Inspiration

Summer’s End and Other Thresholds

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September is here, and summer is ending in the northern hemisphere. I’m not sad to see it go, being a lover of Autumn and all that comes with the falling leaves and breezes whispering winter psalms.

It’s the perfect time to gather with friends over mugs to share stories and laughter and quiet moments of happiness. So until our paths cross in person (and I really hope they do), we have this lovely internet for our storytelling and exchanges.

And speaking of lively chats, my interview is up on Between the Lines, a blog that interviews people devoted to literature, from teachers, lawyers, and doctors to academics, novelists, critics — and beyond. Kevin Neilson, a philosopher and unabashed lover of prose fiction, has done a great job rounding up booklovers from different walks of life to probe with fun and provocative questions.

I happen to know that some really fabulous folks are on board to share their love of books and literary insights in the coming weeks.

Check out the site (http://jkneilson.wordpress.com/) and leave a comment so that Kevin knows that you were there and enjoyed the site.

I also invite you to respond to some of the interviews. Truly. If no one responds, it’s a little like standing up in front of a room after a lecture or reading, and being met with silence and blank stares. I taught college Composition and Creative Writing, so I’m no stranger to the blank stares.
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Read some of the other interviews, write a note, and stay tuned to more musings about literary passions.

“The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer’s ending, a sad, monotonous song. “Summer is over and gone,” they sang. “Over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.”

The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year–the days when summer is changing into fall–the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.”

~ Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White

Collaboration–The Cassidy Experiments

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I’ve always been fascinated with literary and artistic groups and movements, individual writers and artists who come together to make art, united by their vision.

Magic can happen when creative people join their energy and intention. Groups such as the Bloomsbury Group, the “Beat Generation” poets, the writers of the Harlem Renaissance, the Dadaists and Surrealists challenged expectations and made ripples felt to this day. Like them or not, they created something new, made possible only by their collaboration.

No longer limited by the constraints of physical space, writers and artists are coming together via the internet to exchange ideas, to write and create. I experienced this with my involvement in the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The online community that was forged in the forum maintains contact to this day. It was that ABNA community that made Conclave: A Journal of Character possible, most of the editors were writers I met through the contest. We continue to work on the journal primarily via email, evaluating submission through our online submission manager. It allows writers, photographers, and editors from around the world to work together to produce our international literary magazine.

I’m also a part of other groups virtually connected: some made up of friends and family, others creative or literary. During the years I’ve spent in Germany, I was nourished and inspired by them.

When I read about the collaboration proposed by photographer Kyle Cassidy, I was immediately interested. Yes, it’s a chaotic time in my life, with the move back to the States, my own writing projects, and Conclave submissions. However I agree with Nietzsche that “you need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.”

So this morning Kyle Cassidy posted the list of partnered creatives. Our only guideline is to make something together. I’ve been partnered with mutantenemy. I’ll keep you posted.

On the island

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I’m writing from the dome room of our hotel in Palma on the island of Mallorca. This is the kind of thing I will miss about living in Europe. Today we spent most of the day exploring, strolling down the cobblestone streets of Palma after our Spanish breakfast, wandering from shop to cafe to ice cream shop, stopping to dance in various plazas with the kids and look for fairies inside the ancient olive trees. It was a lovely day. The previous two days were spent mostly on the beach building sand castles with moats, populated by dragons we discovered in the sand.

Our hotel is in a residential area, and so the beach is empty during the day but fills up when everyone gets off work. It’s like a huge block party on the beach come 7pm.

We still marvel at the Spanish lifestyle: siestas in the afternoon and dinners with the kids at 10pm. My eldest, my little Owl Girl, loves it (as do I). She doesn’t mind a nap if it allows her to stay up past 10pm (and sleep in until 8:30).

I’ve been feeling inspired, jotting down notes here and there. Most of them will have to wait until after we’ve moved back to Chicago and settled in. Of course, this will be slightly complicated by the fact that we sold our house and will have a week to pack it up after our return before we close. We haven’t found a new home to move into yet, so we’ll be moving into a short-term rental in Oak Park. It’s a bit chaotic, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity to live in downtown Oak Park, so many great little shops and parks.

Conclave Journal submissions have been coming in at a steady pace, although I’ve fallen behind while on vacation. I have a whole stack of rejections to send out once I’m back in Frankfurt. Some gems in there though, not many but a few. I hope we’ll see more as July 1st approaches.

Hard to believe that we’ll be moving back to Chicago in just over 2 weeks. I’m looking forward to the summer. It will be chaotic and messy and surely a bit stressful, but transitions tend to be that way.