They say that the Sami people, who live in the land closest to the Arctic Circle, have over a thousand words for snow, but none for just ‘snow’ – as we refer to it. I have often felt that our word ‘love’ could use at least 1,000 words to replace how we generally use it, Read more about Making Up New Words[…]
Join me on BlogTalkRadio at 5 pm on May 29 to talk about the joy and value of dancing while you’re writing.
New Writing Internet Radio with WriteSpa Oasis for Writers on BlogTalkRadio Today on WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers: It’s the first day of May and I thought I would use it as a jumping off place for a spring writing practice. The first of May falls at the height of spring and is most Read more about Beltaine on WriteSpa[…]
If you missed WriteSpa’s BlogTalkRadio show on Thursday, January 16, here’s a link to listen to it.
Does having a good conversation make you happier? A recent study says yes.
We are sometimes told that ordinary people cannot see into the future. But is that true? Is the future really just a great grab bag of impenetrable blackness? What happens if it turns out that you’re looking into the future all the time, predicting it accurately, making it happen as you choose, arranging it as Read more about WriteSpa 85 – Seeing the Future[…]
Light is like energy, and energy is what you need to pour into yourself so you can reshape your creative self in new ways. Now is an opportunity to channel your life energies from darkness into light.
Recently, I was lucky enough to have Sheilaa Hite (author of The Spiritual Hedonist and The Infinite Tarot) as a guest on my BlogTalkRadio show. I asked her how we can tell the difference between the voice that she calls “mental chatter” (warning, advising, correcting) and the voice of the spirit (or your inner guide Read more about WriteSpa # 83—Which Voice Do You Listen To?[…]
A different way to approach deadlines or writing assignments.
When you think of snakes, what comes to mind? Friendly, slithery little grass snakes slipping across your bare toes in summertime? A python wrapped around your arm while you dance? A cobra swaying to a snake charmer flute? Do you conjure up water snakes or tree snakes, dragons, or evocative statues? Rattlesnakes bravely protecting their Read more about WriteSpa #81 – The Year of the Snake[…]
As I was driving along early one morning, I heard myself humming, and as I hummed I sang these syllables: La-la-la.
Why?
I pondered this for the rest of my drive, and continued to hum, feeling a bit like Winnie-the-Pooh. Why does one typically hum “la-la-la” when one feels like singing?
One day I was browsing in our local library and learned something about the first Thanksgiving that I did not know. As I read it, I was struck by revelation.
Socrates said (we are told): “Be how you wish to seem.”
It seems to me that’s a perfect instruction for creating a five year plan for yourself. I’ve been thinking about a five year plan a lot lately. There are several reasons for this, but perhaps the most important one is that the last time I created one was five years ago.
So here is a blueprint I made up, based on […]
There is more than one way to write about the concept of time.
There are all sorts of ways to make people laugh. Here are ten of them.
The fourth volume of Writing through the Year – AUTUMN – is now available! Heartfelt gratitude to Claudia at Telemachus Press who made this possible. Here’s from a review of the earlier volumes: “Winslow Eliot knows a writer’s soul intimately because she herself is a writer, and a fine one at that. She has used Read more about Writing through the Year[…]
In my editing practice, two words that writers overuse when they’re describing characters they want to impress you with are “beautiful” and “handsome.”
What, exactly, are they trying to say? What makes someone appear beautiful?
Especially irritating to me is when an author writes: “She used to be beautiful, but now she had a few wrinkles around her eyes…”
Argh. Irk. You’d be much better off saying,“She used to be twenty-two…” […]
I love reading travel books—they take me outside myself and into another world. Having traveled so much as a child, I don’t envy these writers their adventures, but I feel a kinship, a friendliness, admiration, and I love the imagery and the stories. Here is my favorite opening of all time… […]
I wonder whether we pay enough attention to the delicate time of transitioning from one thing to the next. Moving from playtime to bedtime can bring on a tantrum. Moving from one job to another… […]
One of the best bits of writing advice I ever got was from my brother who, at the time he gave it, was involved in theater design. He told me (very strongly) that… […]
Photo: Sid Howells
When I was a girl and traveling around the world on a freighter with my family, we sailed through the Straits of Malacca and paused in Singapore to unload our cargo of copra. There we took a sampan into the city and found an elegant, red-and-gold restaurant where we ordered the specialty: sarang burung, or bird’s nest soup. […]
Photo: Arturo Mann
January 2012 – It’s time for a paradigm shift. How often have you looked at a sunset and said, “I love that sky!” Or you listened to the radio and said, “I love that song!”
Recently, I realized that it’s time to experience this differently. These past few weeks, walking on the beach early every morning, contemplating the years past and the years ahead, filled with intense emotion, relentless thoughts, and focusing on the steady rhythm of my bare feet on cool sand, I continued to long for stillness, peace, and even joy. It all seemed so
elusive. […]