Write today

Here is a brief essay on not-writing by Rita Mae Reese on Poets & Writers.
http://www.pw.org/content/rita_mae_reese_2 

Take it to heart on this rainy Saturday and write about what's on your mind today.

Natalie Goldberg writes again...

If ever there was a writer who can persuade us to settle down and write, it is Natalie Goldberg. She is as down-to-earth in print as she is in person. Treat yourself to her newest book, The Great Spring, Writing, Zen and This Zigzag Life.


With decades of experience, she looks both backward and forward, knowing there are many ways to manifest our true life. Join her on her journey and pick up a pen to explore your own.

Finding time to write well

Does this seem familiar? The writer, Hilary Mantel, writing in The Guardian, exemplifies what so many of us experience in trying to put writing first, and hoping for the essential sense of flow will stay around for a while.

"I used to be a late starter, but now I get up in the dark like a medieval monk, commit unmediated scribble to a notebook, and go back to bed about six, hoping to sleep for another two hours and to wake slowly and in silence. Random noise, voices in other rooms, get me off to a savage, disorderly start, but if I am left in peace to reach for a pen, I feel through my fingertips what sort of day it is. Days of easy flow generate thousands of words across half a dozen projects – and perhaps new projects. Flow is like a mad party – it goes on till all hours and somebody must clear up afterwards."

Enjoy the full essay here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/16/hilary-mantel-my-writing-day

Annie Dillard and essay

Poets & Writers issue of March-April 2016 has a pleasant feature, "Such Great Heights," covering the career of Annie Dillard and celebrates her "masterful essays."

Take time to enjoy reading of her life and work, in this piece spanning about six terrific pages.

Such Great Heights: A Profile of Annie Dillard 

The article itself is in print only, not online. Stop by your local library if you are not a P & W subscriber.

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