by Lindsey on May 31, 2011
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today’s quote comes to us from my dear friend and neon artist Ben Livingston. The story is Ben saw this quote hanging on the wall behind a judge in a small Texas county courthouse. Just why Ben was sitting in front of a judge doesn’t exactly matter. What matters is when it came time for Ben to have his day in court, so to speak, he was distracted by the quote and asked the judge about it. The judge got so wrapped up in telling Ben about the quote and why all those things were important that he asked his aide to ‘go make a few copies for the boy.’ Then he totally let him off the hook for whatever crime (read: traffic violation) he had committed.
Ben Livingston in front of one his neon sculptures
I personally love this quote because it puts success in perspective. We often think that success is measured by money and fame. Those things are simply interesting by-products. Real success, success with content, is determined by the quote above.
by Lindsey on May 27, 2011
You may have noticed that I dropped off the face of the blogosphere last week. If you didn’t, you were probably swamped by May, the month of school crescendos. Graduations, celebrations, parties. There is a whole lot of hoo-rah that comes in the month of May. Not complaining, mind you. Just a bit bobbled.
Image: Serene writer rowing along in her little rowboat. Nary a riffle in the water when wham, motorboats and water skiiers roar around the boat creating tsunami size riffles and a whole host of teens start playing water volleyball using the rowboat as the net. It’s been a bit chaotic over here.
So chaotic I didn’t get to tell you two amazing things that happened in my serene rowboat writer life.
I finished the revision of my young adult short story cycle The Pull-Out and got it out to a second round of readers. I have been working really hard on this manuscript and I am resting (sort of) so that I can respond to this next round of critiques before sending it out to the wider world of agents.
The other amazing thing that happened is the online issue of Hunger Mountain came out. Hunger Mountain is the literary journal of Vermont College of Fine Arts. This summer 2011 issue is called, The Varying Shades of Shadows. Guess what is featured in this issue? The Proposal, one of the short stories from The Pull-Out. I am thrilled not just because Hunger Mountain is a fabulous, prestigious magazine but I am in some pretty fine company is this issue. Friend and award winning author Liz Garton Scanlon has written a special essay about Passion for the Picture Book. Fellow VCFA classmate and friend Janet Fox has written a very smart essay about the use of Elision: The Shadowy Landscape of Dreams where Writer and Reader Meet.
So find a quiet spot and tuck into some pretty great writing and thinking. You will not be sorry.
by Lindsey on May 24, 2011
“The way to write is to throw your body at the mark when your arrows are spent.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This quote is a favorite of my friend and fellow Austinite Jerri Romine. ”It affirms for me what a difficult and intimate task writing is,” says Jerri. “You have to stop thinking and open your soul, allowing what must to pour through your fingers and onto the page. Then, you have to pick through the resulting mess until all the words are gone and nothing is left but a truth that can connect with the soul of someone else.”
Jerri is a kindergarten readiness teacher at Council Oak Preschool (First United Methodist Church, Round Rock, TX). She strives to introduce young minds to the power and wisdom of children’s literature. Her website, Wiggly Workshop, promotes a series of early childhood continuing education workshops (Wiggly Reading, Wiggly Math, Wiggly Transitions, etc.) which she created.
Thank you for joining me today, Jerri.
