The Art of Living and Writing (Vol. I, Issue 2)

Published: Fri, 03/27/15

Dear readers,

A friend brought me these impossibly bright flowers when he came for dinner recently. I'm glad I photographed them because on a drab March day like today when it's still drifting snow outside, one needs memories of flowers!

One also needs memories of color and beauty when it's raining rejections, which is what has been happening in my writer's life lately. I can't help but feel dejected; it's simply been discouraging and frustrating that none of my big projects is moving forward. I know that rejection is the name of the game as a writer, and I know the only solution is to carry on, but how to deal with it in the meantime? 

I was in major moping mode most of this week, but now I feel an uplift in my mood because:

My Online Mini Memoir Workshop through the Hemingway House Begins in May
 
Registration is open! For those of you not in Chicagoland, here's your chance to take the same class I've been teaching in the parlor of the Hemingway House. It's been a while since I've taught online. I've been meaning to put this class together for a while, so I'm happy to finally be doing it for the benefit of the Hemingway House. Check it out here: Online Mini Memoir Workshop @ the Hemingway House
 
What other ideas do I have to beat the rejection doldrums and the lack-of-spring doldrums? 

Plant something. Every year I plan to grow parsley for Passover, and every year I get a late start on it, but nevertheless, sowing parsley seeds and seeing them sprout is such a thrill, even if they won't be ready to harvest for Passover, they will be there all summer!

Wear pink. Amazingly refreshing and springy! For me it's an azalea pink maxi skirt I bought online back in December and promptly forgot about until I finally opened the cardboard box it was shipped in along with another item that I did remember having ordered. Which reminds me that I should bestow a new pink tie on my husband.

Read Julia Cameron. When dealing with the challenges of being a writer, I always look to inspiration from wiser souls who have gone before me, and Julia Cameron's work, especially The Right to Write always does it for me.

Escape. Real escape is often not possible, but mental escape is. I fled the drab of March and the heaviness in my heart by putting together a photo essay of the sunrise trip my daughter and I took to the majestic Masada fortress in Israel back in December. Good and beautiful memories can't help but make me smile.

 
Wishing you less drab and more sunshine, and all the best in living and writing!