Thoughts on May Sarton, Solitude, and Struggle

In a recent letter from a friend, he discussed his love of May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude.  This was one of the first books I read when I began to think about writing.  Solitude spurred my love affair with May Sarton.  In her writing she is disarmingly honest about her struggles with personal relationship, her own difficult temperament, […]

Only the Appearance of a Whole

This weekend has been filled with a small accretion of idea bits and fragments, that have sort of reached a critical mass in my head.  If my mind were a junk drawer, it would be time to clean it out. One thing that struck me this weekend was my tendency to pick up old books, even if […]

Digging into the Heart of Writing

For the past three days, I have been watching men in my driveway dig deeper and deeper into the earth.  It has something to do with an underground power line that has been defunct for a better part of a year.  The problem in getting the line fixed is that it’s buried below more than four feet […]

In Which I Finally Talk About My Own Work

Clearly this is not my own work.  It belongs to Peanuts Comics.  I made a few ground rules for myself when I started this blog over two years ago.  Contrary to other poetry blogs which I have seen (and greatly enjoyed) I decided not to post any of my own work on here.  That decision […]

Against “A Room of One’s Own”

I have great respect for the writings of Virginia Woolf and her stake in the feminist movement, but the title of her book sprang to mind when I started to think about the writing life. There are innumerable books that discuss the writer’s life, the long and lonely journey on the page, and ultimately the […]

Why are You Still Wasting Your Time with This?

Second year MFA candidates read from their work at what people at the University of Idaho call a “symposium.” It is a chance for writers to showcase their work and share just what they are up to in their writing lives. After reading, students are asked questions about the pieces. There is also a potluck […]

Is Anybody Listening? The Writer and Their Audience

There is a large body of perennial advice given to newer writers, “Show, don’t tell” being one of the most repeated. These statements are recited ad nausium at writing conferences, in workshops and university classrooms and in books about the writing life. Thousands of green parrots named Polly across North America ask you for a […]

Pulling Up Stakes and Heading…East?

I want this blog to remain largely focused on queer writers, their work and the writing life.  I also have not wanted to post my own poems or go on about my personal life.  I find my day to day life tedious at best.  I don’t think any other person would seek out this blog […]