Thought I’d make another quick check in to report on a few more items I’ve been “consuming.” I wonder what other word I could use to cover all the minutia that I take in from the web, books, TV, radio etc?

Somehow each of these seems to float back to thinking about my creative life.

• Even the documentary Dumbstruck which was about ventriloquists. I am TERRIBLE at anything involving puppets although I used to love making masks in art class. I felt you could be creative making masks. What intrigued me, besides the interesting people presented, about the documentary was how I could feel for these guys since I’m primarily a poet. It is hard to make a living as a poet or for anyone to take you seriously because – poetry? – what is that?
• Really enjoyed Mindy Kaling’s book especially about how she makes lists as well as how she talks about making a beautiful writing area even as she just ends up writing in her bed or in more social settings since she is a working writer for “The Office”. Interesting to hear how she developed as a writer and as a person. Very real and just a fun read.
• Finished an issue of Iodine Poetry Journal. I had a poem in it but that’s not the reason I was reading it! Well, maybe a little I have read Iodine for years though. I thought I might make it to the open mike that the editor of the mag hosts the second Thursday of the month but I’m feeling a little peeved with multiple cat scratches on my arms and legs. Note to self: don’t try to package the smallest cat for her visit to the vet. She is wily.
• I finished the third book in a YA series by Libba Bray known as the Gemma Doyle series. The third book was a monster at around 800 pages but I LOVED it. The 2nd book in the series was a bit slow, but when I finished The Sweet Far Thing I thought – I could teach this to talk about coming of age, a woman’s place in the world and many other things including speaking to me as a writer when the main character says (about literal magic), “I have lost my magic, and that I am nothing without it.” Don’t you feel that way when the words won’t come down the way you want them to?
• I also really loved this article that Camille Dungy wrote about whether or not it is “easy” to get published. So much of that depends on where you want to be published and the type of work that you want out there in the world. I’m thinking a lot about that now.
• I also finished reading a local friend’s (speaking of that open mike I won’t be going to!) first chapbook of poems Splintered Memories which is a very personal collection dedicated to her mother (and family) as her mother is slipping away due to chronic debilitating illnesses. My favorite poems from the slim collection aren’t on the link provided but maybe you’ll just have to find them for yourselves And no I won’t tell you which ones. Whose feeling ornery today?

Any new books, movies, shows etc to suggest? What else will I have for you tomorrow on Make Friday Write? Come back and see