And, just before I reveal the first reader comment that let me keep this discussion going, I need to share a quote, from that last post, about the Muse:
“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think it’s fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist, but he’s got inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the mid-night oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know.” ~ Stephen King
And, here’s the first reader comment, from an established writer:
“My Muse does not live in a basement. She’s more a balcony kind of gal and she hates cigars. She likes to lean over the rooftop balcony and listen to the birds. However I find she is more present when I keep up a regular meditation practice. Somehow this seems to clear out my mind so that she can open the balcony door and slip inside :-) “
So, the Muse and Meditation—Paths to what should be written…
And, yet another reader comment in this discussion; again, from an established writer:
“My best ideas don’t come when I sit down to write, rather at spontaneous and sometimes inopportune moments. Hence, I have a notebook in every room, my car, and my purse. :-) “
The Muse, Meditation, and Spontaneous sometimes Inopportune Ideational Visitations…
I’m hoping a few more readers will comment on this post and share how they decide or are Aided to Determine their next bit of writing…
And, to add yet more ideas for this conversation, here are links to a few other answers to the question, “What Should I Write?” {value of links may vary…}:
Stuck for Ideas? 20 Quotes Telling You What To Write About ~ fromToni Morrison, Francis Bacon, Neil Gaiman, Marilyn Manson, Emile M. Cioran, Cyril Connolly, Dolly Parton, Tom Stoppard, Larry David, James Maynard Keenan, Anais Nin, Joseph Joubert, Jack Kerouac, Demetri Martin, D. H. Lawrence, Ray Bradbury, Rebecca West, Lois Lowry, Joan Didion, and Sylvia Plath…
Finally, and as I regularly remind folks, it only takes one reader comment, no matter how short, to propel this particular conversation forward { though, you could also comment with ideas for other conversational topics in the realms of Reading, Writing, and Publishing……… }
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you don’t see a way to comment, try the link at the upper right of this post…
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“The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next.”
Anne Enright: Imagine Your Death to Find the Problem
“Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you finish this book? Why not?”
So…
Go to the full article to find out the endings of the quotes I’ve shared—discovering everything Kristin says is another good reason to go read it :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right… Read Some Strange Fantasies Grab A Free Novel…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Google Author Page For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
PEN American Center says: “Through annotations including notes, essays, drawings, photographs, letters to the reader, and inserted memorabilia, each contributor has transformed a first edition of a classic work into a distinct new artifact for one lucky buyer.”
There’s a link to more auction information and a FascinatingVideo below; but, first, here are the books:
Marina Abramovic, “Dream Book” — Woody Allen, “Play It Again, Sam” — John Ashbery, “The Tennis Court Oath” — Paul Auster, “City of Glass” — T.C. Boyle, “Descent of Man” — Peter Carey, “True History of the Kelly Gang” — Eric Carle, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” — Robert A. Caro, “The Power Broker” — Michael Chabon, “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh”— Billy Collins, “Questions About Angels” — Michael Connelly, “The Black Echo” — Patricia Cornwell, “Postmortem” — Michael Cunningham, “The Hours” — Lydia Davis, “Break it Down”— Angela Y. Davis, “If They Come in the Morning”— Don DeLillo, “Underworld” — Junot Díaz, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” — E.L. Doctorow, “City of God” — Rita Dove, “Ten Poems” — Jennifer Egan, “A Visit from the Goon Squad” — Louise Erdrich, “Love Medicine” — Jules Feiffer, “Little Murders” — Gillian Flynn, “Gone Girl”— Richard Ford, “The Sportswriter”— Neil Gaiman, “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”— William Gass, “The Tunnel”— Malcolm Gladwell, “The Tipping Point”— Robert Gober, “Robert Gober: Sculpture and Drawing” — Sue Grafton, “‘A’ is for Alibi” — Roni Horn, “Bird” — Khaled Hosseini, “The Kite Runner” — Paul Karasik, “City of Glass: The Graphic Novel” — Garrison Keillor, “Lake Wobegon Days” — Barbara Kingsolver, “The Poisonwood Bible” — Joseph Kosuth, “Purloined” — Tony Kushner, “Angels in America” — Jhumpa Lahiri, “Interpreter of Maladies” — Glenn Ligon, “Neon” — Peter Matthiessen, “The Snow Leopard” — David Mazzucchelli, “City of Glass: The Graphic Novel” — Julie Mehretu, “Grey Area” — Colum McCann, “Let the Great World Spin” — Jay McInerney, “Bright Lights, Big City” — Larry McMurtry, “Streets of Laredo” — Toni Morrison, “Beloved” — Paul Muldoon, “Knowing My Place” — Shirin Neshat, “Shirin Neshat: Untitled” — Joyce Carol Oates, “Them” — Yoko Ono, “Acorn” — Orhan Pamuk, “Snow” — Katherine Paterson, “Bridge to Terabithia” — Marilynne Robinson, “Housekeeping” — Philip Roth, “American Pastoral” and “Portnoy’s Complaint” — Ed Ruscha, “Past Stuff” — James Salter, “The Hunters” — George Saunders, “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” — Simon Schama, “The Story of the Jews” — Richard Serra, “Richard Serra 2013” — Sam Shepard, “Buried Child” — David Simon, “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets” — Jane Smiley, “A Thousand Acres” — Kiki Smith, “Her Memory” — Patti Smith, “Just Kids” — Lemony Snicket, “The Bad Beginning” — Stephen Sondheim, “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” — Alec Soth, “Niagara” — Amy Tan, “The Joy Luck Club” — Colm Tóibín, “Brooklyn” — Fred Tomaselli, “Fred Tomaselli: Monsters of Paradise” — Anne Tyler, “Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant” — Alice Walker, “The Color Purple” — Lawrence Weiner, “NAU EM I ART BILONG YUMI” — Edmund White, “A Boy’s Own Story” — John Edgar Wideman, “Brothers and Keepers” — Tobias Wolff, “This Boy’s Life”
I’ll share a quote I used in that first post from eBookAnoid:
“…it is worth considering whether the rise of the pirate sites is actually all bad for the sales of ebooks…. And it seems that perhaps the picture is not as black and white as is generally thought. In a post on the CBC website, this is gone into at some depth, and it would appear that instead of decreasing legal sales of ebooks, the appearance of any particular ebook on a pirate website can actually increase the legal sales of that particular ebook – in other words, the illegal copies seem to act as a sort of advertisement for the legal ones…”
Obviously, if you’re concerned about piracy, I encourage you to go read those three posts…
But, I’ll finish this one with a video of Neil Gaiman, multiple award-winning author, giving his view on folks stealing lending-out his books…
In this post, I think my best advice for writers is:
If you’re going to go looking for writing advise, first, write a bunch of stuff, revise it, write some more, revise that, then, maybe, seek out other writers’ advice…
One other tip (besides reading a lot) is to avail yourself of the Top Tags widget in the left side-bar—four tags (which will pull up over 240 posts) that you may want to visit are “Writers Resources”, “Writing”, “Writing Advice”, and “Writing Tips”.
So, here are four videos of authors giving their advice:
"Digital technology has played a huge role in spreading propaganda and disinformation because these offer a huge platform, which appeals to a large number of people."
Global Voices spoke with juror and mentor Femi Odugbemi about his role in this project, working with his mentee, and the significance of the project to Africa’s film industry.
The war in Ukraine presented Bishkek a challenging task of navigating Russia’s demands for explicit support of its invasion and the risks of falling under Western sanctions.
Balancing development and conservation has been a longstanding challenge for countries like Nepal. Poorly planned highways, power lines, or railways now threaten to undo Nepal's conservation success.
The ill effects of of slavery and colonialism still linger in a myriad of ways, including economics, systemic corruption, violence, public health, education, and issues of identity.
Saniyeh's story embodies Palestinian society's century-long struggle to educate and uplift girls, highlighting women's vital role in education. Her legacy is celebrated as a symbol of Palestinian women's resilience.
Mongolia, has a vibrant LGBTQ+ community. Yet for them, living an openly queer life can be so challenging that many consider exile as the only viable solution.
Gang violence, allegedly linked to the drug trade, is rising in St. Lucia. Citizens remain vigilant after a series of homicides occurred mid-March in the town of Vieux Fort.
Over 2,000 people from across the Democratic Republic of Congo gathered in Kinshasa today for the dedication of the first national Bahá’í House of Worship in the world.
Architect Heinrich Wolff’s journey in designing the DRC temple emphasizes collaboration, unity, and inspiration from the Bahá’í principle of service to humanity.
New Bahai.org section offers an overview of the Bahá’í calendar, significant dates, and a downloadable calendar with Bahá’í dates mapped on Gregorian ones.
The 30th anniversary of the Bahá’í Chair at the University of Maryland provides an opportunity to reflect on long-standing efforts to foster a more harmonious world.
A new BIC statement explores the impact of digital technologies on women and the need for much greater inclusion of women in the processes of innovation.
The Bahá’í International Community’s statement calls for a shift in how institutions view human capacity, suggesting grassroots participation in policymaking processes.
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Notes from An Alien 