Sitting Down in a Virtual Swamp With . . .
Sheila Fraga
My advice to those who start in the art world is that they be sincere with their artistic proposal even if it is different from the criteria of their environment. Follow their impulses and instincts without losing their common sense.
Lindsey Griffin
Every time I read Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, I am affected by it. It is a story of the West, a frontier story that surrounds several generations of women dealing with loss and transience. Robinson’s ability to elevate the commonplace and to find the sacred in the daily is something I would love to emulate.
Remy Barnes
“What makes Iago evil? Some people ask. I never ask.” The opening line from Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. She remains a controversial figure but that book and that line are incredible. Sometimes I’ll be out mowing the lawn or sitting on the bus and I’ll say the line over and over in my head. It’s a perfect opening line, asking a question, slapping it away and chastising the reader for even considering it.
Hannah Ford
My writing routine is, admittedly, sporadic. Some days I write for hours, some I edit two lines of a story. I’m a fiction writer, so my writing is usually one of two stages: the initial “shitty first draft” of the story, or the sometimes-painful, often-lingering editing process. Depending on which stage I’m in, I could either churn out pages in one setting or stare at the same sentence for hours until I settle on a fitting phrasing.
Mark McBride
When I travel and return home, I realize, over and over again, how unique our peninsula is. Rivers, lagoons, and an ocean that contain alligators, manatees, and sharks. Where else can you find stuff like this?
Terri Witek
NO I WON'T
Andrew Furman
I often post various Thoreau passages on my creative writing syllabi: “Say the thing with which you labor—it is a waste of time for the writer to use his talents merely. Be faithful to your genius—write in the strain that interests you most—Consult not the popular taste. The red oak leaves are even more fresh & glossy than the white.” Yeah, when in doubt just study the trees. You can do worse.
Colleen Itani
I use emotive mark making and non-linear text pieces with a desire to push boundaries through assertion; this is complimented by her candid and domestic craft, such as embroidery. I turn to poetry, essays, and other literary texts for inspiration. I love working on paper with oil pastels and the immediacy of the materials.
Devin Murphy
"When I was young, nineteen or twenty, not yet brave enough to give voice to the fact that I wanted to be a writer to friends and family, I let slip to a stranger this yearning, and he did not scoff at my proclamation but asked me a question that changed the shape of my life. 'What are you doing to practically achieve your goal?'"
My advice to those who start in the art world is that they be sincere with their artistic proposal even if it is different from the criteria of their environment. Follow their impulses and instincts without losing their common sense.
Lindsey Griffin
Every time I read Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, I am affected by it. It is a story of the West, a frontier story that surrounds several generations of women dealing with loss and transience. Robinson’s ability to elevate the commonplace and to find the sacred in the daily is something I would love to emulate.
Remy Barnes
“What makes Iago evil? Some people ask. I never ask.” The opening line from Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. She remains a controversial figure but that book and that line are incredible. Sometimes I’ll be out mowing the lawn or sitting on the bus and I’ll say the line over and over in my head. It’s a perfect opening line, asking a question, slapping it away and chastising the reader for even considering it.
Hannah Ford
My writing routine is, admittedly, sporadic. Some days I write for hours, some I edit two lines of a story. I’m a fiction writer, so my writing is usually one of two stages: the initial “shitty first draft” of the story, or the sometimes-painful, often-lingering editing process. Depending on which stage I’m in, I could either churn out pages in one setting or stare at the same sentence for hours until I settle on a fitting phrasing.
Mark McBride
When I travel and return home, I realize, over and over again, how unique our peninsula is. Rivers, lagoons, and an ocean that contain alligators, manatees, and sharks. Where else can you find stuff like this?
Terri Witek
NO I WON'T
Andrew Furman
I often post various Thoreau passages on my creative writing syllabi: “Say the thing with which you labor—it is a waste of time for the writer to use his talents merely. Be faithful to your genius—write in the strain that interests you most—Consult not the popular taste. The red oak leaves are even more fresh & glossy than the white.” Yeah, when in doubt just study the trees. You can do worse.
Colleen Itani
I use emotive mark making and non-linear text pieces with a desire to push boundaries through assertion; this is complimented by her candid and domestic craft, such as embroidery. I turn to poetry, essays, and other literary texts for inspiration. I love working on paper with oil pastels and the immediacy of the materials.
Devin Murphy
"When I was young, nineteen or twenty, not yet brave enough to give voice to the fact that I wanted to be a writer to friends and family, I let slip to a stranger this yearning, and he did not scoff at my proclamation but asked me a question that changed the shape of my life. 'What are you doing to practically achieve your goal?'"
