for original writing of self and others
Janet Riehl with her book “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” (see sidebar) This aphorism is something I said at a book evening at Left Bank Books in the Central West End, St. Louis…when the conversation turned to writing. The author of the evening urged me to write it down, so I did. (One of the foundational…
During this time I’m in Lake County in Northern California and walking when I can in Clear Lake State Park, the jewel of the county on Clear Lake and nestled on the shoulders of Mt. Konocti…these lines from my poem HOME SWEET HOME often run through my mind…excerpts below. You can read more from “Sightlines:…
Demian Farnsworth invited me to join the chorus of rejection advice and insights on the St. Louis Writers Guild’s keynote blog Eliot, a literary blog (named, of course for T.S. Eliot, for whom St. Louis was a home town.) Head on over there to find out eight ways to put a dollop of relish on…
This poem was written in Lake County, Northern California, and refers to Clear Lake, California’s largest self-enclosed lake. I now cross the Mississippi River at least once a week, rather than gazing out on Clear Lake. But, as we’ve slid deeper into Autumn with the time change, this poem from “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” (see…
I dove face down into the potato salad and… You finish the story.
Here’s the Audio-Link for my Septemeber 2nd sermon at the First Unitarian Church of Alton, Illinois. Click here for a link to listen to “Memento-Mori: Life and Death, Moment by Moment” (just the sermon) or the full service. Neither my father nor I were amplified for our violin-playing, but you can hear it if you…
Here are some learnings that come from the conclusion of Nancy Connally’s Critiquing Case Study: For those giving feedback: 1) Critique the story, not the person. 2) Critique the story on the page that person is writing, not the story in your head that you want written. For those receiving feedback: 3) Have the intestinal…
Nancy Connally tells how she balanced out the negative critique by learning from the wisdom of an on-line writing village…including finding out that even exceptionally gifted writers must learn how to cope with folks who don’t take to their work. —JGR ____________________________ Later that day, I checked in with a writers group I belong to…
Nancy Connally’s 3-day case study of some recent critiques and her response to them sheds light on several important issues in the process of giving and receiving feedback on our writing. Today, Day One, she tells of a negative critique she received from a person of stature and how that proved destructive in several major…
Today, Guest Blogger Janet Muirhead Hill, author of the Miranda and Starlight series of six books and Danny’s Dragon, a story of wartime loss concludes her Riehl series on “Overcoming Rejection and the the Writing Life.” Quite inspiring, no? Janet, thank you for being one of the other Janet’s in the world and sharing your…