There will be no going back to normal. There is no normal. I’ve posted Denise Levertov’s stunning words at least once before in BTW. As each week begins, I find them more and more essential. I want to pretend that nothing has changed in human world, but you see: We have come to the shore; there… Continue Reading >>>
Author Archives: Mary Sojourner
There is no map. There is only the writer’s willingness to move forward
HARJO: Yeah. I know where I want Season 2 to end and I think with anything you have to have room to learn things, right? Because you don’t know what you got when you’re first making it, you know. You write these parts and you cast them and then all of a sudden, you’re looking at… Continue Reading >>>
9/10/2021: Meet the Doc
This is an old-fashioned story about an old-fashioned man with old-fashioned notions. He believed that he had a responsibility to other people. He believed that justice can lie in our choices. He believed that those who have, should give to those who have not. Imagine that! And, I want you to give. I hope you… Continue Reading >>>
So You’re Afraid to Write? Breakthrough for the week of 8/22/2021
The night of delusion is over; it’s almost dawn. The sun is rising, dispelling thick nets of darkness, and lotuses are blooming…If even the planets can’t fathom Here, who will break up these fun and games? —Meditate on Kali! Why be anxious? – Ramprasad, part of an English version by Rachel Fell McDermott If, “As… Continue Reading >>>
This Line in Time: breakthrough for the week of 8/16/2021
Dreams heed no borders, the eyes need no visas. With eyes shut I walk across the line in time. All the time. —Gulzar, poet, lyricist, and film director (b. 18 Aug 1934) You. There can be a stepping out. For the writer, there must be. Step away from. Step back. Step… Continue Reading >>>
Local to the Soul: Breakthroughwriting for the week of 8/2/2021
The stories he told were local in the sense of being local to the soul, not to the landlocked Midlands culture. — Caoilinn Hughes, The Wild Laughter “Write what you know.” What if you know that you are in exile – in what once was local? What if your soul can no longer find its once… Continue Reading >>>
Fort Slaughter
I’ve tried to post this beginning of one of my two new novels on Facebook. I give up. Here is Fort Slaughter…so far. Next episode will be next week. I work here in the tradition of serialized stories in print magazines of earlier years. I would appreciate your feedback. Fort Slaughter Prologue The black-haired woman… Continue Reading >>>
“How can I write the story if I don’t know what’s going to happen?” Breakthrough, 6/17/2021
(David Salle) once told me that he never makes any preparatory drawings for or revises anything in his paintings. Every stroke of the brush is irrevocable; nothing can be changed or retracted. A few false moves and the painting is ruined, unsalvageable…He also once told me of how he often gets lost as he paints:… Continue Reading >>>
You are in this light and water: Breakthrough for the week of 6/7/2021
Enter. Occupy the rock. Leave the safety of not writing and tell us the story of finding yourself in a new and unknown place. My story? I once walked this shoreline. I was eight years old, twelve, sixteen, twenty-five, sixty. I danced in and out of the cold Northern water. I gathered pebbles that gleamed… Continue Reading >>>
You set out on an unmarked road to write: Breakthrough Tip for now
You don’t begin. You begin and stop. You don’t resume. You believe that without directions, you are lost. Writing is hard work. If you’re lucky, you remember when writing seemed to pour through you. You were a conduit. You didn’t need to think, and if you did think, the writing seemed to go flat. Now,… Continue Reading >>>
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