tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post8475313149262665290..comments2023-10-14T08:05:51.183-07:00Comments on see how we almost fly: Alisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03662927122733057638noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-30738836430536098932010-02-15T10:06:48.762-08:002010-02-15T10:06:48.762-08:00Actually I love teaching beginner writers, because...Actually I love teaching beginner writers, because they often have interesting lives outside of writing. They have been paying attention to real-world things. I once had a student at the Writing Salon who was a bus driver--I had another student who was an early pornographer, and I've had students ranging from PhDs, MDs, and lawyers to secretaries, housewives, students and circus performers. I love the diversity. No, what I'm tired of is the isolation of being a writer. I want colleagues. I want to be Dick Van Dyke on the Dick Van Dyke show, or Tina Fey, and go in and improvise and brainstorm with other creative people and create something collaboratively. That's why I'm struggling to write a play. I want out of my solitary study and into someplace more communal. I have no problem teaching though. In fact, some of the best writers I have ever encountered were in the third grade.Alisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03662927122733057638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-27676386029623231332010-02-13T17:55:36.491-08:002010-02-13T17:55:36.491-08:00I am intrigued by your yearning for something diff...I am intrigued by your yearning for something different in your life, Alison. Maybe there is a writing direction to be discerned in that yearning? Or maybe more stillness? <br /><br />Maybe there is something within you that you have not yet, not quite, embraced, a piece in the puzzle that is already present but you have not yet discerned it.<br /><br />About your Monday writing class . . . is that a typical writing salon class, where people come together for eight or ten weeks and then disperse? For me, I would find teaching such classes a bit more draining than the compensation would warrant -- just for me. As a writer, more and more, I see that I have to hold my self very carefully and when I do give of myself, I need to also be receiving. . . I think it possible, even probably, that the writers who sign up for that class cannot feed you (other than the income). Is that work feeding you? (please, if you can, overlook the money aspect . . ). I ask you this because, again, just for me, working with newbie baby writers, which is perfectly good work, would subtly take something away from me that I cannot afford.<br /><br />I wonder if what you are yearning for is just a better ability to have what you have. Do you need the writing class income? Does the class feed you?<br /><br />There have been huge changes in your life in the past year. It might be time to shed some old skin. and maybe doing so will reveal new choices.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-66780381348951961412010-02-09T20:03:56.237-08:002010-02-09T20:03:56.237-08:00I did not, seems I'm running into more of us l...I did not, seems I'm running into more of us lately. And it's as though we're all fighting for balance more forcefully now.Caitlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09072306663684006251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-31083828503836903072010-02-08T23:02:48.844-08:002010-02-08T23:02:48.844-08:00That's funny, did you know that my friend Ange...That's funny, did you know that my friend Angela is also a Libra?Alisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03662927122733057638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-53996273387357621162010-02-08T20:43:55.754-08:002010-02-08T20:43:55.754-08:00Libra solidarity!Libra solidarity!Caitlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09072306663684006251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-50546511746001098232010-02-08T14:40:52.714-08:002010-02-08T14:40:52.714-08:00Thanks for telling me, Brent, I will check it out!...Thanks for telling me, Brent, I will check it out!<br /><br />And I LOVED the piece Angela wrote about going to Genie's memorial--both aesthetically, as a piece of writing, but most of all emotionally, because there was so much heart and honesty in it--and narcissistically too, of course, since she said some nice things about me and my sister...<br /><br />Love,<br />AlisonAlisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03662927122733057638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-73912259943562124282010-02-08T13:09:22.260-08:002010-02-08T13:09:22.260-08:00Interesting post you got here. I'd like to rea...Interesting post you got here. I'd like to read something more about that topic. Thanx for posting that information.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-37375031421145253642010-02-08T07:45:38.827-08:002010-02-08T07:45:38.827-08:00Hi, Allison. I've got a number of irons in the...Hi, Allison. I've got a number of irons in the fire right now: I'm co-writing a screenplay with a friend of mine who's a filmmaker; I just wrote the first draft of a short-short memoir piece that I intend to submit to the fine online mag Brevity; and I've started a blog about writing, creativity, and the unconscious, called Nine Long Nights (ninelongnights.wordpress.com). The blog is really intended to kick-start all my other writing and to build an online community of sorts, composed of people who care about writing and creativity. Come check it out sometime. <br /><br />BrentBrent Winterhttp://ninelongnights.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-18834589635658977802010-02-08T04:33:08.578-08:002010-02-08T04:33:08.578-08:00Brim over I acquiesce in but I about the collectio...Brim over I acquiesce in but I about the collection should prepare more info then it has.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-2840635505953135722010-02-06T10:01:37.579-08:002010-02-06T10:01:37.579-08:00Thanks, both of you. Brent, how nice to hear from...Thanks, both of you. Brent, how nice to hear from you! Angela has been my Libra-sister angel in the ever-elusive quest for balance. I hope you get a chance to do your own writing. What projects are you working on now?<br /><br />AlisonAlisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03662927122733057638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-13743522988958165072010-02-05T10:51:57.831-08:002010-02-05T10:51:57.831-08:00Hi, Allison! Sounds like you're in a kind of t...Hi, Allison! Sounds like you're in a kind of tough in-between place. Hang in there. I hope you cross some sort of line soon and can extricate your hand from that peanut jar. <br /><br />Your MPH fantasy reminded me of my current situation: I have an MFA in creative writing and I'm copyediting articles written by people with MPHs, for a public-health journal. It's right livelihood, as far as it goes, but it's not feeding my soul. Hence the writing.<br /><br />Thanks so much for the wonderful Tony Hoagland poem. And good luck with the NEA application!<br /><br />BrentBrent Winterhttp://ninelongnights.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35012109.post-31183114259684021782010-02-04T21:04:13.872-08:002010-02-04T21:04:13.872-08:00Allison,
your writing is beautiful and makes me hu...Allison,<br />your writing is beautiful and makes me hungry to work. Thanks for turning me onto another poet. <br /><br />I read the other day, "Art is useful as bread." <br /><br />good luck with everything.<br /><br />CaitlinCaitlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09072306663684006251noreply@blogger.com