—AND I THINK IT’S GONNA BE A LONG, LONG TIME

 

…Happy Monday. Happy new week to you. It’ll be a busy one for me.

On Friday I’m teaching the Bending Genres weekend workshop. It’s open to anyone who likes to write and make art, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or seasoned author.

We’ll be taking a deep dive into the subject of loss, how loss is inevitable, how it affects us and those we love. We’ll also look at the other side of loss, how sometimes losing something—weight, addiction, an abusive partner—can be a really great outcome.

We still have spots open if you’re interested, and I’d love to see you there.

Here’s the link:

https://bendinggenres.com/bg-store/workshop/len-kuntz-loss-october-14-16/

 

…Here are some things I like to start the week when it’s so smoky out that it’s hard to think:

 

"There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." C.G. Jung

 

“Writing personal songs is uncomfortable. You’ve got to feel confident in it.” Ellie Rowsell, Wolf Alice

 

“Yes, yes, I know I overexposed today, but the light felt so good on my face that I cried rivers.” Lori Gomez

 

“Nothing is more real than nothing.” Samuel Beckett

 

“Enjoy the little things in life, because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.” Kurt Vonnegut

 

“There is another world, but it is inside this one.” Paul Eluard

 

"A good artist must also have a streak of insanity in him, if by insanity is meant an exaggerated inability to adapt. The individual who can adapt to this mad world of to-day is either a nobody or a sage. In the one case he is immune to art and in the other he is beyond it." Henry Miller

 

“And I mean it. I stayed. I stayed. I stayed. If there’s anything I’ve come to understand it’s that I left my body to tell you these things and did not lock the door behind me.” Buddy Wakefield, “Self-Portrait”

 

“I never could’ve imagined when we wrote it that that song would be resurfacing 10 years later or that I’d be about to play it for you tonight. But a song can defy logic or time. A good song transports you to your truest feelings and translates those feelings for you. A good song stays with you even when people or feelings don’t.” Taylor Swift, about her song “All Too Well”

 

”Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Plato 

 

“'I think we're all getting one day older at a time. We're all not sure whether we're going to be here next year or not,'' the 45-year-old quarterback said Thursday ' ''That's the reality for every player, every coach, every parent. You just never know, so we should all take advantage of the opportunity we have in front of us now.'' Tom Brady

 

“And I mean it. I stayed. I stayed. I stayed. If there’s anything I’ve come to understand it’s that I left my body to tell you these things and did not lock the door behind me.” 

Buddy Wakefield, “Self-Portrait”

 

“You make your move. You do. You just make it. You don’t second-guess yourself. If you do, you’ll be living in hell for the rest of your life.” A.K.