Two Things:
Q (to Maya Angelou): How do you fit writing into your life?
Writing is a part of my life; cooking is a part of my life. Making love is a part of my life; walking down the street is part of it. Writing demands more time, but it takes from all of these other activities. They all feed into the writing. I think it's dangerous to concern onself too damned much with "being an artist." It's more important to get the work done. You don't have to concern youself with it, just get it done. The pondering pose - the back of the hand glued against the forehead - is baloney. People spend more time posing than getting the work done. The work is all there is. And when it's done, then you can laugh, have a pot of beans, stroke some child's head, or skip down the street.
and this one from a new friend:
I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day. But sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over Paris and think, "Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declaration sentence I has written.
-Ernest Hemmingway in "A Moveable Feast"
Sorry to be away but, really, I've been pretty active again. So active I'm finally worn out again. I've been worn out again and again. I want to deliver more but have been prioritizing differently lately, I guess. R asked about new things and most she's heard about now:
-Bought a motorcycle and put it in the hands of someone who's very, very, very slow and kinda infuriating.
-Am dating a girl who seems very promising - just have to see if I am yet.
-Attended the weddings of family and friends and was thrilled with both of them: the best of times, the worst of times; really.
-Am considering a move out of the country. ...off the continent really. Considering a move in that way that moves happen - to take place and take hold for a long period of time. I'll be incorporating skills I've developed and applying them to, perhaps, something I believe in. So, that's to say that I'm not just thinking of running away and blowing caution to the wind to see where another road takes me: I'm throwing caution to the wind and taking a new road but on a familiar bike. ...we'll see.
-I've been corresponding with a new friend who's got me writing again. Which is nice.
-I'm still very excitable
Happy doing, everyone.
~A
