apples, cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger. A close second [or fifth as the case may be!] is the smell of brandy and spiced rum. Perhaps it has something to do with childhood memories of fun times spent baking in the kitchen with Mom, but just inhaling these earthy scents infuse me with calm and joy and a sense that no matter how strong the wind may blow, all is safe and cozy inside.

The Textures – Interestingly enough, another scent that I love in autumn is soot. Once you’ve eaten all that pie and imbibed all that apple cider, you need to take a nap! Preferably by a happily blazing fire and wrapped up in a soft and nubbly[1] blanket ~ cranberry-coloured of course. Or perhaps a brisk walk would be better after all those calories. The chilly evening air is crisp and invigorating, and easier to appreciate when you’re dressed in a soft cashmere sweater and a scratchy wool coat. This isn’t exercise ~ this is bliss!

The Music – The best place for an evening walk in the Fall is in the country. Nature puts on quite a symphony as daylight shrinks: the crunch of fallen leaves under your feet; the farewell songs of the summer birds as they head south; the honking of the Canada geese as they fly in from the north; the gentle thud of apples falling in the orchard; the crackling of a bonfire; the wind rustling through a corn maze.

Are the nights slightly colder where you are? What are your favorite things about autumn?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

[1] Yes, that is actually a word!

Almost Back to Normal

2011-09-12T17:40:00.002-04:00

How hard it is to escape from places. However carefully one goes they hold you - you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences - like rags and shreds of your very life.
~ Katherine Mansfield
Some major changes have taken place in my life in the past month and a half. I jumped head first into planning the Eighth Annual Saint Cecilia Arts Festival; witnessed my best friend, Sullivan, get married [to a friend of mine that he asked out after the Arts Festival in 2009!]; was furloughed for two weeks; did a ten day raw food juice detox; and moved back to the country to live with my parents so I could help my mom out with my dad, who will be eighty-eight this year.

Both the detox and the move were game changers on many levels. For one thing, I discovered first hand that you never really know how much "stuff" you have until you try to pack it! Freecycle became my friend ~ I gave away so much stuff, and it became so cathartic, I started looking around the house for more things to just give away! I even donated my car!

But I don't think I could have considered decluttering my house [and subsequently my life] and make the decision to move, if I had not first gone through the physical detox. So I'll be posting a few articles on my experience and some recipes in the coming weeks. And since I've moved back to the country, I'll also be sharing with you my re-connection with the land, and what it is like to come home ~ literally! ~ after an eleven year absence.

I look forward to reconnecting with you!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: On Vacation

2011-07-15T11:09:00.000-04:00

I am out of town this weekend and unplugged ~ ahh bliss! Will pick this up next week.

Have a great weekend!

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

The Art of Poetry and the Poetry of Art

2011-07-11T10:00:00.001-04:00

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

~ Pablo Picasso

Many moons ago, I took an art class. I was around twelve years old and I loved art. The idea of painting filled me with excitement. Eager to express the poetry inside me, I paid rapt attention to the teacher’s instructions. Alas, the class was teaching portraiture and depth and dimension has never been my strong suit. My people did not look anything like a real person.

An art teacher worth her weight in gold would have taken one look at my work and would have noticed my fascination with colour and symbolism. Perhaps she would have encourage me to try my hand at capturing the essence of flowers or landscapes. Even abstract expression.

Maybe my teacher was conditionally loved as child. Maybe her art mentor scoffed at her paintings. I am not sure what she expected from a twelve year old girl ~ how many prodigy Picassos or Pugins are out there?! Whatever the reason, my efforts were condescendingly mocked.

That was the last art class I took. Discouraged, the brushes stiffened in their jars, the canvases languished in a forgotten corner and the paint shriveled up. I had no talent for painting portraits.

But who said portraits are the only thing worth painting?

It has only been recently that I have discovered my talent for word painting. But I still did not connect that to art. Until I read a chapter in Susan Goldstein Wooldridge’s Poemcrazy. In chapter X, Susan encourages her readers [and poetry students] to embrace art and poetry wherever you may find it and to find poetry prompts in unlikely places. One of these prompts involved creating an “I am . . .” collage. She says:

Cut out colors, pictures and words that help define you. . . .Glue it onto cardboard or into your journal in a minicollage. [1]

Why, I can do that kind of art! Art is about expressing some truth or feeling or thought without words. Since this is a poetry exercise, you are encouraged to use words if they point to some aspect of who you are, but it is not required. I love words, so I used throughout my collage to express aspects of my personality. Susan suggests using cardboard or paper, but I loved the idea that this was a form of art, so instead, I went to my local Michael’s and bought a canvas.

In the course of creating my collage, I found that not only was my poetic creativity exercised, the ghost of a failed art class was exorcised.

What would your “I am . . .” collage look like? A bit of coloured glass, a blue bird’s feather, the top of a baby acorn? Play around with different objects and materials. Maybe you’ll release some ghosts of your own and discover the artist within.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

[1] page 141, Poemcrazy, Susan G. Wooldridge, Three Rivers Press, 1996

Top Five Friday: Evelyn de Morgan

2011-07-08T10:30:00.011-04:00

Art is eternal, but life is short. . . .I will make up for it now. I have not a moment to lose.

~ Evelyn de Morgan

Although not a member of the Pre Raphaelites, Evelyn de Morgan was nonetheless heavily influenced by their aesthetic philosophy. Her uncle and early mentor of her work, was Roddam Spencer Stanhope, and Edward Burne-Jones, was a close friend and also encouraged her talent. Both men were friends with the founders of the Brotherhood and were themselves inspired by their work.

Her attention to detail was noted by friends such as Sir William Blake Richmond and another friend and artist, George Frederick Watts called her the "first woman artist of the day ~ if not of all time." Born in 1855, Evelyn, after much persuasion of her upper class parents, enrolled in the Slade School of Art. She would go on to be a founding exhibitor of the Grosvenor Gallery. [1] For more on her life, visit the De Morgan Foundation, located in London and responsible for the housing and care of the majority of the De Morgan Collection.

Hero Holding the Beacon for Leander (1885) De Morgan Centre, London

This is by far my favorite of de Morgan's paintings. There is something darkly beautiful about a raging sea and a stormy night. Especially when you are waiting for your lover to swim to your side. In Greek legend, Hero was a priestess of Venus and Leander her mortal lover. The detail and mastery shown here is incredible: I feel the icy spray on my feet, my arm is stiff with cold, but I cannot relax my vigil. Leander is counting on the light to lead the way. I am no longer looking at a painting ~ I have become part of it.

Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamund (1905) De Morgan Centre, London

Rosamund was the mistress of King Henry II. It is said that he built her a house constructed in a maze so that his wife, Queen Eleanor, could not find her. Legend says that the Queen used a thread to find her way and offered Rosamund the choice of stabbing or poison. In paintings of the same subject , the Pre Raphaelites shows the mistress as fair and innocent and the wronged wife as evil. It is less noticeable in de Morgan's depiction, but it is there in the black smoke trailing behind Eleanor, attended by what appears to be flying serpents. I love the detail and the brilliant colouring of the women's clothing.

Luna (1885) De Morgan Centre, London

Bound by the earth's gravitational pull, yet not of the earth, the moon seems to be half awake, half asleep. de Morgan had this to say about her personification:

Art thou pale for weariness
of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless... [2]

Here, the soft, misty colours, the contrast between dark and light, elicit a feeling of both mystery, melancholy, and romance.

The Love Potion (1903)

The position and placement of the model in the middle foreground of the canvas, the brilliant colours, the attention to detail in the rug and draperies, and the subject herself, her clothes reminiscent of ancient Greece or Rome, all point to the heavy influence of the Brotherhood. Unfortunately, I could not find where the original painting is now.

Hope in the Prison of Despair (1887)
Although I adore the play of light and shadow in this painting, I was more drawn to the title of it. When I first read it, I thought what an interesting thought to have Hope locked up in Despair's chains! But then I looked that the painting again. Hope isn't locked up in Despair's prison ~ it is Despair, dressed in black, bent over and hiding her face, who is chained by her own futility. Hope has entered the cell to set Despair free, bearing a candle to light the way.

Reading the painting further, we see a broken chain, which makes Despair's pose more poignant: even free of her chains, she cannot stand upright or look Hope in the face, illustrating that Despair's prison is not an external one at all, but inside of her.

As with The Love Potion, my search for the whereabouts of the original painting came up empty, so perhaps they are privately owned.

What do you think of Evelyn de Morgan's art? How close to the Pre Raphaelite ideal did she come?

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

Notes: 1, 2: from Elise Lawton Smith's Evelyn Pickering de Morgan and the Allegorical Body, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, May 2002.

Top Five Friday: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

2011-07-01T18:23:00.010-04:00

Why should I paint dead fish, onions and beer glasses?

Girls are so much prettier.

~ Marie Laurencin

Happy Top Five Friday! Today we take a look at Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the founder [along with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais] of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Rossetti was not only a prolific painter, but a poet as well, writing some and is known as much for his romantic entanglements with his two major muses: Elizabeth Siddal and Jane Morris [wife of William Morris] as his art.

If you want to learn more about Rossetti, I suggest two sites: The Rossetti Archive and The Victorian Web. And now to the paintings. It was very difficult to whittle the list down to five!

Venus Verticordia (1864-68) Russell Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth

Knowing my penchant for strong colouring and contrasts, it is not difficult to see why I picked Venus as one of the top five. The beautiful realism of the Pre-Raphaelites’ technique is one of the main draws for me, as well as the medieval and romantic subject matter. The model here was actually two women: Fanny Cornworth and later on, Alexa Wilding.

Proserpine (1874) Tate Gallery, London

Proserpine [or Persephone in Greek mythology], is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter ~ the goddess of harvest. In the myth, she is kidnapped by the love-stricken Hades to the underworld. Demeter searches in vain for her daughter and during her search, causes a long drought to fall on the people. Zeus the orders Hades to release Proserpine. In an uncanny resemblance to Genesis’ Eve, Hades tricks her into eating forbidden fruit ~ in this case, pomegranate seeds, because it is said that whomever eats or drinks anything while in the Underworld must remain there for all eternity. In some versions, Proserpine eats four to six seeds, the number of dry months when nothing grows and she must return to the Underworld.

Again, rich hues and realism make this an easy choice. Jane Morris is the muse here and Rossetti penned a sonnet of longing to go with the painting:

Dire fruit, which, tasted once, must thrall me here.
Afar those skies from this Tartarean grey

The irony here is that Jane Morris was trapped in an unhappy marriage to William Morris and both she and Rossetti were tasting the forbidden fruit of an adulterous affair.

Il Ramoscello (1865) Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University

I have not been able to find much about this painting but the model appears to be Rossetti’s first muse, Elizabeth Siddal. They married in 1860 and she died sometime in 1862 after an apparent overdose of laudanum.

I love the colour and detail of her dress and the coppery sheen of her hair ~ a feature Elizabeth was known for.

Lady Lilith (1868) Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington

From the Victorian Web:

(Lilith). . .is Rossetti's femme fatal, seducing young men with her feminine whiles and then tossing them off. In the poem she casts her "spell through him, and left his straight neck bent; And round his heart one strangling golden hair." Lilith's beauty is fatal. He who falls for the corporeal sensuality that Lilith represents is doomed.

The model was neither Jane nor Elizabeth, but a third Rossetti muse, Fanny Cornforth. However, in this rendition, the face is that of Alexa Wilding. Lilith may be a femme fatale, but the colouring and sensuality depicted is beautiful and showcases Rossetti’s obsession with the Pre-Raphaelite ideal woman with long, flowing hair.

Astarte Syriaca (1877) Manchester City Art Gallery

Rossetti depicts Jane Morris here as a strong and sensual Venus, with again, the long, flowing hair. There is an air of mystery and darkness, and one can almost feel the intense longing of painter and muse for each other.

What strikes you about these paintings? What do they say to you? Any other Rossetti favorites and why?

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

*Update 10/10/11: Donald Halliday, a tour guide from the Russell-Cotes Museum in Bournemouth read my post and wrote to let me know that the model for Venus Verticordia was not Jane Morris as I thought, but Fanny Cornforth and Alexa Wilding. The correction has been made.

His note:
"The original model was in Rossetti’s own words ‘”A very large young woman, almost a giantess, I noticed in the street”. Later Rossetti modified the features for that of two of his favourite models. The first was Fanny Cornforth; then later – Alexa Wilding
Rossetti discovered Alexa (Alice) Wilding by chance when he was walking to the Arundel Club one day in the spring of 1865. Seeing her walking next to him, he was struck with her beauty and asked her on the spot to sit for him as a model. She said she would do it if her mother consented. Shortly afterwards, she wrote that her mother agreed. They made an appointment but, much to Rossetti’s disappointment, she did not keep it.
Some few months later he saw her again by chance in the street, stopped her, and offered her generous terms if she would sit for him. She agreed and gave up her dressmaking job. Rossetti retained her at a pound per week to sit for him whenever he asked.
Wilding made such a good model for Rossetti’s later work he said “she has a lovely face, beautifully moulded in every feature, full of quiet, soft, almost mystical repose. She sat like the Sphinx waiting to be questioned with a vague reply in return”
Wilding became one of Rossetti’s favourite models and sat for some of his most famous pictures, including Mona Vanna and The Blessed Damozel. Besides the studies he made for such major oil works, Rossetti executed at least seven separate drawings of her between 1866 and 1873."

Many thanks to Daniel for letting me [and you!] know. I do as much research as I can, but I don't always catch everything, so I love it when readers let me when something's amiss. ~ MD

Top Five Friday: John William Waterhouse

2011-06-24T16:26:00.000-04:00

Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were such liberators. And they set many princesses ~ and princes ~ free with their brushes. My original intent for today’s Top Five Friday was to pick five of my favorite paintings from within the entire body of work of the Brotherhood. But that is an impossible task. There are too many to whittle to just five! So over the next few weeks, I will highlight one member of the Brotherhood and choose the top five of his paintings. Today we look at John William Waterhouse, who is easily one of my favorites.

J.W. Waterhouse was born in Rome in 1849, one year after the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. But he is linked with the Brotherhood through his paintings, especially those painted from 1884 onward. The subjects of most of that period are the same ones that inspired Rossetti, et al: King Arthur, Greek myths and legends, princesses and fairy tales. As such, he is considered a “Modern Pre-Raphaelite.”

Waterhouse lived only 68 years and painted right up until his death from cancer in London in 1917. You can find out more about his life here at JW Waterhouse, or by reading Peter Trippi’s Waterhouse or Anthony Hobson’s JW Waterhouse.

And now to the paintings!

Ophelia – Blue Dress (1905)

There are many renditions of Ophelia, but this is one of my favorites for the sheer brilliance of the colours and the despairing expression in her eyes. The detail in the hem of dress, the folds of the skirt and the stream behind her ~ ominously dark and grave-like.

Confession: I’ve always wanted a dress just like this one. Any seamstresses out there?

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (1909)

My second favorite Waterhouse, again for the sharp colours. The natural setting, the beauty of both the women and the flowers they are picking, and the gentle stream behind them [so different from the dark one in Ophelia] all lend an air of peace to the scene. You are sure that the ladies have just had a picnic by the stream, and once their bouquets are picked, they will head home, each to her own restful cottage.

Miranda - The Tempest (1916)

I can feel the wind tear at my hair and hear the waves pound the shore whenever I look at this painting. Waterhouse captured the movement and passion of the storm that rips at Miranda’s dark red hair. In fact, quite a few of Waterhouse’s female subjects are gripping their long, dark, wind-blown hair. [Again, love the dress.]

Mariana in the South (1897)

Taken from Tennyson’s Mariana in the South, the colours, the dark melancholy of the subject and the sheer length of her hair are what draw me to this painting and make it one of my top five. Granted, she’s kneeling, but her hair is still really long! I can only get mine to grow to the small of my back.

She, as her carol sadder grew,
         From brow and bosom slowly down
Thro' rosy taper fingers drew
         Her streaming curls of deepest brown
To left and right, and made appear,
         Still-lighted in a secret shrine,
         Her melancholy eyes divine,
The home of woe without a tear.
~ from Mariana in the South

The Crystal Ball – with skull (1902)

Even with tackling just one painter for this list, it was still difficult to pick just five of Waterhouse’s paintings. But I had to highlight The Crystal Ball but I have a print of it hanging in my dining room. Red is my favorite colour, and it’s the accent colour in my dining room, so this print went really well on the latte coloured walls.

The detail here again is amazing: the tiled floor, the gilding on the chair and the scrollwork on her dress ~ which again I would love to have.

Some have interpreted the figure as weaving a spell with the aid of a crystal ball, spell book and skull. But I take away a meditation on mortality and spirituality. Something along the lines of et in arcadia ego.

That is the beauty of art, whatever the medium: the artist paints and the viewers [or reader] takes it in, mixes it with his or her own life experiences and philosophies and sees a message written just for them. The artist can view this personal interpretation as an annoyance: an obstacle to the message they are trying to convey. But aren’t we also re-interpreting the subject when we paint/write/act/play?

What about you? What do you see when you look at these paintings? What other Waterhouse paintings inspire, excite, calm or enthrall you?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Next Friday: The Top Five Paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Top Five Friday: Flowering Shrubs

2011-06-17T19:43:00.000-04:00

God made rainy days so gardeners could get housework done.

~ Author Unknown

Unless of course, the gardener is also a writer. Rainy days are for writing and reading ~ ahem, I mean research.

Today marks the beginning of a new feature here at La Belle: Top Five Fridays. Every Friday, I will showcase top five lists in the following arts categories: Food, Gardening, Writing, Music and the Visual Arts.

This week’s top five comes from my love of flowering shrubs. I love these five show stoppers mostly for their vibrant colours and/or their spicy scents. Flowering shrubs are a Godsend to the gardener: they not only provide colour, but structure as well. And they bloom every year and need minimal care.

All links will lead you to Nature Hills Garden Catalog. I chose to link to them because they are an organic seed and plant catalog, but I have not actually purchased any plants from them as all the flowering shrubs I have were passed down to me.

Top Five Flowering Shrubs

Lilac

Photo Credit: M. D'Eigh

Ever since I was a little girl, the lilac has been my favorite flower. If someone brings me a bouquet of lilacs, I know they really know me! Their very scent heralds the onset of Spring. Best advice I’ve received about lilacs: wait until they finish blooming and then prune them. Pruning helps them produce more blooms the following year.

Photo Credit: Adam Hickmott

Hydrangea

These luscious, voluptuous blooms are the divas of the garden. We currently have three mountainous shrubs on the northeast side of the house and they range from lavender to a rich violet-tinged blue. They make a grand tabletop statement bunched in a large bowl or in a short vase. Just make sure you get them in water pronto. I waited too long once and only 3 of the 6 blooms perked back up when I finally placed them in water. [Don’t ask.]

Peony

After the bold hydrangeas, I love peonies for their bright pink colour and mesmerizing scent. Maybe mine are just quirky, but their heavy little heads are forever bowing and scrapping to some unseen garden royalty. I come out in the morning, and there they are, dragging the ground in shame, bit of dirt between their petals. I’ve tried peony brackets, but they simply love to bend to the ground. If any gardeners out there have any advice, I’d be most grateful! Bowing and scrapping notwithstanding, peonies make a wonderful addition to the garden. And you can divide them and share with a fellow gardener.

Photo Credit: M. D'Eigh

Rhododendron

“Rhodies” are the back up singers in this band of diva-ish shrubs ~ but they give you a lot bang for you buck. Ours live between the Hydrangeas and are also currently in the front of the house, facing southeast. The shrubs which fast true east fare a little better than the one that faces more south. Not sure why this is. But we plan on re-planting them somewhere else and putting in boxwood. As you can see from this picture, the blossoms are strong in colour, but delicate in shape. Sadly, one big thunderstorm with heavy sheets of rain washed away all the rhodie blooms.

Photo credit: Simon Howden

Lavender

Silly me. I always thought lavender was an herb, not a shrub. But these little ladies can get pretty big! And they bloom year after year. Bees and butterflies love it ~ and so do I. Especially stuffed in little lacy pillows or in a container of homemade bath salts. The lavender flower also makes a nice “bow” on a boxed gift.

What are your top five flowering shrubs and why?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Writer's Journal: Journaling to Woo the Muse

2011-06-14T16:24:00.000-04:00

. . .the finished poem will never be as magnificent as this half-formed vision of it.

~ Linda Bierds, from The Writer’s Journal

My first journal was brass-locked and lavender with tiny blue flowers all over it ~ complete with tiny brass keys ~ that Santa brought me when I was in the fourth grade. When I re-read my old journals, I only noticed the gaps between entries big enough for both Paul Bunyan and Babe to walk through. Such a lack of consistency reeked of laziness and indifference. I bowed my head in shame at each missed date – oh the mortal sin of it all!

Turns out, most writers are sinners. And in this regard at least, that’s not such a bad thing. Your writing process should help you, inspire you, save your inky rear end when you get stuck. If you’re chained to it, it becomes a brick wall instead of a ladder. Writing is a fluid art ~ sometimes what worked for you last year is old and tired this time around. And journaling is just one of many ways to woo the Muse.

In “The Writer’s Journal,” Sheila Bender asked forty writers to explain how journaling affects their writing process and to share excerpts from those journals to illustrate. The various forms of journaling that are highlighted are as diverse as the authors themselves: Janice Eidus [The Last Jewish Virgin] uses letters to “bear witness to [her] life and thoughts.” (p. 68); Ron Carlson [Betrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald] writes bits and bobs on “envelopes, folded memos, torn slips, wedding announcements, rodeo programs and such” (p. 38) and keeps them in a shopping bag that escaped being thrown out in the garbage more than once.

A shopping bag? And I thought my bag of various notebooks was disorganized!

To see how others writers write is at once stimulating and comforting and a fascinating read. Now I know that when I don’t touch my journal for days, I’m in good company. And that my system, however quirky or slightly insane it may seem to other writers, works for me.

At least for today.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What works for you? Typing in random thoughts on the computer? Writing letters to a friend? I’d like to hear what your writing process is!

Food Meme: Food from Apple to Zucchini

2011-06-13T16:33:00.000-04:00

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.

~ Julia Child

One of the great aspects of the 2011 Blogathon was getting to “meet” the great community of bloggers that participated. Some had been blogging for years, other were brand-spanking new.

Bookworm has been blogging since 2009 and just recently began a series called Civil War Sundays where they talk about different aspects of the war. It’s fitting that they began the blog posts this year ~ the 150th anniversary of the war.

Another blog post Bookworm did recently was a Food Meme ~ one I haven’t seen before. I love memes and haven’t participated in one in awhile. No clue who started it, but here is my contribution:

A is for Apple: What’s your favorite variety?

Hands down: Granny Smiths. Great in pies, cobblers and in my favorite kitchen appliance: the juicer.

B is for Bread: Regardless of nutrition, what is your favorite type?

Shameless of me, but my homemade French bread, recipe courtesy of Southern Living.

C is for Cereal: What is your favorite kind currently? (just one!)

Not a huge cereal fan, but if I had to choose, probably Cream of Wheat. Does that count?

D is for Donuts: You might not currently eat them, but what kind do you fancy?

Before I became dairy intolerant, custard filled. Sigh. Now I don’t really eat them, but Paul’s Bakery in Fredericksburg has THE best doughnut holes EVER.

E is for Eggs: How would you like yours prepared?

When I could eat them? Fried. In bacon grease. Over easy.

F is for Fat Free: What is your favorite fat free product?

Kale? I don’t do processed.

G is for Groceries: Where do you purchase yours?

Farmer’s Market in the summer, Whole Foods, then Trader Joe’s.

H is for Hot Beverages: What is your favorite hot drink?

Regular: chai tea. Alcoholic: hot mead.

I is for Ice Cream: Pick a favorite flavor and add a fun topping.

Coconut milk-based ice cream: coconut with Framboise.

J is for Jams or Jellies: Do you eat them? If so, what kind and flavor?

Pumpkin butter. Ahhh.

K is for Kashi: Name your favorite Kashi product?

Crackers? Maybe?

L is for Lunch: What was yours today?

Ha! Lobster roll [CT style] from The Lobster Truck with a dill pickle and an Arnold Palmer. That and 73 degree weather and a nice breeze ~ can this day get any better?!

M is for microwave: What is your favorite microwave meal/snack?

I don’t microwave if I can help it. Cooking with gas, baby!

N is for nutrients: Do you likes carbs, fats, or proteins best?

Proteins. Love kale, spinach and anything made of meat – in moderation of course.

O is for oil: What kind do you like to use?

Safflower for cooking. Olive oil for everything else.

P is for protein: How do you get yours?

Chicken and greens. Tough being a foodie who is both egg and dairy intolerant.

Q is for Quaker: How do you like your oats?

With coconut milk, butter and brown sugar. Or in a cookie with raisins. Whaaaat?

R is for roasting: What is your favorite thing to roast?

Mwhahahaha. Oh. We’re talking about food. Ummmm ~ red peppers?

S is for sandwich: What’s your favorite kind?

Pulled pork with homemade slaw. The P.O.R.C. mobile has a fantastic sandwich ~ not to mention to-die-for chocolate truffles on a stick!

T is for travel: How do you handle eating while traveling?

Again, before food intolerances attacked me, I would try to find the local mom and pop places and ask for the local favorite. Now I also look up Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to see which places were highlighted before I travel. I also google the nearest Whole Foods. What can I say ~ I like my food organic!

U is for unique: What is one of your weirdest food combos?

Hmmmm. I'll have to think about that one. Or ask someone I've fed recently...

V is for vitamins: What kind do you take?

B Complex, Antioxidants, Flax Oil, C, E, Carotene, a dietary supplement and one other herb that’s supposed to be good for stress.

W is for wasabi: Yay or nay?

Just a pinch.

X is for XRAY: If we xrayed your belly right now, what food would we see?

Ewwwww!! Probably lunch; possibly yesterday’s potluck dinner: fresh fruit salad [ala moi], Chinese chicken pasta salad, tomato and corn salad, sweet potato soufflé with pecans and brown sugar [Oh. My. Gosh], broiled asparagus, and green tea with raspberries.

Y is for youth: What food reminds you of your childhood?

Fried chicken [mom still makes the best], bigos [sauerkraut with kielbasa, chicken and beef], chicken and dumplings, boiled custard [there is a reason we only make it at Christmas!]

Z is for zucchini: How do you prepare it?

I don’t. I hate it. We grew acres of it when I was a kid. But I tolerate it in bread. ;)

What about you?

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

Reading for Writing: Top 10 Writing Blogs and Books to Improve Your Skills

2011-06-10T10:25:00.000-04:00

Lists are the butterfly nets that catch my fleeting thoughts...

~ Betsy Cañas Garmon

I admit it. Sometimes I read to avoid writing. I troll Amazon looking for yet another book that is sure to turn me into a Hemingway or a Flannery. I devour volumes of poetry and inhale sheets and sheets of poetry handbooks. I follow several “writerly” blogs and use their creative prompts and heed their hard-won advice. And of course, I assimilate works of the great authors and poets in order to learn their techniques and imbibe their amazing gift for word imagery and nuance.

All these resources are great places to go for inspiration, knowledge, and the honing of one’s craft. For your research pleasure ~ in alphabetical order ~ here is a list of the top 10 blogs and books [it was tough to pick just 10!] that I have found both helpful and entertaining in becoming a better writer.

Can Poetry Matter – Dana Gioia

Nothing speaks for eloquently to the role and place of poetry in modern life today like this essay.

Confident Writing – Joanna Paterson

Even though I’ve never met her, and have only been reading her blog for the past few months, I feel as if I know Joanna personally. Writing style can say a lot about a person, so I know that she’s warm, friendly, generous, empathetic, courageous, and a great writer to boot.

Poetic Asides – Robert Lee Brewer

A Writer’s Digest blog with more useful tips and prompts. Has weekly poetry prompts on Wednesdays.

Poemcrazy – Susan G. Wooldridge

“It’s impossible to teach anyone to write a poem. But we can set up circumstances in which poems are likely to happen. . . .Playing with words, we can get to the place where poems come from.”

WordCount – Michelle Rafter

Michelle always has tips that are useful right now for freelance writers. And she throws a great Blogathon!

Write Anything – Various

A great blog with tips, creative writing prompts and Fiction Friday. I haven’t participated in that yet, but maybe today!

Writing Forward – Melissa Donavan

Whether it’s how to improve grammar, word choice, editing advice, or creative writing prompts, I always learn something.

Write It Sideways – Suzannah

Writing advice from an accredited teacher.

Write to Done - Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch

From the A-List Bloggers Club. These articles are spot on and will heat up your writing!

Writerly Life – Blair Hurley

Another great source for writing prompts and writing advice. I love Blair’s writing style: it’s open and easy to read ~ I feel like she’s right there in the room with me, encouraging me to keep at it. Must read: Writing Bullies

Finished reading? Great. Now we take the plunge and marry the knowledge we’ve gleaned with the talent we possess and go create.

So. . .what are you waiting for? What am I waiting for? Let’s write!

Oremuc pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What writing blogs do you read every day? What books on writing or poetry do you recommend? I’d love to hear!

Word Count Blogathon Wrap Up and News

2011-06-03T14:23:00.000-04:00

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

~ Ray Bradbury

The blogathon is over and I missed a few days. All in all, however, I reached my goal: writing every day. It may not have been published here, but I wrote something, somewhere, almost every day. And that is a great discipline to have as a writer. Many thanks to Michelle Rafter for hosting ~ I'm looking forward to next year's!

In other news, I have had a family emergency and have been on and off the road and without internet access since last Saturday. So while I will keep on writing [three poems and one new song in the last week, by the way!], I won't be publishing until at least Monday when I go back to work.

Have a great weekend and I hope to "see" y'all here again soon!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 29: Organizational Harmony: The Key to Creativity

2011-05-29T20:00:00.003-04:00

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

~ Leonard Cohen

Perfection. The enemy of the possible. I've said it before; I'll say it again. Holding yourself to an impossible standard is a waste of time and creative energy. However, holding yourself to no standard is an equal waste of time and creative energy. At least I have found this to be true in my own life. The day to day minutia takes over like kudzu and one day you wake up and can't find your desk. That leads to silly excuses like: "I'll clean it off tomorrow and then I'll really write!" But tomorrow comes, and you look at the stacks of paper and books and just feel overwhelmed. And you use that as an excuse not to write.

At least that was the scenario I lived with for a long time.

My tolerance for clutter and chaos is pretty high. My brain works like a mind-map, not an outline [although I do love outlines], and it is always coming up with creative ideas and considers having to think about organization and rules and filing systems is a waste of time. But even I, the queen of living in well-orchestrated chaos, have my limits. And about a month ago, I reached it.

So I hired a professional organizer to come in and make sense of the garbled sheet music that is my boudoir / home office. After our initial meeting, I knew Alejandra was just the conductor I needed to make my life harmonious and in key again.

Once the dust settles [ahem!] I will let you know how it goes and whether my creativity did indeed get a boost!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 28: Summer Reading List

2011-05-28T10:00:00.001-04:00

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.

~ James Bryce

Summer is almost here. Actually, here in Virginia it has felt like summer for a few days now: thunderstorms, humidity [or “humisery” as my yankee friends like to call it] and lovely, baking, ninety degree weather. A small price to pay, in my opinion, sweet iced tea, fried chicken, and being able to enjoy the changing seasons.

School’s [Almost] Out!

Viewing the calendar in semesters and three months of vacation becomes a habit after living that way for over twenty-two years. And even though I have been out of school for [cough, ahem] years, I still feel the rush of “Summer’s here! Relaxation!” Growing up, that translated into multiple trips to the library.

I will never forget Linda at our local library. She always laughed and commented on the enormous stack of books I took home every other week. It was always at least a foot taller than me. “Are you really going to read all of those books in two weeks!?!” Some I would have to renew, but most of them I devoured in a few days. I don’t know if my family was a burden or a blessing to those sainted librarians: we were always checking out almost half the library!

The “List”

Sadly, the days of three month vacations are over [unless you’re lucky enough to be French]. But it is still a great excuse to read more! And my library cup runneth over with un-read volumes that I have been meaning to crack open. Most of them will improve my mind and some will give it a little rest. Both are important to do. Here’s a partial list.

Love and Will by Rollo May
Love’s Executioner by Irv Yalom
Can Poetry Matter? by Dana Gioia
Interrogations at Noon by Dana Gioia
The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Conner by Flannery O’Conner
Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling [as a refresher before the last movie installment!]
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Gone with the Wind, 75th Anniversary Edition by Margaret Mitchell
Beauty and the Beast by Marie Le Prince de Beaumont
The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria by Marlena De Blasi

What do you plan to read this summer? Any books you would like to recommend? Do tell!

Oremu pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 27: The Pre-Raphaelites at the Delaware Art Museum

2011-05-27T10:00:00.002-04:00

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.

~ William Faulkner

Wilmington, Delaware. I must confess I have never been a fan. To be fair, all I’ve ever seen of it was as a nine year old and it just wasn’t that exciting. Now however, I find I have one big reason to fall in love with Wilmington: The Delaware Art Musuem’s Pre-Raphaelite Collection

Rossetti's La Bella Mona, 1875

As friends and faithful readers know, I am the uber fan of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. I lost count of how many prints I own; my personal library has several books on the art of the Brotherhood, as well as some detailing their soap opera-like lives. I even own note cards with Waterhouse’s The Soul of the Rose on the front. But even I did not know that the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelites in the United States was only a few hours drive north.

Gas may be over $4 a gallon, but I think a road trip is in order soon!

Do you know of any museums in your area that harbor great collections? Do share!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 26: The Abbey's 51st Poetry Party

2011-05-26T17:27:00.000-04:00

A poem should create a momentary enchantment.

~ Dana Gioia

Don’t you just love parties!? I do ~ especially poetry parties! And Christine Valters Painter over at Abbey of the Arts is hosting her 51^st Poetry Party! Here’s how it works:

photo courtesy of Abbey of the Arts

Christine picks an image, suggests a theme and title and you write a poem or poetic reflection in response. If you have a blog, post it on your blog and then post the link at the Poetry Party. Then tomorrow, Christine will pick a random name and that lucky poet will win a space in one of her courses: Eyes of the Heart: Photography as Contemplative Practice and Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: Praying with the Elements .

My poem inspired by the tree image is below. What poetry or poetic thoughts does the image bring to your mind?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

The Old Maple

The tree stands tall

And old –

had already sunk its roots deep into the heart

when we arrived thirty odd years ago.

Who knows

how long

it stood watch over lilac, pine, barn and cow,

its trunk full of secrets and memories.

How it comforted

brothers –

one blue, one gray, lying beneath its shade,

leaving only bullets and bones behind.

And the rain

silent, sad

that mingled with mother’s tears

when Flanders’ fields kept back her sons.

Then, ah peace!

A child, small

there found Austen and Bilbo

among the wide and changing leaves.

And solved mysteries

with Nancy

and the Twins and the Boxcar Children

while cradled in its strong and loving arms.

I stand now before it

a woman grown –

my life thick with experience and history

my heart full of secrets and memories.

This tree, this land

strong, solid --

brings the comfort as of old friends,

and keeps me grounded and alive.

Word Count Blogathon Day 25: The Art of the Thank You Note

2011-05-25T16:56:00.000-04:00

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get.

~ Frank A. Clark

Do you know where ill-mannered people come from? They come from one of two places:

1) Ill-mannered parents ~ they taught their children to be rude by displaying their own lack of manners.

2) Indifferent or Frazzled parents ~ these parents either did not care or were “too busy” to teach their children any manners.

There are the rare exceptions, who despite being raised properly, choose to become rude as a form of rebellion. But my point is this: good manners start at home. And unless you want to help fill the world with nasty boorish bums, it would behoove you to:

1) Learn manners yourself
2) Teach them to your children

Traditionally, a child who learns the good habit of saying “Please” and “Thank you” is not likely to forget it. It is after all, a habit ~ something that becomes second nature to us and that we are able to do almost without thinking. Opening doors or not allowing them to slam in the face of the person walking in behind you is another good habit that a child will remember long after you are not around to check on him.

Thank You Notes

One of the manners I was taught as a child that is still very much with me is the lovely duty of writing thank you notes. My own mother taught me to write a thank you note right away and to let no more than a week go by before sending them out.

Here’s what Emily Post has to say about it:

Handwritten notes are warmer and more special than other forms of thank-yous. The rule of thumb is that you should send a written note any time you receive a gift (even a ‘thank you’ gift) and the giver wasn’t there to thank in person.

She goes on to say that today you can get by with an email if the gift giver is a close friend, but in my opinion, if your best friend gave you a gift or welcomed you into her home, even more so should you send her a handwritten note!

Stationery for Children

This is also a good habit that children should definitely be encouraged to learn. And to make learning it more fun, stationery stores have a huge selection of children’s stationery. Here are a few of my favorites:

Tiny Prints is an online stationery store with hundreds of designs, both for adults and for kids. These are a couple of my favorites for kids:

Pirate Ship from Tiny Prints

Notice that they have stationery for both girls and boys? Boys need to be taught the art of saying thank you; it is an art that will serve him well throughout his life.

The Stationery Studio is another online stationery store.

Sweet Cupcakes from Tiny Prints

The Dandelion Patch is online and is also located in Leesburg, Virginia. It is a great store with a wonderful atmosphere. And the Leesburg Outlets are nearby too!

The Papery has several locations. They have a fair selection of Crane Stationery [one of my favorites!] and an amazing collection of invitations that you can personalize.

Roaring Lion from Tiny Prints

Some say that such manners are out-dated. But I don’t think any acts of love and kindness, no matter how small, are ever out of style.

Do you?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 24: Top 5 Favorite Writing Spaces

2011-05-24T19:01:00.000-04:00

Some places speak distinctly. Certain dank gardens cry aloud for a murder; certain old houses demand to be haunted; certain coasts are set apart for shipwrecks.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

And some places were just meant to encourage the art of writing. The saying is true: wherever you go, there you are. So it goes with writing spaces. No matter how ideal the space, or how far away from external distractions it may be, you are still you and you bring all your internal distractions along.

Some people are absolute geniuses ~ they can write a masterpiece in a cold small room amounting to no more than a closet, with a stub of a candle for light and a broken pencil. Jane Austen’s writing space was a drafty hallway, with a small occasional table and a little chair.

But I’m a dreamer and an artist and no genius. And I firmly believe in the power of place. That our surroundings matter. That atmosphere has a strong influence over our emotions. . .and our art. So when I write, I choose to surround myself with rich colours, luscious scents, and sounds that speak to my mood as much as possible. And when it isn't possible to have all three, I try to have at least one of those elements present. Here are my top five favorite spots to write in: three are real and two are my fantasy writing spaces.

My Bedroom

Walls drenched in a rich, cranberry red. Curtains in cranberry toile. Bookshelves overflowing. And two desks: a solid maple that was my mother’s first gift to my father after they were married and a huge old desk that was a flea market find where I can spread out and reference my book collection while I write.

The Bathroom

I’m with Michelle Rafter on this one. Growing up, sometimes the bathroom was the only place with any privacy! Since inspiration can come anytime, anywhere and where better than under a steaming hot shower or a candle-lit bubble bath?

My Office

Sometimes I come in super early or stay uber late. It’s rare, but sometimes in those off hours, I can accomplish a lot of writing, even if it’s only topic notes or story ideas. And I’ve been known to dash off a poem or two at lunch. Obviously no rich colours or pretty scents here, but Grooveshark is a lifesaver!

Inner Sanctum of Edna St. Vincent Millay, from Writer's Houses

Fantasy Spot 1 - Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Writing Sanctuary

I have to include this one. What I wouldn’t give to have a spot like this! Granted, I would paint the walls red or some other jewel tone and have multiple mood lighting. But what I really crave [and need] is a library in my home. A room with enough wall space for my book collection. And my nice maple desk of course.

from A Storybook Life

Fantasy Spot 2 – A Quaint and Quiet Garden Shed

I found this while trolling the net for shed plans. I’ve read of several artists who had little sheds built in their backyards where they could create in peace. I would love to have something like this in my backyard, surrounded by nature. Sort of like a playhouse for grown-ups.

What about you? Is there a space where you’re at your creative best? I’d love to hear!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 23: Love of the Land

2011-05-23T18:04:00.000-04:00

Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything,

for 'tis the only thing in this world that lasts.

Tis the only thing worth working for, worth fighting for -- worth dying for.

~ Gerald O’Hara, Gone with the Wind

“The only thing in this world that lasts.” I never knew how much in common I had with Scarlett O’Hara until this past Saturday.

I gathered together about ten of my closest girlfriends and invited them down to my childhood home for an afternoon tea celebrating the 75^th Anniversary of the publication of “Gone with the Wind.” Any excuse to dress up, eat and spend time with friends!

The menu consisted of fried chicken, ham biscuits, green beans [with pork fat of course!], mashed potatoes and gravy, chocolate-pecan pie, southern tea cakes and a Kentucky Jam Cake, a quartet of wine-based sorbets, and plenty of Southern sweet tea, fresh made lemonade and mint juleps.

After our repast, we retired to the living room where I had set up a projector and a white bed sheet ~ we Southerners make do ~ and watched Scarlett and her entourage live through a heart-wrenching and momentous era in our nation’s history. Even if you weren’t blessed to be born in the land of soft, Southern drawls and the smell of fried chicken and fresh biscuits, you can still appreciate the writing brilliance of Margaret Mitchell and the amazing vision of David Selznik.

Getting in Touch with My Inner Scarlett

When I first watched the movie, I was very young. I admired the all the beautiful dresses and the broad expanse of land of Tara and the mannered yet manly gentlemen and wept over the burning of Atlanta. Other than that, I didn’t understand much of it. As the older, wiser me watched the movie, I still oohed and ahhed with my girlfriends over Scarlett’s famous green muslin “Twelve Oaks BBQ” dress, her green velvet “curtain” dress and her daring red “Ashley’s Birthday” outfit. But a theme that I had missed as a child kept coming up to haunt me.

There is a scene, after the war is over and Scarlett is trying to save Tara from her old overseer. She goes to Ashley to get his advice. But poor Ashley is stuck like Lot’s wife, looking back at the life that once was and will never be again and has no practical advice to give. At one point, Scarlett throws herself into his arms and states that they should run away because there’s nothing to keep either of them there. But he points out that [besides his wife and son], there is something that Scarlett loves more than even him. He picks up a handful of dirt and places it in her hand.

And that is when it struck me how like Scarlett I am ~ at least when it comes to an attachment to the land. It gets in your blood. No matter how far away you may go, or how many times your heart gets broken, or how many jobs you’ve lost, the pull of the land is always there. And I realized that Gerald O’Hara was right: land is the only thing that lasts, the only thing worth fighting and dying for.

It is always difficult to leave the peace of the country and come back to the noise and indifferent city. But this time it I felt like my arm had been amputated. What this means for the future, I have no idea. But I do know that our land, though nothing on scale of Tara, will always be an anchor and a priority for me and I’d rather die than let it go.

What about you? What from your childhood still has a hold on you? Has it had a negative or positive impact on you?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

P.S. I admit I can be as tenacious as Scarlett, and yes, a little pouty at times. But I can say without reservation, that if a Rhett Butler came into my life, I would hold on to him with both hands! Fiddle-dee-dee!

Word Count Blogathon Day 22: Gone with the Wind Links

2011-05-22T10:00:00.007-04:00

I can't go all my life waiting to catch you between husbands.
~ Rhett Butler

This weekend I am out in the country celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Gone with the Wind's publication with some of my close girlfriends. Once I return, I promise to share pictures and bits of GWTW trivia. Meanwhile, visit some of these sites for more GWTW news!

Vivian Leigh ~ a great blog all about Vivian Leigh and her role as Scarlett O'Hara.

Gone with the Wind Exhibit ~ wow. Love. It.

Hooked on Houses ~ a post about Tara and Twelve Oaks with some great pictures of the movie set.

How We Do Run On ~ a GWTW scrapbook blog. Beautiful fashion plates.

Margaret Mitchell House ~ a website of the house where GWTW was written.

Scarlett Online ~ a site dedicated to the feisty heroine.

GWTW Official Movie Site

GWTW, the movie ~ for those who [horror of horrors!] haven't seen it yet.

Scarlett O'Hardy's Museum ~ largest collection of movie memorabilia

Word Count Blogathon Day 21: Falling in Love with the Poetry of Dana Gioia, Part III

2011-05-21T10:00:00.006-04:00

I am the past that feeds upon the present.

I am the darkness that daylight denies.

I am the sins that you must inherit--

The final truth in a world full of lies.

~ Dana Gioia

Gioia lamented that while we are living in a great age to be a poet in terms of making a living at it, the only people who appear to read poetry are other poets. It has become mostly an academic pursuit, instead of the art once employed and enjoyed by the average reader.

American poetry now belongs to a subculture. No longer part of the mainstream of artistic and intellectual life, it has become the specialized occupation of a relatively small and isolated group….Daily newspapers no longer review poetry….te large audience that still exists for quality fiction hardly notices poetry. A reader familiar with the novels of Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike, or John Barth may not even recognize the names of Gwendolyn Brooks, Gary Snyder, and W. D. Snodgrass. 1

Sadly, this seems to be the direction all art is taking ~ save, perhaps, music. My dear, if you can’t understand it, you are hopelessly uncultured and uneducated! But art is not meant to be picked apart like day old road kill. As Gioa put it Tuesday evening, “the purpose of poetry, indeed of all literature, is to instruct, delight, console and commemorate.” Academia is focused solely on the first purpose and has completely forgotten the other three.

Of course, that is not anything new: look at Christ: he spoke in parables to the crowds, never theology or philosophy. And see how the academic critics of his day liked it!

To look at the issue in strictly economic terms, most contemporary poets have been alienated from their original cultural function. As Marx maintained and few economists have disputed, changes in a class's economic function eventually transform its values and behavior. In poetry's case, the socioeconomic changes have led to a divided literary culture: the superabundance of poetry within a small class and the impoverishment outside it. One might even say that outside the classroom—where society demands that the two groups interact—poets and the common reader are no longer on speaking terms. 2

How sad is that last statement. I feel like there was a divorce and I never even knew he was gone!

Reclaiming Our First Love

So what can be done about it? As I mentioned on Thursday, we should learn to see poetry with new eyes by hearing it recited properly. And by that I mean with passion and feeling and with an understanding of the rhythm and flow of words.

Sullivan has mentioned that he wants to begin hosting poetry nights. Each guest will be given a short poem to memorize, which they will then recite at the party. I think it is a brilliant idea and cannot wait for the first installment.

If you’re still new to poetry and the thought of a party is too much, start by taking a day [or morning or afternoon], grab a book of Dana Gioia’s poetry and head to your favorite spot. It could be down by the river, in a canoe on the lake, under a tall magnolia, at the local coffee shop, or simply at home on the porch. Sip your tea [preferably Southern sweet tea, of course!] and let the imagery capture you and the words roll around your mind and off your tongue.

You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to fall in love . . .with poetry.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

1,2: taken from D. Gioia's Can Poetry Matter?

Word Count Blogathon Day 20: Falling in Love with the Poetry of Dana Gioia, Part II

2011-05-20T17:31:00.000-04:00

Poetry speaks of things that are true, with words that are beautiful.

~ Dante Alighieri

Where does poetry come from? And how exactly does one become a poet? It often begins at our mother’s knee. Dana Gioa’s mother recited Poe’s “Annabelle Lee” to him; mine read me Clyde Robert Bulla’s “The Moon Singer.” Gioia mentioned that his mother came from a dirt poor background; the poetry she was taught to memorize in school was as he put it, a way for her to “access beauty.” For my own mother, reading was a magical wardrobe into a Narnia of learning and better opportunities.

Teach a child to read and you open up vast new worlds to him; breathing on the creative spark already burning within his tiny breast and setting his imagination ablaze. Teach a child poetry and you open up, not just a new world, but “a different way of speaking and writing.” That was Dana Gioia’s response when asked for the definition of poetry. And a child who is introduced to poetry from a young age will remember and cherish those childhood poems well into adulthood. I can still recite, with only some faltering, “If”, “In Flanders Fields,” as well as the iconic “Trees.”

In Gioia’s case, his mother’s love of poetry races like quicksilver in his blood and has created a great American poet. What is your love and what, or rather who, will it create? Now is the time to fashion the next generation of poets and writers. What steps will you take to incorporate poetry into your life and the lives of your children?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 19: Falling in Love with the Poetry of Dana Gioia, Part I

2011-05-19T17:38:00.000-04:00

They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,

They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.

I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I

Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.

And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,

A handful of grey ashes, long long ago at rest,

Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;

For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.

~ William Johnson Cory

They told me, reader, that Dana Gioia would be speaking Tuesday night. So to the University Club, my feet did fly. And . . . I’m going to stop right there because I will just embarrass myself. However, I did indeed meet Dana Gioia this past Tuesday at an evening conversation sponsored by The Trinity Forum on Poetry and Beauty in a Fallen World.

Recitation is the Key to Falling in Love . . . with Poetry

I was already a fan of his poetry ~ which seduces you with caressing lines and vivid imagery and his prose essays read almost like poetry, such is his lyrical mastery. But it was his recitation of the poems ~ Cory’s “Heraclitus” quoted above, and his own “The Litany” ~ that bewitched my imagination and ignited intense emotions.

And Gioia said that it is this visceral reaction to the spoken word that gives poetry its warmth, its breath, its intoxicating scent. Poetry is akin to music ~ the melodies come from the rhythm and cadence of the words and dramatic interpretation of the human speaker. The majority of people, he said, do not enjoy poetry because they have never heard it recited properly.

For instance ~ and I apologize that I can only clumsily attempt to replicate his delivery, this being print after all ~ when speaking the last line of “Heraclitus,” Gioia paused after “Death”, and emphasized “them”, with a slight breath before finishing the line and bowing his head slightly, as if in mourning. In this sense, poetry recitation’s other sister is the art of acting, since the speaker will often infuse the words with the personality of the character speaking them. In the case of “Heraclitus” the character speaking is Telemachus and Gioia became Telemachus, weeping at the news of the death of his friend.

It was then, with tears stinging my own eyes as I felt Telemachus' loss as if it were my own, that I truly fell in love with poetry. And maybe . . . just a little . . . with Dana Gioia.

Word Count Blogathon Day 11: Relaxed Morning Pages

2011-05-12T09:47:00.000-04:00

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.

~ Sylvia Plath

The key to Morning Pages is to relax.

There is no one looking over your shoulder but you. The point is to free write and get the ink flowing. I know I’ve said this before, but at least for me, my poor little brain [or psyche] cannot seem to remember! It stubbornly reverts back to an impossibly high standard that not even Jane Austen could not reach!

Writers are human too. [Although I swear I have ink in my veins instead of blood.] We hear voices. Some are good: they are the voices of our characters. Or the voices of supportive friends and family encouraging us to keep writing. Some are downright evil: the voices of non-supportive friends and family, editors with an axe to grind [thankfully I’ve found those to be a minority!]. But our single worst enemy?

Ourselves.

Our own fears, doubts, negative [and false] self-image. We are the only obstacle holding us back. Having lived with this type of harsh self-criticism for much of my life, I have tried various methods to silence them. And I’ve discovered that I can’t really shut them up. I need to shut them out. Hire a second, bigger chorus to sing louder and in more beautiful tones in order to drown them out.

This is the only way I have attained any peace, any writing sanity.

The alternative is to end up with an office strewn with unfinished manuscripts, half-begun short stories and un-submitted poems. Oh, we use all sorts of excuses to explain our unfinished business: fear of rejection, haven’t found the right editor, it’s already been said before, etc., etc. Rejection is indeed difficult to take, and finding the right editor and publisher is key, but there is more than one editor/publisher out there and in this age of self-publishing and blogging, those two excuses fade like dandelions gone to seed.

As for the excuse that it’s already been said before [oh yes, writers think this sometimes!], perhaps it has. Actually, yes, it has. But it has never been said with your voice, your heart, your experience. We are each unique and un-repeatable gifts, with something very valuable to offer the world. Your voice, your pen – is very much needed.

So get out there and write!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela