A WORD OR TWO OR NONE

 I talk a lot.

Sometimes it would be better if I didn't utter so many words.  Or maybe no words.

When I write, I also use many words. Writing group members and friends who edit my work are always suggesting that I not be so repetitive--- that I use fewer words.

In order to control and combat that wordy urge in writing, I naturally gravitate toward short forms--- haiku, haibun, tanka and the like. (See my earlier posts related to short forms: Haiku Meditations and Conversations in Poetry.)

As an illustrator, I would probably be that artist with too many lines, too much color, and many unnecessary details.

I recently discovered two delightful new books that have perfected the minimalist approach-- in both words and images.

 Work: An Occupational ABC  by Kellen Hatanaka  challenges us to revisit our classic conceptions and connotations of jobs, who can do them, and how they are to be done. Women are engaged in jobs we stereotypically portray as male-centered.  Elderly folks are included, as well, as young folks.  And the illustrations offer people of a variety of colors, and even include, on the xenologist  pages, a four-legged person from another world.

Each  page (and some two-page spreads)  include a large capital letter and one word identifying an occupation. Simple.  Yet as we ponder the array of jobs-- some we have heard of and others that  may be unfamiliar-- we begin to notice connections and  embedded stories. We begin to see hidden visual jokes and surprises. Complexity.

The cover shows the illustration from the grocer page, but to be fully enjoyed, this illustration cannot be separated from the forest ranger page preceding it, and the  horticulturist page following it.

I collect ABC books, and this is that, but so much more.  Children and adults alike will delight each time they discover a new  twist and turn in Hatanaka's creative offering.

To view images from this book and read Maria Popova's related article, Rethinking Our Atlas of Possibilities: An Alphabet Book of Imaginative, Uncommon, and Stereotype-Defying Occupations, click here.


 Before After by Anne-Margo Ramstein and Matthias  Aregui enchants our eyes and our minds.This wordless book will provide hours of contemplation and fun for everyone who opens these pages.
What comes before? What comes after?  We all know the koan about the chicken or the egg-- in this book  the egg comes first...or does it?

Again, children and adults will delight in discovering  connections, humor, reappearance of previous items and ideas, literary allusions, political statements and more--- all with no words.  Much discussion, laughter, and after-thinking will be generated around reasons an item is before or after.

Click here to see sample images from Before After.

Both of these books, discovered within days of each other, immediately reminded me of the artistic and intriguing visual conundrums offered by Blexbolex. With only one or two  words  to  label each image, he also creates connections-- some obvious and some obscure.   His books,People and Seasons, will make perfect companions for Work: An Occupational ABC  and  Before After.

Click here to see images from People.

Click here to see images from Seasons.

     
When the words are few
the images can grab you
and say it all.

Today's Deeper Writing Possibilities

Examine the images in the above books. Note and write about some of the connections, patterns, humor, literary allusions, political or societal statements.  

Reflect on times when images, rather than words, delivered strong messages for you.

Write an essay or poem about that event or situation or moment.

LIVING BETWEEN THE WRITTEN LINES:THE WRITING LIFE

What is going on when a writer is not writing?

You know what I am talking about.  Now that I have mentioned it, you realize that your favorite blog has not shown up in your mailbox for several weeks.   Or perhaps it is months.

Or you have been waiting and waiting for a new novel from your favorite writer.  You are missing her characters and their escapades that mirror yours. Or maybe it is the exotic locales to which you travel through her pages that you miss.

Perhaps the poet whose words you cannot live without has not published a new collection for quite a while. There has been no way for you to examine your interior landscapes or map outer-region observations without the words from this prophet who poetically turns everything inside out, bringing clarity to your world and naming your realities.

What is going on when a writer is not writing?


I have not been writing.
I am guilty.
At least I have not been writing the intended writing ... or  the "should-be" writing.

I am guilty of being absent from this blog for about a month now.  And the spaces between posts over time since I began the blog has stretched to a length that tortures me, haunts me..... chases me in the night, holding up idea after idea which I have not been able to pursue.

How long is the window on writing ideas?  Do they have a shelf life and have I missed out on some of these fleeting ideas forever?   See my earlier post, Expiration Dates, exploring these questions.

In the meantime,  I have been "out" living an extremely busy life.
You know what I mean... you are busy too... appointments, meetings, events, projects....
I am too tired to write when I finally get home... or so I tell myself.

I am a morning person, so if it doesn't begin in the morning, it is probably not going to happen.

In the meantime,  I have been working on my book outline for our  2015 Advanced Summer Institute in the Columbus Area Writing Project.  And I have been writing responses to thoughtful reflections, questions, and suggestions from those who will be writing chapters for this book I  will be editing.

I have also been procrastinating,  a process which I have turned into a high art. See my earlier post, Procrastination and Writing, which details all the ways I manage to write and not write at the same time.

One of the most productive activities, in which I have engaged during this time is reading--- reading about "the writer's life."

 The Art of Slow Writing: Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity by Louise DeSalvo was just what I needed during this period, as I reassessed my life as a writer.   It was suggested by a member of my writing group.  I already had it on my iPad, but moved it up to next on my To Be Read List.

In this meditation on the writing life, DeSalvo gives us glimpses and gulps of  real writers' lives and processes-- famous writers, some we may not know, classic writers, as well as contemporary.

  (This book)... is based not upon how I believe writers should work, and not upon how I work, but upon decades of research into the writing process and the work habits of real writers. If we understand the writing process, learn how real writers work, and use that information to develop our unique identity as writers, we'll transform our writing lives.

As we read how these writers write, research, persevere, and sometimes fail, we find these reflections to be invitations, as the author suggests in the introduction:

...invitations for us to think about specific techniques we can use to enter the slow writing life; find ways ways to deal with the emotional pitfalls-- fears, anxiety, judgement, self-doubt--that inevitability accompany our work; delve into what it means to live a healthy and productive creative life; and celebrate our tenacity and our accomplishments.

I am still considering DeSalvo's idea of slow writing:

I'd begun collecting anecdotes about how slowly many famous writers and artists worked.
..."slow writing" doesn't just take time, but makes time."  Slow writing is a meditative act: slowing down to understand our relationship to our writing, slowing down to determine our authentic subjects, slowing down to write complex works, slowing down to study our literary antecedents.

Slowing down...

Even as I am still digesting the helpful, encouraging, and challenging words in this text, I wanted more of the same.   So I turned to another book in my To Be Read Pile.

Curiosity's Cats: Writers on Research edited by Bruce Joshua Miller proved to be the perfect  companion book.

Like DeSalvo, Miller also gives us peeks into the processes and postures of writers-- this time as they engage in and reflect on research for a variety of types of writing and final products.  He introduces his work:

  ...(this) is a book about context, primary sources, and the indispensable value of libraries and archives as repositories of original books, documents, manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, photographs and tracts.

 He goes on to emphasize the importance of research in the life of a writer:

"I've heard, to often, the old admonition: write what you know," says novelist Margot Livesey in her essay,  He Liked Custard. "I was slow to understand that research could allow me to know more..."

Indeed as writers, we cannot write well without engaging in research.  I find this to be true, even to produce the shortest poem... or this blog.  And what a variety of ways we can find information, follow the trail of one fact, or trace the history or impact of one idea.


The essays in  Curious Cats take us inside this process from the varied perspectives of  thirteen very different writers.

As I return to my blog today, still pondering all that I have read and am still learning about the writing life, I am thankful always that I am a writer.   See my earlier post, Thankful I Am a Writer for all the reasons why and also  for several additional resources about about the writing life.

Today's Deeper Writing Possibilities

Reflect on your own writing processes, postures and habits.  

When do you write?  When is it difficult for you to write?

What helps you? What factors hinder you in the writing process?

When  and how do you engage in research?

Write an essay describing your  own processes and the value of knowing what other writers do. Include advice you deem essential for a beginning or struggling writer. 

28 DAYS

License: CC0 Public Domain 

It is February,  the shortest month,  only 28 days.

It is the month in which we remember and celebrate events and people in African American history.
It is the month in which we steep ourselves in black culture and traditions.
This February we may be intentionally seeking unique ways to learn and grow as individuals,  to increase our knowledge as a people, and to reconcile glaring  misconceptions or  omissions in our history.

There will be programs and public celebrations. There will be read-ins and teach-ins and special art exhibits and cultural expositions.

(There will also be the advertised sales and specials in stores, although I am not sure how buying that refrigerator,  pair of shoes, or  car will advance my knowledge of  African American people, history, or culture.)


It is February.

In classrooms around the country, teachers are putting up bulletin boards, selecting books to share with their students, and designing hands-on experiences to highlight the contributions of African Americans.

Sadly, many children will be reading and talking about the same few familiar folks they learned about last year.. and the year before that and the one before that.

You know the ones--- Martin Luther King  and his dream, George Washington Carver and his peanuts,  Rosa Parks and her bus. Harriet Tubman and her train....  You know the ones.

I am not taking anything away from these important people in our history.  They each made monumental offerings and sacrifices that touch us today in critical ways.  But they are not the only ones....


So it was with a huge smile and a nod of satisfaction that I read 28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World. Charles R.  Smith Jr. and Shane W. Evans have created a  book that offers us a fresh perspective and breathes new life into our black history lessons.  In his author's note  Smith explains:

 I 've always had a love-hate relationship with Black History Month.
 I love that black culture is shared and studied for a whole month, but as a student of color I hated the idea of ignoring it the other eleven months.  On top of that, I kept learning the same things about the same people and after a while, no matter how proud I was of my culture, I got bored and just stopped listening.
As an author I wanted to change that...
I wanted to show the variety of accomplishments black people have achieved, not just in the long ago past, but in recent times and present day, as well. Ultimately I wanted to provide a wealth of information for teachers and students alike all in one book..

Rich illustrations and layers of text, including varied types of verse, eulogies, quotes from historic documents, excerpts from speeches, and bibliographic information, highlight events and people that have impacted our nation, history and the world.

Each day of the 28 is blessed with a specific moment in our history-- beginning in 1776 when our country became an idea to die for, and with the first person to die for that idea, Crispus Attacks, and ending in the White House with Barack Obama.

 In between, we see some familiar faces, but are also treated to moments that we may not have known,  and faces that that we may not have seen before.

Both author and illustrator are Coretta Scott King Award Winners and bring to this new work the excellence we  have come to associate with that award.


See this previous and related post for additional resources
I, Too, Am America

Today's Deeper Writing Possibilities

This month reflect on the contributions of African Americans to our history as a nation.

Who are the people that you remember this month --locally, nationally, and globally?

Write a poem to honor a person who had made a monumental offering to our world.

How do you feel about African American History Month?  

Write an essay exploring the positives and negatives of this annual celebration.