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art impatience joy memoir memory mission statement mixed metaphors revision the future The Imaginary writing writing process

How to Get Creatively Unstuck

Techniques to get creatively unstuck when you know you want to write but are struggling with motivation and follow-through.

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art joy memoir mixed metaphors The Imaginary writing writing process

Spring Tools, Spring Writing

I suck at plot. I suck at pacing. I have trouble knowing where things fit with each other, if I’m rushing or going too slow within different moments in a story. I’m not great at dialogue either. I’m probably good at half-baked ideas, strange characters, a sense of place, and mood. I’ve read quite a […]

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art health joy The Imaginary

Surviving Intact

In periods of difficulty, when I achieve a little distance from that difficulty, I start thinking in more hopeful terms. I start thinking about joy and humor and hope, and how they are magnificent stars that can keep me oriented towards the things I wish for in life. So I’ve been thinking about moving towards, […]

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art health identity joy justice memory mixed metaphors social work

Resistance

Resistance, according to the Oxford English Dictionary: “The refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument.” (I wrote this draft several weeks ago, but it took until today to feel ready to post.) I’ve been thinking about injustice a lot. About violence and fear. About grief and […]

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art identity memory travel

New York: Love and a Whiff of Mortality

When I visit Manhattan, I feel seized by that New York excitement, a state of being which resembles my hyper teenage self. (I know there are songs written about this, and the reason there are songs is because it’s real: That NY state of mind.) The great mix of people and the sounds and the […]

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art joy love nature The Imaginary travel

Return to Fallingwater

I went back to Fallingwater, as I had promised myself, but this time I took my sweetie. I had the same reaction as the first time, I was moved by all of its beauty–a feeling of profound wellbeing settled in. Fallingwater feels like home. Home. Looking through Merriam Webster’s definitions, the snippets that resonate with […]

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art cinema

Only Lovers Left Alive: Review

I saw the languorous, delicious vampire movie, The Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch yesterday. The film is impeccably cast, making the most of Tilda Swinton’s ethereal presence as Eve, and Tom Hiddleston’s overpowering masculine beauty as Adam. Eve and Adam are husband and wife, deeply in love, yet living apart. Following some Anne […]