writing
Transforming Café Filtre
One of my value/goals on the radical sabbatical involves Personal Fulfilment, which in my case means satiety – figuring out what I need in order to feel happy, and how much is enough. I have an addictive personality, and while I’m lucky it hasn’t led to any seriously debilitating habits, I have still found my…
Transforming Universal Stories
Today’s post might feel a little looser than usual, because I’m writing in the midst of an initial response to a big idea. It’s mostly about writing, but stick around even if that’s not your schtick, because I think I can tie it into bigger ideas about vocations and life choices in general. The big…
AMoS Inspirations 5: The Industrial-Literary Complex
NOTE: “AMoS” stands for A Muse of Shadows, the working title for my novel in progress. In this and subsequent posts, I talk about the various sources for my initial ideas for the (still extremely unformed) book. My last post about AMoS was thematic; though it allowed me to roll out my main characters (I…
AMoS Inspirations 1: No Wardrobes, Please
NOTE: “AMoS” stands for A Muse of Shadows, the working title for my novel in progress. In this and subsequent posts, I talk about the various sources for my initial ideas for the (still extremely unformed) book. There are dozens of subgenres of fantasy literature, and I have strong opinions about most of them. I…
Core Values Check-In, October
I had hoped to be able to check in more often with my core values, but life doesn’t always accommodate personal reflection. Yet in many ways, it has been an ideal six weeks for testing those values. Time to see how they’ve held up within the maelstrom of cultural, geographic, and linguistic acclimatization – in…
Transforming Buckets
Transforming Introversion
In a couple of spots near my apartment in Lille, there are stone alcoves carved into the upper facades of brick buildings. They are old, and reveal the age of the buildings they inhabit, which have otherwise been renovated and reinforced, propped up by generations of determined tradesfolk. The alcoves likely once contained statues of…
Transforming Inspiration
Transforming Muse Roulette
And indeed there will be time To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?” — T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” It’s always been writing. Before I could read, I scribbled doodle-hieroglyphic stories onto rolls of adding-machine paper my father smuggled home from the office. Before I could write, I dictated…