Tuesday, February 1, 2011



...I have three new poems, "Ways to Remember Birmingham" up at Steel Toe Review and also here under "Words in Print."

...Lately, I've been feeling pretty solid about my writing. I think I'm getting better. It has helped to be reading a lot of great writers like Lindsay Hunter ("Daddy's"--get this, it's good), Meg Pokrass ("Damn Sure Right"--ditto), Alissa Nutting ("Unclean Jobs for Women and GIrls"-the cover alone is enough to keep you up at night) and others. I loved Stuart Dybek's story collection but I just finished his poetry collection and it didn't do anything for me. I guess it's not a given that prose writers can transition to poetry.
I just wish I could do a better job of writing on the novels.

...Tomorrow I fly to Washington D.C. for the writers conference, AWP. I'm excited. I've made a list of writers I want to meet, and it's over 150 so far. I hope this weather works itself out. If I get stuck in an airport, though, I'll have a bag of books. The way I look at it, readers are always advantaged.

...I like these and hope you will, too:

"Exhaust the little moment.
Soon it dies.

And be it gash or gold
it will not come

again in this identical
disuise."

-- Gwendolyn Brooks


"It is so easy to exist instead of live. Unless you know there is a clock ticking."
"C'mon, let's be honest. We have an embarassment of riches. Life is good."
"Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long stretch of gray cement. We have to teach ourselves to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live."
"This is not a dress rehearsal. Today is the only gruarantee you get."
"Think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it out to be lived." Anna Quindlen

2 comments:

  1. Love the quotes.
    Have fun (and good luck with your list!)

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  2. thanks, tracy. it's been a great experience so far. i appreciate your reading and commenting.
    len

    ReplyDelete