Tag: writers as readers (Page 3 of 3)

That Stash of Books Lining the Back of My Desk

August 2, 2015 / laura bruno lilly

As referenced in my last post, there exists an elite stash of books which grace the backside of my desk work surface. I thought I’d list them out in their order of appearance in three sections from left to right.

The first section

3 issues of Poets & Writers Magazine
Medieval Instrumental Dances by Timothy J. McGee
life is a verb by Patti Digh
Cassell’s Italian Dictionary
The Inextinguishable Symphony – A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany by Martin Goldsmith
Transformations poetry by John Reibetanz
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton
Introducing Fractal Geometry
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
101 Great American Poems
Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande
Journal of a Novel by John Steinbeck
A Year in the World – Journeys of a Passionate Traveller by Frances Mayes
The Right to Write by Julia Cameron
Cruden’s Compact Concordance
Jesus Calling – Enjoying Peace in His Presence Continue reading

Potholders, Project Progress and The Sound of Paper

July 21, 2015 / laura bruno lilly

Surrounded by Introducing Fractal Geometry and May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude, Julia Cameron’s The Sound of Paper sits amongst an elite stash of books which grace the backside of my desk work surface. Picking it up, I opened its pages to where I last placed a 2004 Barnes & Noble bookmark and began reading.
Searching for words to cup a myriad of incoherent and vague thoughts swarming about my heat-wave induced spacey-brain, I came across practical encouragement in my current state of conundrum. That state of wild productivity amidst desperate isolation, struggling to finish projects that are taking on the shape of completion.

Oh – so – slow – ly.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say my ‘Mojo stopped Mojoing’ but I have come up wanting in the energy department of late. The constant drain of daily in-ing and out-ing in this humid triple digit heat has taken its toll. The term languid suggests more than a glamourous lady lounging alongside the pool with margarita in hand to weather the weather. It conjures up a wild-eyed mad-hatter creative, scurrying from instruments to computer to manuscript paper to WORD documents to notebooks to research to pacing to exercise machines to eating tons of watermelon to striving to keep cool to…ad infinitum.

Oh – so – slow – ly.

Quilted design on backside of potholders

Resulting in?
Potholders.
See here the fruit of my labors.
A set of potholders made from fabric purchased some 21 years ago.
Say, what? Continue reading

Poverty and Beauty, Ugliness and Truth

February 21, 2015 / laura bruno lilly

A short while ago, I reread this classic novel. It’s one of the greats. What surprised me this time around was that amidst the storyline and lyrical prose, its message speaks to the heart of what I’ve been presenting within my blog series, Giving Voice.
Very timely as the quotes I’ve pulled from within its pages read better than anything I could attempt to pen.
Meant to be read as a single ‘blog post’ the following quotes are from “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” by Betty Smith.

Since her father’s death, Francie had stopped writing about birds and trees and My Impressions. Because she missed him so, she had taken to writing little stories about him. She tried to show that, in spite of his shortcomings, he had been a good father and a kindly man. She had written three such stories which were marked ‘C’ instead of the usual ‘A.’ The fourth came back with a line telling her to remain after school… Continue reading

3 Books to Consider for Gift Giving this Holiday Season

December 10, 2014 / laura bruno lilly

Note: Yes, I do have a connection to each of these recently published indie books. In the spirit of artistic solidarity, I present this modest list of suggested titles. Representative of 3 different genres, content as well as individual style varies greatly among them. Let’s take a look. (click on book cover photo for more details)

The Genesis Resolution by T.D. Freiberg
The Quaker Café by Brenda Bevan Remmes
Serving Up Memory: Stories, Poetry & Recipes by the Camden Writers Continue reading

One Year Later: Why Blog? Why Now?

August 24, 2014 / laura bruno lilly

In commemoration of my upcoming one-year blogging anniversary, I’m referencing Why Blog? Why Now? using it as a foil for reviewing the year-to-date. As the introductory post written on 8/30/13, it serves as a starting point for re-assessing goals stated therein: whether they were met and/or if they’ve changed. I guess you could say this is a sort-of evaluation post, re-examining the purpose of the blog along with how to proceed into its second year.

Why Blog? Why Now?

The obvious answer to this is of course, ‘Why not?’
Comment: And thus began my official entry into the blogosphere… Continue reading

The Dance of the Didgeridoo

June 11, 2014 / laura bruno lilly

Traditional Eucalyptus Didgeridoo (Ilario Vannucchi)

From: Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott*

The voice of the didgeridoo was a call from far away, from centuries back. If you pressed your ear to the ground, Mattie thought, this was the tone the earth would make. The music resonated like an ancient god, or what desert winds must have sounded like to the first ears on earth. She closed her eyes again. She felt doomed, and lumpy, fat and old. She tried to recall the women from church, their triumphant wideness, centered and vigorous, and this helped. Ella clung to her like a baby Koala. Mattie nuzzled her, snorfled her neck. The didgeridoo sounded like an enormous animal panting at the end of its life. Mattie looked up and found Daniel standing before her, lifting her daughter into his arms. He held her in front of his chest, his long hands knitted together effortlessly to make a seat in which round, rosy Ella perched, somewhat worried but curious.
‘Want to dance?’ he asked her. ‘I’m probably the only person you know who can dance to the didgeridoo.’ Ella thought this over, tugging on her chin like an alchemist.
Mattie opened her fingers slowly to she could peek in at the little rubber shoe, as if examining a poker hand. Harry and Al were talking, and Daniel still held Ella in his arms, turning in slow circles. Mattie watched, listened, breathed in deep and slow: if the sound of the didgeridoo was a color, it would be rich and earthy, plant purple, like eggplant with light behind it.

*really didn’t like the book, but this quote was worth the read.

Quote: Triage by Lisel Mueller

March 30, 2014 / laura bruno lilly

Triage by Lisel Mueller
from: Alive Together (new and selected poems)

“Bertolt Brecht lamented that he lived in an age when it was almost a crime to talk about trees, because that meant being silent about so much evil. Walking past a stand of tall, still healthy elms along Chicago’s lakefront, I think of what Brecht said. I want to celebrate these elms which have been spared by the plague, these survivors of a once flourishing tribe commemorated by all the Elm Streets in America. But to celebrate them is to be silent about the people who sit and sleep underneath them, the homeless poor who are hauled away by the city like trash, except it has no place to dump them. To speak of one thing is to suppress another. When I talk about myself, I cannot talk about you. You know this as you listen to me, disappointment settling in your face.”

A Writer's Process: Kevin Powers Interview as Guidance & Inspiration

March 12, 2014 / laura bruno lilly

‘Every time I open a book or sit down at my desk, I’m hoping for confirmation that it is possible to understand and be understood by my fellow human beings.’ Kevin Powers

I have mentioned before that one of the guiding forces behind my starting this website/blog has been to showcase the vignettes written during our three-year journey between homes. I have been in the process of ordering these vignettes into a completed manuscript for quite some time and continue to come up short. And frustrated. Continue reading