Cindy on June 2nd, 2009
“A writer never has a vacation. For a writer, life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.” — Eugene Ionesco
Summer typically signals “time off” — or at least a few leisurely moments in a lawn chair — but most writers keep on writing.
With that in mind, I want to share an informative new web site for professional writers working in all genres. Writers in Business is the brainchild of Brigitte Thompson, an accountant, freelance writer, and author of several books on taxes and record keeping. Since writers tend to focus on the creative aspects of our work, we could use a little help and advice on business matters. Brigitte recently published Bookkeeping Basics for Freelance Writers – which you’ll want to read long before tax season rolls around. This week, Brigitte features an interview with yours truly, so I hope you’ll stop by for a visit.
And while we’re on the topic of writing, I want to share another all-time favorite blog of mine, At Home with the Farmer’s Wife. The writings and photography on this blog are always gorgeous and interesting. To sweeten the pie, this week the Farmer’s Wife is featuring my book, Writing Home, in a special giveaway. Not surprisingly, she’s written one of the nicest reviews of my book, ever. It’s such a gift when another writer “gets” what you’re doing! — CL
Cindy on April 23rd, 2009
“It’s the first impression, and it will either open the door or close it. It’s that important, so don’t mess it up.” — Nicholas Sparks (on query letters)
While many of us “meet” new people through blogs and online social networks, our person-to-person social skills remain a key factor in our careers and personal lives. Psychologists have discovered, in fact, that first impressions are far more powerful than we realize.
âFor centuries, people stayed in the communities in which they were born,â note Ann Demarais, Ph.D., and Valerie White, Ph.D., authors of First Impressions: What You Don’t Know About How Others See You ($12; Bantam). âNow, however, we live in an age in which people move to new houses and cities, change jobs, make new friends, and form new relationships at a rapid rate.â Whether you’re an unemployed mid-lifer or a new graduate preparing for job interviews, you don’t want to miss this book. It’s the topic of my Midpoint column today in The Oakland Press. –CL
Cindy on April 1st, 2009
“A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.” — Henry David Thoreau
While I’m taking a break this week, I wanted to share a small piece of good news with you…. Earlier this month, I was honored to learn that one of my altered books, “Nature,” was chosen for inclusion in the annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center.
For me, there has always been a mystical connection between writing and art — just as there is a connection between my gardening and cooking. Like many of my altered art and mixed media projects, “Nature” was inspired by a favorite work of literature — in this case, Thoreau’s Walden. It was crafted from an old children’s board book and rebound with the cover of a turn-of-the-century leather insurance ledger from a thrift shop. The cardboard pages in the book are collaged and embellished with ephemera, nature quotes, and found objects collected from flea-market visits and, of course, nature walks. The exhibit runs through April 17. For more information, click here. — CL
Cindy on March 12th, 2009
The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach — waiting for a gift from the sea. — Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Four miles long and ½ mile wide, the narrow island of Captiva is where Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote the beloved inspirational classic, Gift from the Sea. Last spring, I finally made my pilgrimage to Captiva. Returning home with the requisite souvinir shells, I wrote a reflective essay on how Lindbergh’s words continue to inspire me in midlife. The essay is reprinted in this week’s Midpoint column in The Oakland Press. I’d love to hear from other women whose lives were validated or changed by the timeless advice in this book. And if you haven’t read it yet, treat yourself to a copy. I promise you won’t be disappointed. –CL
*Previous Midpoint columns are archived with links to The Oakland Press (look under CATEGORIES in the “Browse” panel at right). These columns focus on issues of special interest to women between ages 40 and 65.
Cindy on March 1st, 2009
“I know it is wet
And the sun is not sunny.
But we can have
Lots of good fun that is funny!”
–Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat
It was the late 1950s, and he put the fun back in reading when he booted Dick and Jane out of my neighborhood. To me, he was (and still is) the wizard of words, the “gandorious” great-uncle of terrific tongue-twisters.
To grown-ups who’ve since become parents, he’s a beloved household icon. His rhymes have thrilled more young bookworms than even he could have imagined. And nobody could imagine things quite like Theodore Seuss Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss.
His influence is so awesome, in fact, that March 2 — Geisel’s birthday — is designated “Cat in the Hat Day.” Endorsing the holiday, the National Education Association suggests we celebrate by reading to a child tomorrow evening.
Starting in 1937, when he wrote and illustrated his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, Geisel found his niche churning out tales of the weird and the whimsical, populating them with squawking fish and top-hatted cats. Even today, few other children’s authors can tickle a four-year-old funny bone as swiftly as Dr. Seuss. Which is why it’s hard to believe that this creator of nerkles and nerds had no kids of his own. Yet he penned 47 children’s books — and sold more than 100 million copies in more than a dozen languages.
Geisel was born in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father was a brewer who ran a zoo during Prohibition — a zoo that undoubtedly provided endless fodder for young Geisel’s fantasies. (Geisel, by the way, coined the term “nerd” in If I Ran the Zoo.) In 1925 he graduated from Dartmouth, where he’d drawn cartoons for a humor magazine. While studying literature at Oxford in England, he met Helen Palmer, an American literature student who encouraged him to pursue an art career. For a while he drifted in Paris.
In 1927 he came back to the states to marry Helen Palmer. Though he had planned to write novels, the Depression temporarily derailed his art career, and he resumed writing gags for humor magazines. Though his first attempts to publish had been difficult, by the late 1950s “Dr. Seuss” was producing nearly two children’s books a year. Delighting young baby boomers and their parents, Horton Hears a Who was published in 1954, followed by How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat in 1957.
After Helen Palmer’s death in 1967, Geisel married Audrey Dimond and acquired two stepdaughters. He died in 1991 at eighty-seven, with his family at his bedside.
“His contribution was making reading fun again,” says Laurie Harris, a Pleasant Ridge parent and publisher of Biography for Beginners. “The rhythm and warmth of his words stay in a child’s head forever.”
“I like nonsense,” Geisel once said. “It wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.” But as every fan discovers, Geisel’s “nonsense” isn’t just for kids. His stories are laced with sophisticated messages and illuminating parables, which is why they’re so much fun to read aloud â with or without children.
The Butter Battle Book, for example, tackles the perils of the atomic age. Meanwhile, the uproarious Cat in the Hat gets into big trouble, yet somehow manages to redeem himself and straighten out his messes. Whether we’re nine or seventy-nine, after all, there are many horrific hills to climb and, yes, incredible kooks to reckon with. — Cindy La Ferle
–This essay was first published March 1, 1998 in The Christian Science Monitor, and is included in Writing Home.–
