I had one of those remarkable encounters while reading Kate Atkinson's Case Histories, who was describing in almost identical words an idea I had explored years ago in a poem. It is an ambiguous moment in motherhood, knitting power and love in a fierce and consuming way. It's awful really, selfish as it expresses a desire […]
The Hungry Mother: Kate Atkinson and Baba Yaga Read More »
Every morning we hike at sunrise to watch the sun lift in the east and light up the Flat Irons in the west. The path is full of river stones and rocks. And at this one, I stop and say hello — for it seems to me a perfect description of my working life: weaving,
How I See Myself In the Stones Read More »
I published this post seven years ago and decided it seemed as apt and relevant today as it did all those years ago. I blog because I am a collector, a magpie attracted to shiny things — not all beautiful, but for some reason of interest. In the old days, I kept notebooks
Magpie Blogging: Redux. Read More »
Lately, I have been re-reading Rudolph M. Bell's How To Do It, Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians — a terrific social history of how Italians viewed their lives from the 15th to the 17th century. Italians were fairly literate then (the publishing industry was booming). There was a proliferation of self-help and advice
How To Do It In the Renaissance Read More »
I am the sort of writer who likes to know the end of a story first, and have a narrative road map along the writing way. But I can't do that with this Bordertown story/novel/novellas? I have no idea yet how it will come together and I feel like Belle arriving at the Beast's castle,
What Cocteau Is Teaching Me About Writing Read More »
Keith Johnstone’s Impro is a terrific book for actors looking for methods to feel at home and never without words on the stage. Johnstone’s emphasis is to understand and utilize improvisation effectively. The book is full of wonderful exercises and activities that do indeed have the ability to unlock spontaneous, creative speech to instigate, develop, and
Research Notes: Trance States in Mask Work II Read More »
When I was in Italy, I happen to read a murder mystery set in the 16th century — the same time period I was using to set The Innamorati. I read the first 100 pages which took place over a two day period in the story and not once had the characters eaten anything. I
Research Notes II: Culinary Arts Read More »
In this "climatic" scene, Lorenzo begins by fiercely resisting to recall the poet in himself while Erminia fights to liberate Lorenzo from his denial and at the same time, satisfy Orpheus' demand that she must first make Lorenzo a poet again before he returns the Sirens' voices to them. Her plan — something along the
Excerpt from The Innamorati: Erminia’s Embrace Read More »
One of the more interesting developements in the legacy of the Sirens comes after Homer has installed them in his epic poem as “malleable” figures. Having appeared as characters with an ambiguous history, others soon arrived to fill in the gaps of knowledge with inventions of their own. It is in this process of rounding
Sirens III: The Names They Were Called Read More »
This is was fun scene to write as it provided me a chance to get back at that wretched Orpheus after reading all the mythological shenanigans he did to harm the Sirens and get away with it. Well, only to a certain extent. There was that unfortunate incident with the maenads, but even from that
Excerpt from The Innamorati: Erminia And Two Poets Read More »
