A Day in the Life of Anansi the Poet

Just a bit from one of my favorite interviews in the “One Question” Series I’m publishing on BeingisaVerb.com:

I love this guy’s work.  I mean, I REALLY love his poetry.  As in, not only do receive updates from his blog in my email daily… I actually ALWAYS make time to read them.  I’ve attempted to copy his style once or twice because it really speaks to me on many levels…as an occasional poet who struggles for several hours to create a poem only five or six stanzas long, as a reader who enjoys writers that show an obvious love for a carefully crafted phrase, and as a creative explorer who admires people who are adept at integrating multiple disciplines into their work.

All that is my small attempt to explain why, in this particular interview, I broke my own rule.

I asked Anansi to tell me what inspires him.

Okay, I didn’t ask as simple or as straight up as that.  See… if you read his work (trythis, or this, or this that I love so much), you’ll see that EVERYTHING inspires him.  So really what I told him is:

And so that makes me curious about how you choose what to write about, how you take the seed of an idea and then shape it into one of your distinctively styled poems which not only tell a story, but also contain the lyrical quality that I associate the best poetry.  I suppose, in a way, I’m asking you to share a day in the life of the poet Anansi, as he crafts a poem… 

And he responded: 

Everyone has a medium in which they communicate best. For some its painting, for others its dance or feats of strength, and for a few it’s language. Words are stronger and more far reaching than even the meanest rhinoceros, if used the right way. With them, I try to put careful kindness into topics un-talked about.

The way someone writes tells a lot about why he/she writes. To me, its a compulsion to try and help people with creativity. If I can make them smile, or think something that they wouldn’t otherwise, my job is well done.

The goal is to draw harsh realities with a fantasy face in the hope that people can relate to them. This country is highly desensitized to inequality, but if it’s written about with whimsy, like from a villain’s perspective or during a zombie invasion, well…there’s hope.

Click through to read the rest...

On Living, Dying, and Writing

There are many jewels about writing to be found on writer Ksenia Anske’s blog, but this post touched the biggest place in me today. 

The Writer’s Lair: The Lair of Dreampunk Geek

I popped in to Dreampunk Geek’s blog as a courtesy visit to thank her for a kind comment on one of my #Flashmo stories. Of course, once I was there, I discovered she was exactly my kind of person: creative, artistic, marching to the beat of her own drummer, and a writer to boot.

When I saw her post about her writing space, I immediately asked if she’d allow me to share it here with ya’ll and she was gracious enough to say “yes!”  The following is a reblog of her original post (found here):

My writing place isn’t ideal. I have a desktop PC on a small, cluttered desk. It sits in my bedroom past the foot of the bed and faces the bathroom. Between my chair and bed is my (embarrassingly) dirty laundry on the floor where my dog Peaches likes to lay and sleep. She was a rescue from the pound and can’t hear. When I want to get up my hand automatically reaches down to check if she is on the dirty laundry, give her a pet, and then I stand, careful not to step on her head.

My husband has a lot of health problems. Lately he hasn’t been sleeping at night because he is in too much pain. This means that he sleeps during the day when I am awake and trying to write. The room stays very dark and quiet to try and allow him some rest. My chair squeaks loudly at the slightest movements, so I try to stay still. This makes my shoulders stiff from sitting and typing too long, but I don’t mind.

Sometimes my black cat Barrons (also a rescue from the pound) or little dog Princess keep my lap warm while I write. Sometimes the cat throws things off my desk “accidentally.”

I don’t mind any of this. It is my special place. My desk. Sanctuary. Place of creativity. Place to write.

My favorite thing about my writing place is my husband. When he wakes up he mumbles “I love you.” to me in a half asleep daze. It is the first thing he says. Sometimes I wonder if he does it when I’m at work too, just hoping I’m there. It wouldn’t surprise me if he did.

Want to create? Develop your capacity to be inspired...

I love this concept of “a personal micro-culture” — what an eloquent way to capture the most important aspect of who we become, as creators in any medium and as human beings. Design legend Paula Scher knows that. (“[A design is] done in a second and every experience, and every movie, and every thing in my life that’s in my head,” she said.) Artist Austin Kleon knows that. (“You are a mashup of what you let into your life,” he said.) The blossoming of our combinatorial creativity hinges on a cultivation of our personal micro-culture. How are you cultivating yours?  (Brainpickings.com)

The Writer’s Lair: Sara of Seeking Sanctuary at World’s End

Because I’m quite a little nosy, I put out a call a couple of weeks ago for writers to share their writing spaces with me… and I’m super excited that I’m starting to see responses come in!

The very first response was from Sara Thompson of the blog Seeking Sanctuary at World’s End. Sara is a writer with a variety of interests—foraging, crafting, and the supernatural, just to name a few—and I like to say she’s a combination of Martha Stewart and Survivorman.  In the best way, of course… as in, if the Zombie Apocalypse was going to start tomorrow, I’d have to figure out how to fly my family across the country to Sara’s house tonight! 

Anyway, here’s a peek into the spot where Sara makes the wordsmith magic happen and her thoughts about her space:

Sara Says:

This is where the magic happens for most of my work.  This is my office at Washington State University.  I work as a phone operator so I have to stay attached to the phone but I have plenty of time to write and create. 

You’ll see on the wall to the right, I have lots of notes.  These are lists of to-do tasks, chapters of my non-fic for easy reference.  There’s a calendar and then the long pages are my stuff from the Artist’s Way - Rules of the Road, Basic Principles and my prayer to the Great Creator. The two colorful square are cards I have gotten - one has a pic of my son to invite me to his horse thing and the other is a reproduction of art. 

The glass in front of my desk used to be this amazing view of an ivy covered atrium but it was dug out last December for construction on a building that’s going in on top of our building so I have a view of a dark piece of wood.  The larger squares now on the glass are collages I have made and plan on making enough to cover the glass.  The smaller squares are pictures I have drawn based on things I have read in the Artist’s way. 

On my desk is my binder filled with research and notes with my notebook for journalling, The Artist’s Way, my planner and a Death by Killer Mop Doll sitting on top.  You can’t see my computer tower which is between the wall and my monitor (but on the floor) - on top of that is an art project I started, Raven Bower’s Primal, two sketch books that I started for foraging, a notebook for blog notes and two blank notebooks because I go through them so fast. 

On the shelf above my computer is more notebooks, coloring books, writing books and other little bits of fun.  I have a musical candy dish and a tea container (behind my water bottle).  I couldn’t get everything in that picture but I have a wooden pagoda I painted on a higher shelf with collage books as well as plants and some little toys from my “boys” - I have crayons and sketch pencils/books as well on one of those shelves. I keep a basket of art supplies next to a file cabinet filled with story bits and more tea (with some snacks but the tea is more interesting). Something you probably can’t see is that I have a deck of tarot cards next to my candy dish and water bottle.  I’m very superstitious so I feel like I need them when I need guidance.

I have no routine because I have a day job but I’m working to make the space a creative one.  I’ll be sad if they ever move me because what a pain it will be to move all the bits and pieces that have come to represent me!

Wasn’t that a lovely tour of Sara’s creative space?  Thanks so much for sharing it with us Sara!

I’d love to see YOUR space next!  Just email a picture and a few paragraphs about it to me at snhamlett at gmail dot com.  Be sure to include a link to your website so people can drop by to say “hello!”  

Seeking Submissions: The Writer’s Lair

I’ve always loved having the opportunity to peek behind the scenes and discover where creative people actually DO their creating.  Whether it’s a sewing room or an open art studio, I get a real thrill seeing the detritus of the creator’s craft spread out from use.  

Getting this intimate behind-the-scenes look into a writer’s life is rare.  I suppose everyone assumes the real “creation” occurs mentally… but for me, writing is often a physical affair and when the muse truly calls, you’ll find me in the middle of the floor with laptop and yellow legal pad, balls of paper and random pens strewn about.  

Am I the only one who writes that way?  Navigating between technology and old school, long hand and typed… whatever it takes to woo the words and shape them into the shape I’ve envisioned.

The joy of blogs and the interweb is that they give you an excuse to feed your crazy fetishes (well, that’s what my blogs do!).  So I’m taking full advantage of that here and sending out a request to all my writer type friends and acquaintances:

Send me a photo of your inner sanctum!  Where do you wrestle with the muse?  Doesn’t matter if it’s at the kitchen table at midnight, with pen and pad during your potty breaks, or in the luxury of your own dedicated space… I’d LOVE to see.  With your permission, I’ll post your lair here on Writerly Musings, along with your 100 word (or so) description and a link to your website.

Interested in playing along? Send your photos and info to “snhamlett at gmail dot com” with subject line “My Writer’s Lair”.

(Source: jonathanworth.com)

Casa Maravilla: Counting Crows haiku

From the somewhat hidden blog of my favorite writer, Charles de Lint… an excerpt of his haiku Counting Crows (click through to read the complete poem!):