inspired: boot & shoe

I recently had the pleasure of attending a book signing with author/illustrator Marla Frazee. Marla's latest release is a picture book called Boot & Shoe, and since I first read this lovely book, I have not been able to get Boot and Shoe out of my head! It is the story of two dogs from the same litter, who are in many ways alike but also in many ways different. One day, their world gets all mixed up, and therein lies the charm of this wonderful story!

I love Boot and Shoe and their story for many reasons. 

1. I love dogs, and these two are a couple of the cutest. (Can you tell the difference between them? Marla suggested, and I concur, that children are better than adults at looking at pictures.)
2. I love picture books of all types, but especially when the illustrations are as charming and timeless as these! I can not wait to share them with our own children someday!
3. I am totally intrigued by the simultaneous similarity and opposition of the two characters, and the way these juxtaposed qualities ebb and flow in their world.
4. The language, for its simple, lovely cadence which so supports the rhythm of the story.

One of my very favorite lines from the book is: "This is exactly perfect for both of them." When you read the book, you will understand why this line is so special! It reminds me of my beloved Myers-Briggs personality type indicator test and how each of our wiring can differ so much and yet be "exactly perfect" for who we are.

Marla Frazee is an amazing author and illustrator, and I have come to adore every last bit of her work. You can learn more about her books here, including Caldecott Honor Award winners All the World and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever. I am so happy I had the chance to meet her and get my book signed! 

inspired: gretchen rubin

Last week, I attended not one, but TWO Gretchen Rubin book signings! Our wonderful Mom, Kim, had invited me to join her for an afternoon tea author signing event hosted by the Book Stall in Winnetka. And then last-minute, she found out that Gretchen was also going to be signing at an Anthropologie store in the city the day before. Anthropologie is selling a special-edition hardcover of Gretchen's new book, Happier at Home, which they carry exclusively. This copy includes fourteen extra pages of bonus material, including many fun tips and lists as well as a quiz. The Anthropologie signing event was free, so we decided to take the train into the city and catch this event, too, so we could check out this special edition. While Gretchen's presentation was similar at both events, it was fascinating to hear her responses to different questions. And I also think it helps sometimes to hear something twice, or more, to really let it sink in and perhaps catch some bits you've missed!

I know I have mentioned Gretchen Rubin's earlier book on happiness, The Happiness Project, before. I am still using the "resolution charts" every day - I love them! The book is an account of Rubin's experience setting out in search of more happiness through a structured one-year project, focusing each month on a different aspect of her life. This book has really inspired and motivated me to seek out more of the happiness that is already available to me in my daily life, if only I would choose to focus on it! Here is a favorite passage of mine from The Happiness Project: 

You won't wake up one day and find that you've achieved [a resolution]. It's something that you have to resolve to do every day, forever. Striving toward a goal provides the atmosphere of growth so important to happiness, but it can be easy to get discouraged if reaching the goal is more difficult than you expected. Also, what happens once you've reached your goal? Say you've run the marathon. What now--do you stop exercising? Do you set a new goal? With resolutions, the expectations are different. Each day I try to live up to my resolutions. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but every day is a clean slate and a fresh opportunity. I never expect to be done with my resolutions, so I don't get discouraged when they stay challenging. Which they do. (from Chapter 12, "December")

It was really inspiring to hear Gretchen speak live at these book events! It is always interesting to hear any author speak in person, and to get to meet them as they sign your books. But it is especially wonderful when an author whose work has been really significant to you is just as inspiring in person. Gretchen spoke eloquently and was very organized (I would expect no less, from reading her book!), and the highlights she shared from the new book made me even more excited to read it soon. She said that her favorite part of her events is taking questions, and it was clear this is true! She was passionate and witty as she answered each question, and showed more of her fun sense of humor, which we really appreciated. 

She talked about her new book, Happier at Home, which takes her Happiness Project into more specific territory. The book examines how one's home can play such an important role in one's happiness. She brought some fun props as she shared some highlights from the book: a set of food coloring dyes to help make holiday traditions even more festive, an example of an origami project she abandoned in order to streamline her possessions, and an old copy of one of her Cricket children's magazines she has kept all these years, which contributed to the Children's Literature "shrine" she created for herself in order to nurture her passions within her home. My favorite point she shared at the events was the importance of your sense of smell within your home. She brought tiny vials of some "smells" she loves, to pass around and share some of her favorites with us, creating an experience which was visceral as well as intellectual. You can look up these scents here! The scents she shared were "At the Beach 1966," "Memory of Kindness," and "To See a Flower." They were all lovely, but my favorite was "At the Beach 1966" - it reminds me of getting married by the ocean. I am also curious to smell "In the Library." 

The Southport Anthropologie store did a wonderful job with this event! As we walked into the store, we were greeted by a beautifully arranged table overflowing with yummy cheese trays and fancy pastries. I enjoyed a glass of Mango Passion Punch and for those who wanted, there were fancy glasses of champagne, served in these pretty Anthropologie "Horta" glasses, each topped with a perfect red raspberry. They had plenty of copies of the book on hand, and many of the guests grabbed extra copies to give as gifts. It was a really crowded event, and a very hipster crowd - it was neat to see so many different people gathered to hear her speak. Gretchen was kind enough to pose for a quick picture as she signed my book. 

At the Book Stall event in Winnetka the next day, I enjoyed a cup of Paris-themed tea and a Madeleine to remind me of one of my other favorites, Marcel Proust. At this second event, we picked up copies of the Happiness Project One-Sentence Journal, which is a wonderful companion option for lots of happiness-boosting spread out over five whole years to come. I think it will really help to have this pretty little blue book to remind me of my own happiness goals! 


It was great to be able to attend both of these events, even though I might not usually plan to repeat this type of experience twice. Each event offered different learnings and I am an even bigger Gretchen Rubin fan than before! I am really looking forward to reading Happier at Home very soon. Have you read any of her books or tried a "happiness project" of your own? I would love to hear about it!

inspired: honey bee weekend

When I set out on my artist date to the Morton Arboretum last week in pursuit of the Reading Garden, I had no idea that I was also in for another inspiring experience! As I pulled up to pay my entrance fee, I noticed what seemed like a million bees buzzing around the lovely flower beds by the gatehouses. There were so many that I had to close my windows as I waited my turn, so that I wouldn't end up with a bee in my car! Walking up to the Visitor Center a few minutes later, I noticed signs posted everywhere, advertising the Arboretum's annual "Honey Bee Weekend," taking place that very day.

I am so inspired by bees. Their cooperation, their instinct, the way that individually, each bee plays such a tiny role but every role is necessary. And I love how such tiny individual creatures are so intrinsic to the prosperity of agriculture and flowers and so much of what makes our world beautiful and functional every day. I am by no means a bee expert, and I have had no actual experience with beekeeping. But I have read a lot about bees and beekeeping, and attended a scientific lecture a few years back on the "Disappearing Bees" phenomenon, just because I find them so fascinating. Beekeeping is one of my someday ideals, which would have surely been listed in my goals post the other day, if I had let myself keep going. I think they are beautiful and I am absolutely captivated by learning about their purpose and cooperative achievements in nature. 

I decided to be spontaneous with my day and signed up for a tour with a docent, which included a walk over to visit one of the Arboretum's hives. Our tour ended up just with myself and another guest, so our docent gave us great attention and answered every question we could think of in our hour's tour. A lot of the information she shared were things I already knew, but there were a lot of visual resources and props available throughout the display booths that helped to illustrate the knowledge she shared. Here are a few moments and sights that really inspired me! 

My bee adventure turned out to be a wonderful prelude to my "Reading Garden" artist date which followed! I am grateful for the way my day unfolded, for my chance to share in this unexpected learning, and to be inspired by the bees all over again. 

inspired: beasts of the southern wild

Dreamy. Magical. Shimmering. Raw. Intimate. Heavy. Courageous. Universal. Light. Personal. Heartbreaking. Soaring.   I realize the range of these adjectives, and also some of their contradictions. But these words themselves were the best I could do to conjure up my sentiments about this film and all of its achievements and remarkable qualities.

We first heard about the film "Beasts of the Southern Wild" many months ago, from our friend Bob, who had the privilege of seeing the film at this year's Sundance Film Festival. His high recommendations made us eager to catch the film as soon as it came to theaters in Chicago, and we went to see it for Ryan's birthday in July. The film tells the story of a little girl named Hushpuppy, who lives with her father in the swampland of Southern Louisiana. It is a difficult movie to summarize or to compare to anything else I have seen, because it was simultaneously jarring, uncomfortable, lyrical and gorgeous. For me, it ranks among the most emotionally evocative and thought provoking film experiences I have ever had. The story and the characters reached deeply into my heart and connected in unexpected ways. 

(Image: Museum Views, http://museumviews.com/2012/06/nantucket-film-festival-nff-xvii/)

We went to see the film without too much sense of what our experience would be. I believe this is the best way to see most films, but especially this one. I am grateful I did not come in with more expectations, because it resulted in my being available to the range of emotions and experiences I encountered. After my first viewing, I was deeply moved and overwhelmed by the passion and depth of its storytelling and characters. Images and dialogue from the film haunted my consciousness, lingering at the edges of my brain throughout my daily routines in the weeks to follow, coming to mind at the most random moments. I went to see it a second time a couple of weeks ago, something I rarely do, but it felt necessary for this film, because of the way I could not shake its story from my mind. And what I found was that I loved all the same qualities, and perhaps could take them in from a slightly wider vantage point, but with similar lasting effects. The deep passion and ache of the conflicts and contrasts of love and pain which are captured in this film are, for me, its greatest gift.

Hushpuppy's character spoke directly into my heart as I learned about life alongside her, and experienced its brutal and glorious ups and downs, with great credit to Quevenzhané Wallis, the little girl who performed the role beautifully. Here are some of my favorite lines from Hushpuppy:

"The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right. If one piece busts, even the smallest piece, the entire universe will get busted... If you can fix the broken piece, everything can go right back."

"When you're small, you gotta fix what you can." 

"When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces."

"Daddy said the first time she looked at me, it made her heart beat so big she thought it would blow up. That's why she swam away."

I long to write like this. I dream of one day achieving such simple, pure emotion and raw, startling truth in my characters and plot. The contrasts presented in the portrayal of their longing and fulfillment, love and hate, comfort and pain, honesty and falsehood, joy and despair, fantasy and reality: these have been, and will continue to be, a remarkable inspiration in my own art.

(Learn more about the film "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and its creators here. Hear more of Bob's film recommendations on rednow.com here.)

inspired: small world

Disney World is a special place for Ryan and me: our family vacation destination each year and the home of so many incredible memories. We know the parks well and have established so many "favorites" over the years. Ryan's favorite ride is Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, and mine is Tower of Terror, and we make a pact each year to ride both, even though neither of us loves the other's favorite. Dole Whip (pineapple soft serve ice cream) in and of itself is enough reason to make the trip! (I take mine in the form of a pineapple juice with pineapple Dole Whip float, in case you wondered.) Our list goes on and on!

But each year there does turn out to be something new to inspire me in the parks, something I had never noticed or experienced before. This is part of what I look forward to in visiting year after year: the sense that in so much 'familiar' there can still be something new. My biggest inspiration this year came in riding "it's a small world." While I have been on this ride many times before, I always focused on the song, and the other cliches of the ride. It is a simple type of ride, no thrills or drops, and it is wild with color and over the top- all things I might not have valued before. Over the past couple of years, I have fallen in love with the art of Mary Blair, and when I realized she was one of the ride's original designers, I thought I should give it another go. 

I fell in love anew! How could I have missed all of the magic of the "small world" before?? Sure, the song is mighty repetitive, and I am still not the biggest fan of singing dolls. But I absolutely loved the display of colors, the bold contrasts and daring choices, the textures and geometric design patterns. I actually begged Ryan (who I have not quite yet converted) to ride it with me a second time just to experience it, since I had spent the first ride obsessively taking pictures to capture all that I loved.  So here are a few more pictures, a glimpse into what I loved about the ride and its design...

I especially loved all of the gold glitter everywhere! Couldn't resist getting a close-up of the glitter, and on the right half of the picture below is a glimpse into the 'wishing pond' created by visitors in one specific part of the ride line. I love that this texture and visual effect was replicated this way- once by original design and once cooperatively! I was so busy trying to get a good picture as the line moved along that I forgot to wish on a penny of my own. Just another reason to go back soon!

On the ride itself, it was hard to take clear pictures since we were always moving - I apologize for the fuzziness of these, but I couldn't skip sharing some of the amazing color and graphics inside the ride as well!

I am curious to learn more about the work of Mary Blair now, and so I am adding these two books to my wish list: The Art and Flair of Mary Blair and A Mary Blair Treasury of Golden Books. And I am already looking forward to the next time I can take a ride around that small world again!

inspired: kenneth lonergan interview

I recently caught an interview with playwright/director/writer/actor Kenneth Lonergan on NPR's program "Fresh Air." Interviewer Terry Gross discussed his film "Margaret," just released on DVD in two different versions: a theatrical release and an extended cut. At one point in the interview, Ms. Gross notes that the two DVD versions differ significantly from one another, not only in scene edits but also in music choices and placement. She inquires about the tedium of this process and the thousands of choices it must have required of him. Here is his reply to that question, along with one further interview question and reply:

KL: "It's very daunting. You can't really do it if you don't have an internal track you're following. And when you lose that track, my feeling - my definition of technique, whatever that means - is to use your conscious mind to slowly and stupidly find its way back to your unconscious mind, where all the really intelligent and interesting and meaningful thoughts and feelings come from. But you can't edit or write line by line. I was listening to a Beethoven symphony at the time I was editing and at one point I was very frustrated, and I was like, 'How does he decide every single note? There are so many notes in the symphony!' And then I thought, 'Well, you dummy, of course he doesn't decide every single note, he hears it in his head, and he writes it down.' And that's where you try to get..." 

TG: "OK, so if you feel that way, it must be very difficult when someone else intervenes or somebody else tries to logically tell you why you made the wrong decision, if you are working from your gut. But then you have to defend it rationally as opposed to intuitively. It can get difficult, right?"

KL: "Yes, and if you haven't found it yourself yet, and that happens, it sometimes can prevent you from finding it for months, whether it's a positive comment or a negative comment. If I'm in the middle of trying to decide whether to include a scene or not and someone tells me they love it, then next time I go back to it, instead of having a private relationship with it, I keep thinking, 'Oh my God, Josh said he loved that scene! It must be very good, I must keep it in.' And the scene maybe should be cut. And of course the opposite happens. It's even stronger if you put in a piece of music and you're not sure about it and someone walks in and says, 'Boy that music isn't doing any favors.' Suddenly that's what you hear in your head. I'm particularly - I don't like to use the word 'defensive,' because I don't think it's accurate or fair - but 'protective' of the material as best I can be, because you have enough of your own bad ideas to wade through without other people coming and joining in." 

I am fascinated by his thoughts on these aspects of the creative process, his belief in finding the most true answers within his own unconscious mind. I have been thinking about this idea a lot since I heard the interview, and I am inspired to continue to dig deeper within my own creative self to discover my answers, too. Do you believe, like he does, that the most true answers are located within, and that this internal process needs protecting?

 

I am definitely curious to see "Margaret," as well as his previous film "You Can Count On Me," after hearing this interview! Have any of you seen it? You can hear the entire interview here.

inspired: lost in the trees

Even just their name evokes daydreams: "Lost in the trees." 


While listening to an afternoon show on my local NPR station a couple of weeks ago, I randomly caught an interview with Ari Picker, the frontman and central creative force behind North Carolina folk band Lost in the Trees. He was on the show to discuss the band's second album, recently released, titled "A Church That Fits Our Needs."

What I heard first when I turned on my car radio was a combination of gorgeous orchestration, haunting vocals and bewitching melodies. Before I could process what I was hearing logically, I was swept immediately into the emotion of the music, in a way that rarely, rarely happens for me. Even some of my current favorite artists have been acquired tastes, growing on me over time. But the song I heard had me absolutely transfixed, and I lost all sense of time and place as I began to try to determine what I was hearing. As much as I enjoy listening to "The Afternoon Shift" with Steve Edwards, I tend to hear discussions about city politics and other more news-radio-ish bits. I checked and double-checked that it was really my NPR station, thinking I had maybe caught a college indie station or something. As the song finished playing, I heard the familiar talk show host's voice return as he continued to narrate the interview. I was definitely going to listen in for this one.

I appreciated hearing songwriter Ari Picker's perspective on the album and his writing process - it is always oddly comforting to hear such familiar life cycles and patterns articulated by strangers who just happen to have the same type of job as Ryan. There are always many aspects and patterns that sound the same, and also some that are not. From the interview, I gathered that much if not all of the subject matter of the record centers around Picker's personal experience processing his mother's suicide a couple of years back. He spoke of wanting to empower her, to protect and honor her legacy, to eliminate the myth that because she took her own life, she must have been powerless. No wonder there was such incredible depth and emotion. 


After a short conversation, they played another song from the album (I had missed that first song title), this one called "Villain (I'll stick around)." The host explained that the song would begin with an audio clip of Picker's mother, salvaged from a cassette tape he had found while sorting through her things. She herself was an artist, and this was a clip of her interviewing another local artist many years before. This song is officially my favorite. Listen to "Villain" here. 

I sat in the car until the interview concluded, because I didn't want to miss any of it. I bought their album the same day, and I have listened through it only a few times, because I find the music and melody so moving that I can only handle listening to these songs when I can give them my full attention. They evoke a similar response as a poignant scene in a dramatic film, or a particularly lovely passage in a novel: art which demands savoring. I love knowing that the album is there in my iTunes, ready and waiting for those moments when I can linger in that space.

If you have not heard of "Lost in the Trees," I encourage you to check them out here on their website. And you can hear the interview that I originally heard here!

inspired: eskell

Sometimes I forget how boundless creative inspiration can be. I limit myself to seeking inspiration in books and writing, or even other conventional forms of 'entertainment,' like film and music. But I recently wandered into the shop Eskell in Wicker Park, and was reminded that creativity and inspiration take all forms! 

I first heard of Eskell, which is both a shop and designer clothing line, several years ago. I read about the designers, Kelly Whitesell and Elizabeth Del Castillo, in a magazine article and was immediately charmed by their story and style. I have visited their Chicago shop a few times over the years, and have always found the shop absolutely delightful. There is passion in all their details: from their lovely, curated lines of both designer and vintage clothing to their pitch-perfect accessories. Even their business cards and jewelry boxes are the definition of loveliness.

On this trip, I purchased these pretty vintage-inspired sunglasses, which were only twenty-five dollars! They will be a perfect accessory for my summer wardrobe and beyond, and I completely adore them. 

And this 'Sonia' necklace below is my new very favorite possession, I think. It is a little longer than my other delicate necklaces, and I want to wear it with everything!!! As I was checking out, their really sweet sales associate, Gina, told me that this line of jewelry is custom-made for Eskell, which makes me love it even more!

The shop carries some other really amazing designers as well. These Zodiac Constellation bracelets by Julie Nolan are so beautiful, yes?

There were so many lovely pieces, so many textures and colors and shapes: my creative brain began humming productively from the moment I entered the store. Visual inspiration, I believe, feeds my creativity just as much, and even more sometimes, than other forms. It is why I gain so much from spending a few minutes on Pinterest (or a lot of minutes, if I'm being honest), or reading fashion and lifestyle blogs and magazines. Sometimes visual inspiration - this gift of creative connection that does not necessarily have to be specifically described or articulated or defended - can really open my mind back up and help me relax into the joys of creative passion. In my art, I live for that moment when you well up with joy at those connections. It is amazing when that feeling comes as I put pen to paper, but I know I will only benefit from experiencing those feelings in as many ways as possible.

I wonder now what inspiration I have missed along the way, with my nose in a book or my thought patterns and processes limited to words? I am vowing to myself to continue to let the flow of inspiration enter my brain in whatever order it is meant to come, and I can not wait to see what I will discover next! What has inspired you visually lately??

inspired: the great gatsby

It has been a really long time since I first read The Great Gatsby, but I remember clearly the results of that first reading. I am not certain which year, but I'm pretty sure I read it in high school. Most likely early high school, so it has probably been about fifteen years. Not coincidentally, that was around the same time I began to dream of being a writer, not just in my journals, but with a dream of being published one day. I remember being filled to overflowing with inspiration and wonder: I wanted to shout my praise and delight in Fitzgerald's writing, and at the time had no one to really even tell. There were many formative classics in that period of my life: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and the entire Jane Austen collection were just a few of the titles that provided a comfortable transition from my years of voracious childhood reading. Those worlds offered me challenge and immense stimulation, but The Great Gatsby felt to me like an entirely new approach to all writing, all literature. I had never been exposed to writing like this, vivid and descriptive and daring for me, at that age and place in my life. 

I went on to read This Side of Paradise and Tender is the Night - I could not get enough of this new, amazing world. Quickly, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and subsequently Hemingway and T.S. Eliot, when I first read their works, became my "favorites" in Literature. They were worldly, adventurous, and sophisticated. For years, these writers were my touchstone as I feebly attempted to summarize my passion for reading and writing in response to the excruciating question: "Who are your favorite writers?" I knew virtually nothing about the Expatriate movement in the '20s, or about "The Lost Generation." I did not read all their books - I was not any sort of expert. But I held so tightly to them as that beginning of my writer-self. Years later, in college, I encountered these writers and their work again in my "American Lit 2" class, where I was incredibly lucky to have a professor who brought them to life in new ways. I learned about Zelda in her champagne glass, and about Hemingway's alcoholism, and about their community in Paris with Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, who were new to me. She was a professor who turned the lights down low sometimes, to help us hear the voices of the works she read. She was amazing. (Thank you, Professor Darcy Zabel, if you ever by some chance were to read this!!)


As I moved on from college into the world of bookstore jobs, I clung tightly to my Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Eliot. I spoke my preferences confidently and hoped no one would ask more questions and expose my actual ignorance on the fullness of the topic. And I began to discover new writers, thanks to my daily work among high shelves filled with books, alongside other avid readers. I read Marilynne Robinson (back when I could only get my hands on Housekeeping), Vendela Vida, Julie Orringer, Leah Hager Cohen, and Jeffrey Eugenides, to name just a few of my new favorites. (Thank you, Katie, for being my Personal Librarian - I will owe you forever for this!) My journey of discovery continued and I branched out into the worlds of modern literary fiction, and fell in love in an entirely new way. I was enchanted by their prose, amazed by the boldness of their writing, their subjects, their characters. And I left my Expatriates alone, for the most part. I intermittently collected their works, but never attempted to sit down and read them all, or to really validate why they were even my "favorites." Luckily, no one ever argued. It was sort of a safe answer, which over time was replaced with more relevant, current authors and works, as well as more confidence. 

I have not re-read The Great Gatsby since, until now. I am not a great re-reader: there are so many new books to read, and I am always afraid that re-reading will be a waste, even though I know better. When Gatsby came up in conversation over the years, I was confident that I loved it. And I would still, if pressed, choose it as my "favorite." I remembered bits and pieces, like the characters of "Gatsby" and "Daisy" and the fact that the narrator of the story is not either of them, but I could never remember his name. I had a vivid memory of what I had imagined Gatsby's home to look like. And somewhere along the way, the movie poster from the 1974 film starring Robert Redford had linked into my memory, too, even though, for me, that felt all wrong. When I heard that Baz Luhrmann is making a new film version, to be released at Christmas, I knew it was finally time. (I have high hopes for this movie, and somehow it felt important to be as acquainted as possible with the original text.)


It is a lot of pressure to face your "favorite" again after fifteen years. That is officially half my life, at this point, and it feels like a distance twice that much, when it comes to experience and learning. It is the very marrow of my life journey, and specifically my writing journey: this sorting out of what I will carry with me and what I will leave behind, of who I was versus who I am, and so on. What if Gatsby were to disappoint?! What if I learned I had somehow left him behind with so many other lost loves and causes? Or worse, what if I could not find those early remnants of my beginning writer-self within those pages? I sat down to read the novel with great trepidation.

I re-read my old, worn vintage paperback copy of The Great Gatsby in two days, staying up much later than I should have the second night, in order to finish. I enjoyed and loved it more than I could have even hoped! I wanted to underline every single word. I was as enchanted and absorbed as I was in that first reading, and perhaps even more. And when I finished, I wanted to find the nearest rooftop, again, to proclaim loudly my love and passion for Fitzgerald's writing. I am not, nor do I aspire to be, a literary scholar: I believe that you can talk a book to death, if by 'death' you mean to suck the life out of it through analysis. If my years so far have taught me anything, it is to step away from analysis and let the writing work its magic. Let the words wash over you like waves, let the imagery linger in your mind and live on to haunt your dreams, and let the mysteries remain intact. I do love to think about what an author might have aimed for, or what devices they use or what they have accomplished, but I love a mystery more than any concrete answer.


So I will not bore you to death with an analysis of this well-known, overanalyzed novel. I will share with you instead just three reasons why it remains my "favorite":

1. Nick Carraway: self-aware and self-deprecating, yet confident of his own place in the world, when it all comes down to it. He feels compassion, intrigue, disgust; he is aspirational, yet honest and true, and somehow, his voice inspired and motivated me as I read. (And Nick turns thirty in the course of the novel, which feels so synchronous for me, in my own re-reading at age thirty.)
2. Chapter Five: the whole, entire chapter. I love it from start to finish, and I could read it again and again. The tea, the dialogue, the tension, the lyrical, descriptive passages, and perhaps most pleasing to me, the way the entire chapter centers on the characters who charm me most: Gatsby, Nick and Daisy.
3. This passage from Chapter Eight: "The track curved and now it was going away from the sun, which, as it sank lower, seemed to spread itself in benediction over the vanishing city where she had drawn her breath. He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him. But it was all going by too fast now for his blurred eyes and he knew that he had lost that part of it, the freshest and the best, forever." The longing, the wistfulness, the yearning: it speaks deep into my idealist-soul and will echo long within. 

I am remind of what it is I love about writing. 

(You can read one of my 'Personal Librarian' Katie Chase's stories here, in The Best American Short Stories 2008 - she is an amazing writer!! And my professor, Darcy Zabel, wrote this book, The (Underground) Railroad in African American Literature.)

inspired: Writing Down the Bones

Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, was the first book about writing I read, many years ago. It remains the most liberating and influential work about writing I have ever read. My friend Emily, who is a poet, recommended the book to me when I was first beginning to articulate my interest in being a writer.  I read the book on a trip to visit my grandparents, who live in a small town in Northwest Wisconsin. I began reading in my bedroom at their house, and the book caught me like wildfire. At my first opportunity, I ventured into town to find a place to sit and write, to let the flames of inspiration consume me and see where they might lead. It is the first time I ever gave myself over to writing, rather than sitting down to write with a specific purpose or intention. I have loved many books throughout my life, and I think every book I read impacts me in some way or another. But this is one of those rare, few books I can say truly changed me. 

The book is a long-standing classic in writing texts, published over thirty years ago, when I was just five years old. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a writer who has not come across the book at one time or another. But I continue to marvel at its endurance over time, and at the consistencies it exposes in the craft of writing as well as its obstacles, through this timelessness. 

The book is structured into very, very short chapters - most are one to three pages. The chapters are intended to be read in whatever way you choose, in sequential order or on a whim, based on their subject. In this way, the book invites an easy return to re-read its chapters bit by bit, like meditations or affirmations. Here is one of my all-time favorite passages from Writing Down the Bones, found in the chapter "The Power of Detail": 

“Our task is to say a holy yes to the real things of our life as they exist - the real truth of who we are... We must become writers who accept things as they are, come to love the details, and step forward with a yes on our lips so there can be no more noes in the world, noes that invalidate life and stop these details from continuing.”

I have written these words on a page that I posted in the front of my journal, as a reminder for every day's new writing-beginning. There are more brilliant passages in this book than I could even begin to recount, and I am sure I will continue to refer back to its wisdom often in my writing journey.

For many years since that first reading, and through many varied stages of dormancy in my writing practice, I failed to pick the book back up. About a year ago, I saw a new, smaller, hardbound edition of the book while browsing in a bookstore. Though I knew I owned the original paperback copy, I had long ago misplaced it, and had been thinking of the book often, wishing I could find it again. I added the new version to my wish list, and was delighted when Ryan picked it up for me this past Valentine's Day! He inscribed the front of the book with a reminder of his belief in me. Three months later, I finally began to share my writing. 

In this new phase of my writing life, I have often turned to this book for nurture and inspiration. I can honestly say that it never, ever fails to reignite the flames of passion and purpose I feel for writing. Each chapter I read teaches me something new, or helps me view something else in a different light. Often, it simply (but importantly!) reminds me of something I already know, but am so quick to forget. Any day that I am stuck, I return to read its gentle and substantial chapters, to see what might help me break out of my own blocks and begin once again.


(Here is a link to the bookstore, Vroman's, in Pasadena, CA, where I first saw the book.  It is an incredible independent bookstore with an impressive selection of titles! And check out Emily Bobo's amazing poetry in this published volume - it is exquisite!)