Writing Prize

So honored to be getting writing submissions for the Kelly Culhane Prize. Very touching stuff. Tell your friends, if you would. By all accounts it is a good thing to write about cancer, about the arrival of illness, about the dark companion.

UNINTERRUPTED POETRY DAYS

Diana Randolph, author of In the Heart of the Forest, and a talented, prolific, inspiring painter, used the phrase, "uninterrupted poetry days" in a recent email. I tried to conceptualize what an uninterrupted poetry day might be like. The concept seemed heavenly at first, but then became more difficult to imagine as I pondered it. What would an uninterrupted poetry day be like for you?

HOW IMPORTANT IS WRITING?

Last Saturday I attended a modern dance performance in Duluth and there in the middle of the audience was Lizbeth Salander! Well, not THEE Lizbeth, but a clone of the Stieg Larsson character from the novels about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The real life woman was waif thin, dressed in all black, had short straight black hair, and a distinct owl tattoo on her chest. So, how important is writing? Well, it has the power to influence a woman in Duluth, Minnesota to get an owl tattoo, dress in all black like the movie character, and, probably ride a motorcycle. Earlier this spring I saw a Lizbeth Salander look-alike riding a sport bike down Belknap Street in Superior. I wondered if Larsson, in his most optimistic moments, ever thought his writing would be influencing young impressionable women in the Twin Ports of Superior and Duluth. I'm guessing not too likely because he probably didn't really know Superior/Duluth even existed. But I'm also guessing he did write with either the secret or acknowledged hope that his words would have huge impact. And guess, what.... They certainly did. Not only on two women in the Twin Ports, but on readers worldwide. So, if you're writing, creating words, crafting a story, plotting a plot, streaming a consciousness...dream...dream...dream. Dream that your creation will somehow, someway, someday, be a powerful force for good in the world. It is a good motivation to write with the hope that what you are creating will somehow be grand, huge, big, important, significant, meaningful, loved, desired, and widely praised. Go ahead and want it all, want the best, want the highest, want most. It's a grand thing you're doing, writing.

300 PAGES PLUS

Okay, here we go. Another landmark. 300 plus pages of Raised by Savages done. Probably 200 decent pages. The rest need going over. Had an inspiring email from Guy Vanderhaeghe, author of The Englishman's Boy and The Last Crossing (excellent reads, btw). He said that most writers don's spend enough time with their stories. I've taken heed and am patiently (sometimes impatiently) going over the content again and again. I'm hoping the time and diligence will make it appealing and not appalling.

DIRTY OLD SOCKS

Had fun with the Middle Schoolers at that workshop last week. Went to the winter sock drawer and pulled out a dozen heavy old socks from my logging days and dropped various objects inside. Passed them around and heard a lot of "Ewwwws!" and "Yukkkks!" I assured them they were freshly laundered and that they wouldn't get any cooties from inserting their hands therein. The writing exercise was to describe the hidden object in twelve words or more. Pretty interesting. Some students wrote two paragraphs. Some could barely get five words down. Some descriptions were general and vague. Some were highly specific. All were entertaining. It was fascinating to watch hands go into Dirty Old Socks and see words come out.