By: Christina Adams
I love watching the Olympics. In years past I preferred the summer games over the winter, but this year has changed that. There are still many things I don't understand about sports like curling or hockey and I am okay with that. It's the individual stories that has me riveted to the television, the journey of one person toward winning a gold medal, the dreams and hopes of a country holding their breath. Sometimes I get so excited it feels like my heart stops as I wait to see who will win.
I am amazed at the things a human body can do and when they talk about how much the athletes have to train to prepare for this event, this one chance every four years, I can't help but feel thankful that I am a writer not an athlete. I don't have to wait for one opportunity every four years for my writing to be recognized or to see the realization of my lifelong dreams. Nor do I have a whole nation counting on me and a world routing against me. Over all I have a pressure-free life and, even better, I have the rest of my life to write with no end to my physical ability to create.
Watching the Olympics inspires me to become the best I can be. It stokes the hope that dreams can be realized, if I persevere and don't give in to doubt. The only thing that can stop me is myself.
Have the Olympics inspired you in any way? What helps motivate you to keep writing? I'd love to know. Let's talk shop!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Writer's Book Shelf: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
A new edition of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg is due out in March, 2010. This new edition, advertisements say, includes a new preface by the author.
My copy is copyright 1986, and Goldberg's Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life (1990) is combined in this particular printing. I return to this volume again and again.
This is not a writing how-to, exactly, though it is full of how-tos, as the following two sentences from the chapter "Original Detail":
"Life is so rich, if you can write down the real details of the way things were and are, you hardly need anything else. Even if you transplant the beveled windows, slow-rotating Rheingold sign, Wise potato chip rack, and tall red stools from the Aero Tavern that you drank in in New York into a bar in a story in another state and time, the story will have authenticity and groundedness."
Goldberg is a teacher as well as a poet, essayist, and novelist, a fact that reflects in every one of her short chapters that weave together a myriad of details about technique and discussion of the reasons for the effort itself. Reading her work is like sitting in conversation with a very talented writer friend.
Robert Pirig, the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, describes her as having "the simple style of a Zen archer who looks like he's not even aiming, yet sends arrow after arrow to the bull's-eye time after time."
A few more illustrative quotes:
"The problem is we think we exist."
"Learn to trust the force of your own voice."
"If something works, it works. If it doesn't, quit beating an old horse. Go on writing. Something else will come up. There's enough bad writing in the world. Write one good line, you'll be famous. Write a lot of lukewarm pieces, you'll put people to sleep."
My copy is copyright 1986, and Goldberg's Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life (1990) is combined in this particular printing. I return to this volume again and again.
This is not a writing how-to, exactly, though it is full of how-tos, as the following two sentences from the chapter "Original Detail":
"Life is so rich, if you can write down the real details of the way things were and are, you hardly need anything else. Even if you transplant the beveled windows, slow-rotating Rheingold sign, Wise potato chip rack, and tall red stools from the Aero Tavern that you drank in in New York into a bar in a story in another state and time, the story will have authenticity and groundedness."
Goldberg is a teacher as well as a poet, essayist, and novelist, a fact that reflects in every one of her short chapters that weave together a myriad of details about technique and discussion of the reasons for the effort itself. Reading her work is like sitting in conversation with a very talented writer friend.
Robert Pirig, the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, describes her as having "the simple style of a Zen archer who looks like he's not even aiming, yet sends arrow after arrow to the bull's-eye time after time."
A few more illustrative quotes:
"The problem is we think we exist."
"Learn to trust the force of your own voice."
"If something works, it works. If it doesn't, quit beating an old horse. Go on writing. Something else will come up. There's enough bad writing in the world. Write one good line, you'll be famous. Write a lot of lukewarm pieces, you'll put people to sleep."
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is the story of how a cell sample taken from a poor, black Baltimore mother of six as she lay dying of cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951 turned into one of the most important tools in medicine. They are still alive today and whether or not you recognize her name her cells, the HeLa cells, have traveled the globe and have impacted your health and your life. This is a fascinating story told with great skill, intelligence, and compassion. One of the best books I have read in years ... this is an author to pay attention to.
My review of science journalist Rebecca Skloot's first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is available on Basil & Spice bit.ly/c5BZYy
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
I'll Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse
Insider Business Tips From A Former Mob Boss
by Michael Franzese
(c) 2009 Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Author Michael Franzese, a former mob boss, ex-con, and the youngest individual on Fortune magazine's survey of "The Fifty Biggest Mafia Bosses" (at one point he was earning millions every week) has advice for anyone who is looking to beat the odds. Since being released from prison (he served eight years of a ten year prison sentence for racketeering) Mr. Franzese has reinvented himself ... this time on the right side of the law.
When Mr Franzese joined the Colombo crime family his philosophies were pure Machiavellian (the end always justifies the means). Today the author has this to say about his past, "... following the Machiavellian philosophy doesn't make you a bad person by itself. But I can tell you this: if you follow his line of thinking, it does make you susceptible to your own failings and moral corruptions."
Today, he follows Solomon's path believing that business and life should be managed with integrity, following a reliable moral and legal compass. King Solomon (whom he refers to as "the original wiseguy") does not allow one to compromise (either values or integrity - both of which he places a high premium on) to be successful. Solomon's way does not repay an injustice with a further injustice. Instead, he deals with it appropriately and wisely ... he does not spread false rumors ... or resort to unfair business practices ... or work to obtain money dishonestly ... nor allow the dishonest actions of another to cause him to compromise his own high standards. Chapter titles include: First, Nail Down the Basics; Lead with Your Brain, Not Your Mouth; Get the Right Idea About Success.
Using stories from his own life Mr. Franzese tells it like it is. No hiding, no excuses. I'll Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse is well written and told in a straight forward manner. At the end of each chapter there is a GET THE MESSAGE summary of the chapter's important themes. The book addresses the current housing crisis, the country's massive debt, arrogant CEOs, and the need to rethink business practices.
The author is a man on a mission, he considers himself lucky to be alive, now he wants to share his experiences with others. This book would make a good gift for the college graduate, Father's Day, or any student of life, or budding entrepreneur.
note: Purchasing this book means that you also get a free ebook and an audio version. Perhaps this is an offer you shouldn't refuse.
This book was provided by Nelsonfree, Thomas Nelson, Inc. for review.
by Michael Franzese
(c) 2009 Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Author Michael Franzese, a former mob boss, ex-con, and the youngest individual on Fortune magazine's survey of "The Fifty Biggest Mafia Bosses" (at one point he was earning millions every week) has advice for anyone who is looking to beat the odds. Since being released from prison (he served eight years of a ten year prison sentence for racketeering) Mr. Franzese has reinvented himself ... this time on the right side of the law.
When Mr Franzese joined the Colombo crime family his philosophies were pure Machiavellian (the end always justifies the means). Today the author has this to say about his past, "... following the Machiavellian philosophy doesn't make you a bad person by itself. But I can tell you this: if you follow his line of thinking, it does make you susceptible to your own failings and moral corruptions."
Today, he follows Solomon's path believing that business and life should be managed with integrity, following a reliable moral and legal compass. King Solomon (whom he refers to as "the original wiseguy") does not allow one to compromise (either values or integrity - both of which he places a high premium on) to be successful. Solomon's way does not repay an injustice with a further injustice. Instead, he deals with it appropriately and wisely ... he does not spread false rumors ... or resort to unfair business practices ... or work to obtain money dishonestly ... nor allow the dishonest actions of another to cause him to compromise his own high standards. Chapter titles include: First, Nail Down the Basics; Lead with Your Brain, Not Your Mouth; Get the Right Idea About Success.
Using stories from his own life Mr. Franzese tells it like it is. No hiding, no excuses. I'll Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse is well written and told in a straight forward manner. At the end of each chapter there is a GET THE MESSAGE summary of the chapter's important themes. The book addresses the current housing crisis, the country's massive debt, arrogant CEOs, and the need to rethink business practices.
The author is a man on a mission, he considers himself lucky to be alive, now he wants to share his experiences with others. This book would make a good gift for the college graduate, Father's Day, or any student of life, or budding entrepreneur.
note: Purchasing this book means that you also get a free ebook and an audio version. Perhaps this is an offer you shouldn't refuse.
This book was provided by Nelsonfree, Thomas Nelson, Inc. for review.
Lucille Clifton 1936 - 2010
Lucille Clifton, National Book Award winner and former poet laureate of Maryland, died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She was 73.
Mrs. Clifton, a resident of Columbia, was a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and was honored on many other occasions during her career. She was awarded honorary degrees from the University of Maryland and Towson University. She was the poet-in-resident at Coppin State College between 1971 and 1974. The second woman and the first African American to serve as poet laureate of Maryland, she was also the first black woman to win the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize award, in 2007, among the most prestigious awards that can be won by an American poet. It included at $100,000.00 stipend.
Besides her eleven poetry collections, Mrs. Clifton published 20 children's books, and her poems have appeared in more than 100 anthologies, according to her biography.
Mrs. Clifton and her husband, Fred Clifton, a philosophy professor at the University of Buffalo, moved to Baltimore in the 1960s and had six children. Her husband died in the 1984. (source The Baltimore Sun February 14, 2010)
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/79
Winter
Winter
The wind carries an antiseptic bite and also
the clicking sound of ice-coated branches.
A male cardinal calls,
"Birdy-birdy-birdy."
He flits like fire through the shimmering
glisten of his ink-drawn world.
Winter is not silent, still like death.
It is only a cleansing pause, the quiet season.
~~~~~Carol Bindel
Previously published in Chesapeake, a publication of the National League of American Pen Women, 1996; and again in "From The Front Porch," Spotlights #19, The Harford Poetry and Literary Society, 1997.
The wind carries an antiseptic bite and also
the clicking sound of ice-coated branches.
A male cardinal calls,
"Birdy-birdy-birdy."
He flits like fire through the shimmering
glisten of his ink-drawn world.
Winter is not silent, still like death.
It is only a cleansing pause, the quiet season.
~~~~~Carol Bindel
Previously published in Chesapeake, a publication of the National League of American Pen Women, 1996; and again in "From The Front Porch," Spotlights #19, The Harford Poetry and Literary Society, 1997.
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