I wrote another piece for Swiss Made Magazine, this time on the artist Alberto Giacometti. It is coming out in the June issue. For those of you who were kind enough to get a free subscription to see my last piece, make sure you keep an eye out for it.

I have had a great deal of luck using the Dorothy Parker method of taking a line or two of poetry I like and beginning a poem with it myself. Here are some quotes that have served me well:

Is there anybody going to listen to my story?

-John Lennon, "Girl"

But O, the thorns we stand upon!

-Shakespeare as Florizel, The Winter's Tale

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass"

They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm.

- Dorothy Parker, "Fair Weather"

Comment with your favorite quotes; I would love to hear and maybe use them.

TSS Week 8

I finished Osamu Tezuka's Buddha series and was very sorry to be done with it. The last volume, Jetavana, was especially poignant and wrapped up the entire story well. I was nearly moved to tears by the account of Buddha's death at the very end. I am really going to miss the series and may need to start it all over again in the near future!

I am also rereading The Five People You Meet in Heaven for the umpteenth time. Some people find this book cheesy while others finds it moving - I am in the latter group. Even the made-for-TV movie version gets me. I remember reading this novel for the first time when it was newly published and being amazed at Albom's talent and creativity. Since it is a short read, I reread it often.

Finally, I am loving Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. This book was recommended to me by a woman I sat next to when I saw Anne Lamott. She said it is great, especially if you think you might ever want to write. (I then informed her that I am a writer :)

The book is fabulous. It is teaching me so much about characters, plot development, setting, and even, as one chapter is titled, "shitty first drafts." I highly recommend it to writers.

The Introverted Writer, Unmasked

The Austin WriterGrrls have a retreat every summer where they spend a weekend away at someone's beautiful lake house. Everyone who is qualified to teach a subject does so in little workshops; for example, one woman previously taught on haikus while another has decided to teach about one-act plays.

This year, they have asked me to present on how to start your own e-zine, since they are familiar with Della Donna. I was and am pretty flattered, though I am not a public speaker. (How many writers are, really?) I had better get enough material together to fill up 50 minutes - eek! - and soon.

*Brief hiatus*