Category: News

WriteSpa #60 – Teaching and Learning

Posted on by winslow eliot

WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

By C R ([1]) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo:C R

In 1963, when I was 7 years old, my parents took me on a freighter trip around the world “to teach me geography.” When we finally landed back in New York City, I was put into a 2nd grade classroom taught by Mrs. Zay. I had never been to school before, and Mrs. Zay appeared to me like an extraordinary Goddess of Children. Her classroom glowed with beauty, simply decorated with rocks, crystals, flowers, and leaves. She was an artist, and her blackboard drawings came alive with shining colors. Everything she did, whether it was the words she chose to speak with, or her round, clear writing on the blackboard, or the way she kindly instructed a student to sweep the floor or water the plants – was with complete attention and love. […]

WriteSpa #59 – Writing Slowly

Posted on by winslow eliot

WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

 

“Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.” Mae West

A few years ago I read Carl Honore’s In Praise of Slow, where he writes about a growing movement that encourages savoring the time you have rather than trying to use it to further another goal – especially in the case of raising our children. He made some powerful points (although he admits he got a speeding ticket while he was researching the book). The Slow Movement has been growing much faster than you might think from its name – and I hope it continues to do so. […]

On Reading John Locke’s “How I Sold A Million EBooks in 5 Months”

Posted on by winslow eliot

Last night I couldn’t sleep. My room was filled a silvery glow, the fragrance of wild roses, the sound of the crickets, and an owl kept hooting. The sun hardly set before it rose again. It all seemed too enchanting to miss.

But mostly I couldn’t sleep because I was reading John Locke’s book on “How I Sold A Million EBooks in 5 Months” and I couldn’t put it down. […]

WriteSpa #58 – Your Quest

Posted on by winslow eliot

WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

Against the great panorama of the Middle Ages, when brave knights wore shining armor and rescued lovely maidens in distress, and castles loomed before one then disappeared in gray mists; where a crucial quest awaited anyone adventurous enough to seek it;; where the qualities of chivalry, honor, loyalty warred with desire, greed, and dogma – a powerful novel emerged: Parzival, the tale of a boy who longed to become a knight and serve King Arthur. […]

Bestseller John Locke’s Take on Self-Publishing

Posted on by winslow eliot

Are you thinking about independently publishing your book? Or do you think that the only authors who self-publish are those who tried the mainstream route and didn’t make it? Thriller writer John Locke deliberately turned his back on the traditional publishing route, mostly, he told me, because he wanted to have fun.

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WriteSpa #56 – The Art of Meditation

Posted on by winslow eliot

WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

I heard that when the Dalai Lama was asked what he would do if he had fifteen minutes left to live, he replied, “I would meditate.”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and his words have changed my own meditation practice. There’s something bigger and more infinite happening when we meditate, not just a quietening of one’s being for a short while. […]

WriteSpa #55 – Golden Rabbits, St. Brigid, Imbolc, and Groundhogs

Posted on by winslow eliot

WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

February 2 is a turning point. The new moon falls halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox.  In Celtic history this festival was known as Imbolc; the Christians changed it to Candlemas, and the Irish celebrate it as St. Brigid’s Day. Imbolc signifies pregnancy and spring, and is honored with fire, foretelling, and remembering through storytelling. The day is also used to assess what the weather is going to be like in the coming weeks till spring.

This year, the new moon is also the first day of the 4708th Chinese New Year. This is going to be the Year of the Golden Rabbit. Why golden? It’s not actually golden, but metal. There are twelve Chinese year animal signs, but there are also five elements that each of these animals circle through (wood, fire, earth, metal, water). Each animal goes through an annual cycle of these five elements, in two forms – one yin and one yang. This means that a complete cycle is sixty years – and the last one we encountered was in 1951. […]

WriteSpa # 54 – Why I Love Fiction

Posted on by winslow eliot

WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers

A phrase that troubles me when I’m either taking or giving a creative writing class is when someone blurts out about a piece of writing: “But that really happened,” or “But it’s true.”

When anyone says that, I get the feeling that the writer believes that real life – or faction – is in some way better than fiction. They believe that if something is true – in the sense that it actually occurred – the importance of the writing is elevated.

Not so!

Fiction is to non-fiction what a painting is to a snapshot. The reason fiction writing is so glorious, so universal, so powerful is that the entire human experience is elevated through story. Characters are richer and deeper because we understand their feelings and motivations. Descriptions matter more because we see not just through our own eyes, but through the eyes of an artist. Our deepest emotions are tapped and brought to life. We enter into worlds that are otherwise invisible to us. We laugh, we weep, we descend into horror, we are brought to ways of thinking we simply could not on our own. […]