New Year, New Organizer

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I don’t live a one-organizer-fits-all life. Does anyone? Which is good as I receive five or six as Christmas gifts each year and I put most of them to good use.

          Friends and family members give me planners with covers of dogs, outdoor scenes, and creative words—all things I love.

          I have a pocket planner for my purse so I know at all times when any family member has a doctor, dentist, or hair appointment—not to mention vet appointments as well. It fits in any purse so it’s always on hand as I schedule follow up appointments or six-month checkups while at the doctor, dentist, or vet, but there’s not much daily space for everything else going on in life. I use initials for events or people I’m supposed to go to or meet, but often need more detailed entries so there is the social events planner for activities, parties, meetings, and gatherings of all sorts.

          This is a larger planner I keep in the kitchen. As invitations arrive in the mail, by email, or phone, I jot them down on a page with enough space to add details like what dish or wine to bring, I also copy over all the information from the pocket planner to make sure there are no conflicts. Then I record dates for any workmen or deliveries. All other family members’ various activities and parties are recorded here, too.

          While not a planner, the family calendar on the wall in the kitchen is the biggest reminder for everyone what is happening that day, week, or month. That has to be updated from my planner—and any additions made by others have to go into my planners.

          No room for errors or disaster strikes!

          Then I need a work planner. As an editor, deadline dates are etched in stone each week or month. I need to assign articles to contributing writers by a certain day. I need them submitted to me by a certain day. I need to edit them by a certain day, then submit them to the Production Department by a certain date. (I mark all work deadline dates with red stars in the social events planner to avoid conflicts so all information is available in one place.)

          For a monthly publication, this gets tricky. For example, I make assignments for the January issue by November 25. This gives writers three weeks to set up interviews, complete interviews, and write their articles. They turn them in to me on December 15, I have until December 18 to edit them and send to the Production Department.

          The Production Department sends me first proofs about two days later. I have one day to make corrections and return them. Final proofs are sent back a day or two later. Generally, I have half a day to make final corrections—and then I start planning the February issue in December.

          This can get confusing—I’m planning Christmas before Halloween every year!—so I write it all down in a big work planner with plenty of space for detailed notes.

I’m also a contributing writer. Article assignments have many dates: a day to schedule an interview, a day for the interview, and a due date for the article. These go in my work planner as well.

My deadline dates for my freelance work also are recorded in my work planner, but I need space for detailed notes so I have a creative planner as well. This one gives me plenty of space to schedule/track the time I spend each day on my own book, screenplay, and freelance assignments as a writer and editor. There are a myriad of dates I need to remember while editing a client’s book. Writing them in a planner is the only way I can stay on track.

A pocket planner, a social events planner, a work planner, and a creative planner should cover all the bases, but I have one more—an inspirational planner.

I pick this one out for myself since it needs to inspire me even as I write my inspirations in it. I like ones that ask questions—sort of writing prompts in case I’m not inspired—but mostly it’s a place to think about future issues and record ideas for the magazines as well as essays, articles, plots for books, short stories, and screenplays. I like to look back to know when I had an idea and then when I completed it.

My life is full and fully documented. It’s the only way I can make sure everything gets done!

A Real Piece of Work

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

My respect for every author has increased a hundredfold since I started writing my book seriously. The time, dedication, discipline, creativity, confidence, and energy required is draining and exhilarating simultaneously.

Writing a book changes how you look at a book. It’s no longer just something to read and, hopefully, enjoy, but a real piece of work.

Hundreds of hours are needed to create something people read in a few hours, but that’s how work works—hours to create fashion, seconds to put it on; months to build a boat, moments to set sail, and years to build a skyscraper, minutes in an elevator to reach the top. Not sure we ever truly appreciate the work that goes into anything unless we have done the work ourselves.

What I am sure of is that writers need to make the time to write no matter what on a schedule that gets words onto documents. Then the rewriting begins.

This takes time, dedication, discipline, creativity, confidence, and energy, i.e., work. Writing is work. Successful writing is hard work that takes a lot of time.

“The days are long, but the years are short.”—Anonymous

The work pays off if you make time during your long days to pile up pages so your years are filled with your books, articles, essays, poems, screenplays, short stories, and/or plays.

Do your work. Do it today. Do it every day.

I Love Living the Writer's Life

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I love the writer’s life.

          I love pre-writing. I love observing, imagining, reading, and connecting.

I love writing. I love picking up a pen and filling pages. I love sitting at my desk and hunting for thoughts and ideas then capturing them by keyboard.

          I love rewriting and refining my work. I love honing in on what I want to express—making it as clear as I can—however long that takes.

          I love making people think, laugh, or even get misty-eyed when they read my pieces. It means I’ve written well—and I love that most of all.

         

              

Word count for the week of June 4-10 was 8,993.

Staying Inspired

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

Everything we see, hear, smell, taste or touch is grist for our writing mills. We can grind it all in our minds and come up with kernels of ideas. Some people also call it filling the well. It’s an essential part of writing so we have material to work with when we need an idea for an essay, blog post, article, etc.

Whatever you want to call it, make sure you are collecting material that you can fall back on by living full lives, reading, watching TV, eavesdropping on public conversations, and observing humans and nature.

What did I put in my well lately?

The lilacs are in bloom so I gathered a vase-full every other day to fill the house with their lovely scent and color.

The chickens are cackling proudly when they lay their eggs. Luckily, they do not cackle all together or the neighbors might complain.

The nearest neighbors just put in a basketball hoop. The dogs do not like the sound of a bouncing ball so they bark at it, but they will get used to it in time, we hope.

Employees at the deli counter, two female and one male, were discussing whether they would ever get Lasik surgery. Two were wearing glasses. One of them couldn’t get contacts. Their consensus was no. I agreed silently while waiting for a pound-and-a-half of American cheese and four chicken breasts.

As I waited, a man came by looking for packaged sandwich wraps made with cheese seats. After he left, I looked at what he bought—wraps made with chia seeds. Hard to hear him over the Lasik conversation.

On the recommendation of a friend, I read Carly Simon’s biography, Boys in the Trees: A Memoir. Her life was often sad and occasionally tragic. There are also some intimate details I wish I didn’t know, but I guess that’s show business.

On the CBS Sunday Morning show, Mother’s Day was celebrated, but unacceptable stats were given for maternity and paternity leave. Only 49% of women received paid leave while 70% of men who have access to paternity leave were paid.

          On the Science channel I learned that three billion years ago the moon had more than one active volcano. Imagine looking up in the sky and seeing lava flowing.

Keep adding material to your writing mill or well. You never know when you’ll need an idea, fact, or memory for a project.

Word count for the week May 7-13 was 8,649.

Reads for Writers: The Writer's Life by Julia Cameron

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I had a very busy week: appointments with the eye doctor, dentist, doctor, and vet on consecutive days. They really cut into my writing time, but added to my reading time.

          As I sat in various waiting rooms, I pulled out The Writer’s Life: Insights from The Right to Write by Julia Cameron. This book at 5” x 4” and 103 pages fits easily into a purse or pocket—and it’s worth carrying around.

          Each page is a complete insight from Cameron’s original book, which I also love, so it’s easy to pick up and put down, but it’s so inspiring you just want to go home and write as can be proven by my increased word count this week.

          I have three copies of this book: one in my purse at all times; one in my car in case I don’t take my big purse; and one near my monthly notebook in case I need some quick inspiration. I have two copies of The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life: one in my office and one in my favorite writing spot. It’s just that good.

          I hadn’t read the book in over two months with all my writing projects going on so it was perfect for this busy week. And while I’ve read it repeatedly, Cameron’s take on writing invigorates me every time. I just can’t wait to get back to my computer keyboard or my notebook and pen—and that's the best writer’s life I know.

My word count for the week of April 9-15 was 10,470.

Following Through

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

Last week I wrote about receiving big ideas while writing routinely in my monthly notebook. I feel these ideas are rewards from my Muse for putting in the time.

Well receiving ideas is only the beginning. You have to follow through with them. So this past week I stopped working on my other writing projects (except filling my notebook a month) to put together my idea for a book proposal—and I did it in a week.

I didn’t sleep as much as usual. I only wrote one article as well as in my monthly notebook while I assembled the proposal. I will need to write more when it comes to finishing the book, but for the proposal I only needed to assemble and organize some of my previously written magazine essays on a multitude of topics, create a Table of Contents, and summarize the rest of the book.

I’m now letting the project sit for a week so I can look at it with fresh eyes. The anticipation is almost as much fun as putting together the proposal.

While I wait, I’m back to working on my screenplay this week because one of the other big ideas I received changed the plot. I’m still filling my notebook a month and completing other writing assignments on deadline. 

Writing begets writing so if you’re a writer, write. Fill an 80-100 page notebook a month whether you have assignments and deadlines or not. (Filling a notebook a month is the idea of Natalie Goldberg in her book Writing Down the Bones.)

 I have my paid writing and editing jobs, my screenplay, my fun writing projects, and now a book. I don’t need to fill a notebook a month to be a writer, but it keeps me motivated, improves my speed, and gives me ideas so this is one writing assignment I’m never giving up.

Word count for the week of April 2-8 was 7,178.

Inspired by Work

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I’ve been writing articles and essays for my job, posting to this blog, working on my personal writing class projects regularly, and filling a notebook every month. In March, I averaged 1,158 words a day. Slowest day, I wrote 329. Busiest, 2,659.

          All of this writing has sharpened my senses. I know I need inspiration for writing so I’m paying attention to my surroundings—conversations and observations—as well as to my thoughts. I’m writing it all down.

          Call it the Muse or whatever you want, but because I’ve been so open to receiving information for months I’ve also had a few big ideas for future projects that I’m now working on. More writing not only begets better writing, but more writing.  

          Write every day. If you already have an idea for a writing project, work on it as often as possible, but write on other topics as well as ideas can come from anywhere. If you want an idea for a project, write about anything and everything as much as possible.

If you put in the time, your Muse will reward you.

         

Word count for the week of March 26-April 1 was 11,806.

Monthly Magazine Timeline 4---Editor's Essays

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          As I mentioned in last week’s blog, I write an essay for an Editor’s Thoughts column each month for the magazines. The word count is 450-500. The topic is timely—something I thought about recently or plan to do in the upcoming month.

          I often write this essay in one day after deadline but before proofing. I’ve written well over 100 of them as an editor so I’ve had lots of practice. Since I’m exhausted after three days of editing all the text for both issues, I don’t expend the energy unless it’s going to be published although I’ve had to cut it occasionally at second proof if ads come in late. Editing requires tough calls.

          Here is the essay I wrote and rewrote on January 19th in 242 minutes:     

  

If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend viewing Hidden Figures—the true story of three brilliant black women, Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who worked for NASA’s early space program.

Who isn’t in awe of anyone who can create equations to overcome gravity then accurately bring astronauts back to an exact area for pick up, or program one of the first computers, or design space crafts to withstand re-entry? Yes, there were smart and brave men who sat in those space crafts not knowing if they would live or die, but they would not have succeeded without every employee at NASA doing their jobs.

          Imagine if during some of the proudest moments of this country—John Glenn in space then astronauts on the moon and back—everyone in the world knew about the contributions of these and other black women like Christine Darden and all the other minorities that helped make it possible.

NASA’s workforce reflected America, but most citizens were not aware of it. These people were living their dreams in a time when most were not. Wouldn’t these facts have changed the country and the world even more?

According to the book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, who visited NASA as a child because her father, Robert B. Lee III, was an engineer there: “Five of my father’s seven siblings made their bones as engineers or technologists…Our church abounded with mathematicians. Supersonic experts held leadership positions in my mother’s sorority…As a child…I knew so many African Americans working in science, math, and engineering that I thought that’s just what black folks did.” (page viii)

Imagine a world where everyone thought that; a world where all people were valued for their abilities regardless of race or gender.

The events depicted in Hidden Figures took place before I arrived on earth, but I’d like to image being born into a world where the STEM program wasn’t needed because all little girls studied and then grew up to major in science, technology, engineering, and math, if they wished, due to these strong female role models who provided crucial knowledge and data to put men on the moon.

In return for their amazing work, NASA named buildings in their honor. Katherine Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

In this day and age, I cannot understand why the history of space exploration isn’t taught so we know the names of at least these three women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, as well as we know the names of astronauts Alan Shepard, Wally Schirra, and Buzz Aldrin. We would not have won the space race without all of them working together—a giant step for all human beings.

As the Editor, I also write weekly thoughts for the magazines’ facebook page. Here is my most recent one, 193 words written and rewritten in 50 minutes on February 1st:

          Recently, my sister surprised our father with an array of photos from his high school ice hockey team printed from older newspapers now online. As the goalie, there are photos of him blocking shots including one where he is doing a split with his glove outstretched and stick ready to block a rebounding puck. It’s a photo he is proud of, but the newsprint copy in his scrapbook is crumbling.

          He was surprised and touched that she found the photos and articles, printed them out, and framed them. They are now hung on the wall or on shelves where he can see and enjoy them every day. He may not be able to do a split anymore, but there was a time when he could do it well. They’re called glory days for a good reason.

This was such a lovely, thoughtful gift, I wanted to share it. A blast from the past like this is perfect for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays, etc. Imagine the look on your loved ones’ faces as they are reminded of wonderful times captured years ago yet available now for display thanks to the internet.

Writing and rewriting fast are necessary skills for editors. Deadlines have to be met and the editor is the one who has to make it happen.

Weekly word count for January 29-February 4: 12,902.

Inspiration vs. Deadlines

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I don’t need inspiration to write my assigned articles. I know who I’m interviewing and why. I have a deadline and a need for a paycheck so the writing gets done. That’s not to say I’m not inspired while writing, just that the deadline is the driving force in these cases.

          For this blog, my magazine essays, and my facebook column for the magazines I edit, I can choose my own topics. While there is a weekly or monthly deadline, inspiration plays the bigger role—at first. If I don’t have any ideas and deadline is approaching, then the deadline pressure squeezes thoughts out of me because I never miss deadlines.

          As I write this post, I’m three weeks ahead for this blog plus I’ve written two other pieces for later this year. I’m a week ahead for the facebook column, too. At this time, magazine deadlines are ten days away so there is no deadline pressure now, but I have time to write. However, I’m not inspired. I also don’t feel the need to be inspired.

          I don’t feel the need to be inspired. That is an uncomfortable but true statement. It’s why I’m forcing myself to write this piece. I like to think I always have something to say on topics that interest me, but after writing six pieces (now seven) in nine days seemingly effortlessly I need a break.

          I enjoyed writing these pieces. I love wrestling with words and thoughts and organization. I was energized by the ideas and work, but now I’m not. I’m going to read instead then walk the dogs.

          Writing is demanding. Deadlines are essential. Inspiration is elusive. Rejuvenation is required. Downtime is necessary.

          I’ll write later—today, tomorrow, when deadlines are imminent, and when inspiration strikes again.

It's All Copy

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Time is a funny thing. It seems to pass slowly while we wait for birthdays and holidays or winter to be over, but days fly by as we rush around working and running errands while planning dinners and doing laundry. Years pile up and before we know it we receive reunion invitations with numbers we can hardly believe.

          However, the biggest jolt in time for me is when children of friends who live far away who I remember in baby bonnets or first grade are now driving or going to college. How could that much time have passed?

          These children seem to have spent their time well. They have learned to walk and talk and read and write. They are graduating, moving, and preparing for careers.

          Has my time been as well spent?

          There aren’t as many milestones after graduation except new job titles and possible marriage and/or parenthood. For writers: pages written, assignments completed, and pieces and books published.

          Happiness and satisfaction are good indicators. Stay the course if you are happy and satisfied; shake things up if not. Trying something new can be fun in either situation.

          What we do need to remember in the end is that life is short. Writer and director Nora Ephron, who died a few of years ago, was on a clip from Charlie Rose’s show in her son’s tribute documentary, It’s All Copy, discussing that you know what you want for your last meal but you never know when you’re going to die so have that meal soon. Good advice—plus it answers the everyday question of what’s for dinner!

          "It’s all copy" is a phrase Ephron’s mother, a screenwriter, used to say whenever life didn’t work out as planned. Ephron also noted everything you see, feel, and hear is fair game.

          Don’t just write what you know. Write about what catches your eye, gives you goosebumps, or sparks an interest.

                   We do not write in order to be understood,

we write in order to understand.

                             --C. Day-Lewis

I am rewritten by what I write.

                             --Robert Grudin

          Life is short so write whatever you want whenever you can wherever you are.

Ready, Set, Write! But What If I'm Blocked? Plus Bonus Recycled Essay

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I’m ready to write. I’ve set aside time to write. I’m sitting in front of my computer, but I’m not writing…yet.

          It’s frustrating when I’m ready to write essays but nothing comes to mind. The only thing more frustrating when it comes to writing is when I have thoughts, ideas, or sentences in my head, but can’t write them down because I’m too busy doing something else.

          I sit here waiting for thoughts to come, my muse to visit, or for some glimmer of an idea. Too distract myself from becoming more frustrated, I look around my office.

On the shelves of a nearby bookcase, I have a favorite pair of small watercolor paintings of the same stand of maple trees—one done in the greens of spring and one in the golds and reds of fall. They are serene and beautiful. They also capture the passing of time.

          Time is the resource most writers need and most writers waste. If you have the time to write, then write. Keep going even when it is painful prying words out of your head. Eventually something will click. The flow of words will increase. The writing will become less painful.

In the rare cases when it doesn’t, I flip though one of my monthly notebooks looking for a phrase or an idea that inspires me to write now. I also keep a running list of topic ideas at the end of the list of all the posts I’ve written.

I write as long as I can, but if the words don’t start to flow I find it’s better to stop and take a walk or tidy up a room. Inspiration often strikes when I’m not writing. If I’m lucky, it strikes while I still have time to go back to writing at my computer. If not, I jot my ideas down in a notebook planning for my next writing session.

The best writing happens when I’m in the zone. I have an idea and just go with it. It seems so easy. However, sometimes writing is really hard work. I’m prepared with topics, but inspiration doesn’t always take the bait so I have to dig deep to uncover something else to tempt my muse. It’s worth the effort, but can be excruciating.

The reality is the more you write the less often writing is painful. But when it is painful, work through it. You will never get this time back so be ready to make the most of it—whatever it takes.

Below is an example of recycled writing mentioned in post dated 5/2/16. I wrote the essay for today's blog first. The recycled and yet new essay below appeared on my magazine’s facebook page.

On the shelves of a bookcase in my office, I have a favorite pair of small watercolor paintings of the same stand of maple trees—one done in the greens of spring and the other in the golds and reds of fall. They are serene and beautiful. They also capture the passing of time.

          Time is the resource most of us need, but most of us waste. These watercolors remind me I’m in my office to work. The sooner I finish, the sooner I can spend time on other—sometimes more fun—stuff.

          Since most of us have to work, it’s the downtime that we get to allocate. We prioritize family, friends, hobbies, TV shows, music, chores, errands, etc. Then there are unplanned emergencies or other surprises. Do we ever get this balance right?

          It would be nice if there were a savings bank for time. If we mow the lawn faster or fold the laundry quicker, we could sock those minutes away for another day, build up balances so we could be at every birthday party, dance recital, game, or get together.

          Since there isn’t a way to save time for another day, we are left to make the most of our time the best we can. It’s important to remember to enjoy the moments when we love exactly where we are and who we are with. These memories sustain us when we can’t be there.

          I read somewhere that Leap Day should be a worldwide holiday. It’s a bonus day. It should be treated with reverence and spent doing fun things we never have enough time for with the people we love.

          In fact, I think every holiday should be that way so make time for your mom this Mother’s Day. She spends a lot of time caring for and thinking about you. Return the favor.

          Memorial Day deserves our time, too. Line the town parade route on May 30 at 10am. Visit a military site or cemetery. These veterans gave not just their time to us; they gave their lives. There is no greater gift so remember and honor them and their loved ones.

We wouldn’t have the freedom to choose how we spend our time without their sacrifice. Thank you to all of them as well as all veterans and active military personnel.

Mary Oliver: Time Well Spent--70 Hours Per Poem

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

April is poetry month so I’m continuing to discuss Mary Oliver’s entrancing books.

      

Ray Bradbury makes this recommendation to writers on page 36 of Zen in the Art of Writing:

Read poetry every day of your life…it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough…it expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition.

          Mary Oliver, who publishes both poems and prose, discussed writing poetry in Blue Pastures. On page 59, she wrote:

                  

It takes about

seventy hours to drag

a poem into

the light.

         

          Oliver’s poems range from four to thirty-six lines with occasionally longer pieces. To find out it takes about seventy hours per poem is amazing, daunting—and unsurprising.

          If you have read Mary Oliver’s poems, you know she transports her readers whether to the edge of a pond (“The Notebook” page 44 of House of Light), the midst of the human condition (“Halleluiah” page 19 of Evidence), or inside a painting (“Franz Marc’s Blue Horses” page 43 of Blue Horses: Poems). She does this simply with word choices—the craft of all writers yet she hones them to the stratosphere.

          Oliver reaches these heights by writing and rewriting, reading and rereading. At age 80, she’s been doing this for decades. Her talent shines due to the tens of thousands of hours she has spent writing using the 70-hours-per-published-poem math plus the untold hours spent on her prose. Add on the hours she wrote as a child, student, and unpublished writer until age 28 and it isn’t surprising she is among the best writers in the world.

          Consider a work week is 40 hours. Oliver spends an average of 8.75 work days on a single poem. That’s dedication. That’s commitment. That’s why her poems are compelling, as well as why she is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

          Oliver’s favorite topic is nature. In her poem “Good Morning,” she ponders the vastly different life forms on earth remarking:

                   “It must be a great disappointment

to God if we are not dazzled at least ten

times a day.”

                   (pp. 21-23, stanza 5, in the book Blue Horses: Poems)

          Oliver is often dazzled and shares this in her poems and observations. She knows nature isn’t cute so she writes of death as well as life. Many of her poems like “You Are Standing at the Edge of the Woods” on page 21 of What Do We Know and “Mindful” on pp. 58-59 of Why I Wake Early transform my vision of the world.

          I recommend all writers read Blue Pastures which includes more luminous writings about nature as well as her story of becoming a poet and writer. Here’s how she views her calling:

“Poetry, after all, is not a miracle. It is an effort to formalize (ritualize) individual moments and the transcending effects of these moments into a music that all can use. It is the song of our species.” (page 59)

          Oliver’s advice for all writers which cannot be repeated often enough: give your writing power and time—look for verbs of muscle and adjectives of exactitude. It’s just as simple and difficult as that.

          It’s also what makes Mary Oliver’s poetry dazzling.

Reads for Writers: The Outermost House by Henry Beston Provides a Masterclass

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

          Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice and/or creativity.

          The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston is the memoir of a writer who built a two-room house on Cape Cod overlooking the ocean. His keen observations on nature make this book a classic.

          Henry Beston was quoted by Mary Oliver in Blue Pastures on page 34. She highly recommended Chapter III “The Headlong Wave” in The Outermost House.

         

He devotes a single chapter—and it is no brief chapter—to a description of his constant companion, the ocean wave, that form, that long tumult, that energy with its “wisps of watery noise, splashes and counter splashes, whispers, seething, slaps and chucklings.”…He describes waves which come onto the beach on quiet days, windy days, long days of storm, and nights too… (page 45 in The Outermost House)

         

          In the summer of 1924, Beston began living for a year on Eastham Beach hearing the waves every moment, in every season, in all kinds of weather, seeing them during the day every time he looked out a window and anytime he took a walk. This familiarity led to inspiration. He writes 18 pages capturing waves in all their forms. It is a masterclass on verbs of muscle and adjectives of exactitude as extolled by Mary Oliver.

          My favorite passages in Chapter III are:

The rhythm of waves beats in the sea like a pulse in living flesh. It is pure force, forever embodying itself in a succession of watery shapes which vanish on its passing. (page 47)

Far out at sea, in the northeast and near the horizon, is a pool of the loveliest blue I have ever seen here—a light blue, a petal blue, blue of the emperor’s gown in a Chinese fairy tale. (pp. 49-50)

         

          Beston doesn’t limit himself to describing waves. He also records the variations of weather, seasonal changes, birds, insects, strolls, “treasures” washed ashore or away, and his own feelings and thoughts about solitude.

The dune bank was washing away…under the onslaught of the seas…there crumbled out the blackened skeleton of an ancient wreck…As the tide rose this ghost floated and lifted itself free…There was something inconceivably spectral in the sight of this dead hulk thus stirring from its grave and yielding its bones again into the fury of the gale. (page 88)

From the moment that I rose in the morning and threw open my door looking toward the sea to the moment when the spurt of a match sounded in the evening quiet of my solitary house, there was always something to do, something to observe, something to record, something to study, something to put aside in a corner of the mind. There was the ocean in all weathers and at all tides, now grey and lonely and veiled in winter rain, now sun-bright, coldly green, and marbled with dissolving foam…the little family gatherings of winter birds; there was the glory of the winter sky rolling out of the ocean over and across the dunes…(pp. 91-92)

          Great writing needs inspiration and time to observe, consider, scribble, rewrite, and edit. We can’t all go to a little cottage on the coast for a year, but we can make the most of the writing time we do have—jot, jot, jot until you can get back to your desk.

Reads for Writers: Blue Pastures by Mary Oliver Includes Great Writing Advice

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Writers should be perspicacious; poets have to be. The job description requires discernment and perception when choosing which moments to capture as well as the essential words to create true poetry.

          Among the very best is Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, who publishes both poems and prose. I highly recommend her poems “The Summer Day” on page 60 of House of Light; “Wild Geese” on page 14 of Dream Work; and “This World” on page 27 of Why I Wake Early among many, many others. I wrote about her book, Dog Songs: Thirty-five Dog Songs and One Essay, in a post dated 4/28/14.

           From the title, I thought Blue Pastures would be more luminous writings about nature—her favorite topic—and it is, but it’s also her story of becoming a poet and writer.

          These are only a few of my favorite lines and passages:

                    …at my desk…I am deep in the machinery of my wits. (p. 1)

In truth, the work itself is the adventure. And no artist could go about this work, or would want to, with less than extraordinary energy and concentration. The extraordinary is what art is about. (p. 5)

The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave it neither power nor time. (p. 7)

I never met any of my friends, of course, in a usual way—they were strangers, and lived only in their writings. But if they were only shadow-companions, still they were constant, and powerful, and amazing. That is, they said amazing things, and for me it changed the world. (p. 13)

Art: hope, vision, the soul’s need to speak. (p. 49)

Poetry, after all, is not a miracle. It is an effort to formalize (ritualize) individual moments and the transcending effects of these moments into a music that all can use. It is the song of our species. (page 59)

It takes about

seventy hours to drag

a poem into

the light.

(p.59)

…the blank piece of paper, and my own energy…(p. 70)

Look for verbs of muscle, adjectives of exactitude. (p. 89)

[I have this taped to my computer monitor.]

Each of us brings to the poem, to the moving pen, a world of echoes.

(p. 109)

We react, we imitate, we imagine, we invent. (p. 111)

          While I’ve been reading Mary Oliver’s work for over a decade, I somehow missed Blue Pastures until recently, much to my dismay. Now it’s one of my top recommendations for writers as part of learning to give their creative work power and time, muscle and exactitude.