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Slowing Down. Paying Attention. Taking Note

_DSC7685I post here every Wednesday. Mostly about writing and life and sometimes about the way one bleeds into the other.

I post religiously. If only to keep my mind on the stories and my hands to the page.

Some weeks though, like this week, it seems silly to blog. Catching news clips on the earthquake in Nepal, reading articles about the unrest in Baltimore…to blog about everyday life and writing feels almost irreverent.

But in the midst of turmoil, there is a place for conversation on everyday living.

Last Saturday, I invited Lisa Rivero to visit with the writers at Harwood Place and speak about a project she’s been working on: transcribing the journals of her great aunt Harriet Whitcher into what she calls, The Hattie Diaries.

Hattie Whitcher 1881-1958
Hattie Whitcher 1881-1958

Hattie Whitcher is not a relative Lisa ever met in person but one she has come to know and appreciate through the journals Hattie left behind: ledgers and spiral-bound notebooks filled with daily entries that span over 37 years. That’s a stack of 70 books, handwritten in ink (and with very few mistakes)!

In her diaries (addressed to no one in particular), Hattie writes about daily life on the Great Plains from 1920-1957. At first it might seem trivial. How important are daily observations of farm life or reports on the South Dakota winds during times of the Depression or the War?

Here’s how. In her diaries, notes about a shift in the air mark a change in more than just weather. The desription of how a calf takes its first meal strikes the page with tenderness and maybe even grief. A July celebration in the middle of the Depression goes against all expectations and fills the day with joy and hope.

You might miss some of these undertones with first glance at Hattie’s journals; but as Lisa digs deeper into their pages, she sees more. With skill and creativity, she transcribes these handwritten entries into digital form, turning them into poems, videos, and flash narratives. She breathes new life into one woman’s past.

Go read some of Lisa’s work. Really. These pieces aren’t long, but they are powerful. And by presenting Hattie Whitcher’s writings in a new platform, Lisa offers readers a gift: lessons in slowing down, paying attention, and taking note.

Reminders that life is in the details, however simple.

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Poetry: In the thick of it.

NPM_Poster2014_SmallPageView
2014 Design: Chipp Kidd

Right now, we are in the thick of National Poetry Month. While I’m not much of a poet, I do love a good poem. And, I’ve come across some great reads in the last week that got me all fired up.

In Your Neighborhood.

Look around. There’s probably a poet near you doing an amazing project for National Poetry Month. Lisa Rivero has been on my radar; she writes how poetry “forces us to pay attention.”

Taking entries from her great-aunt Hattie’s diaries, she has been turning every-day details from life on the Great Plains in the 40’s and 50’s into beautiful poems and pairing them with images of the actual pages. I absolutely love this project.

Read two of my favorites:

In Your Inbox.

If you subscribe to The Writer’s Almanac, you can experience National Poetry Month every single day. I’d been on their list for a while then somehow stopped getting emails. I’m glad I signed up again, because this poem from April 13th did exactly what Lisa talks about: made me slow down and focus on the details.

Prairie Spring, by Willa Cather

Evening and the flat land,
Rich and sombre and always silent;
The miles of fresh-plowed soil,
Heavy and black, full of strength and harshness;
The growing wheat, the growing weeds,
The toiling horses, the tired men;
. . . .

Read it from beginning to end here. 

Your turn: favorite poem, this month or ever.

 

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News & Noteworthy

The News.

Remember my post on Fearless Writing? I talked about taking chances, and not just on that work in progress. I know, I know. I keep bringing it up. But, mantras really work. Our efforts pay off, whether they nudge us in a different direction or shift our perspective ever so slightly or result in something much more concrete.

Suzannah Windsor, of Write It Sideways, is creating a new digital literary journal, COMPOSE. A while back, she sent out a call for editors, and I applied, not knowing if my experience was enough to earn me a spot on the masthead. But, I took the risk anyway. I was thrilled, then, to accept her offer of a position as an editorial assistant. Suzannah is a mother-writer who sets goals and gets them done. She’s a model for the rest of us trying to balance life and motherhood and writing, and I couldn’t be more excited to work with her on this new project. Read more about the full masthead here.

The Noteworthy.

At my day job recently, I heard of a website called Lynda.com. For half a second, I wondered about the site: who was this Lynda? What does she do? Then, I got busy with work again. It wasn’t until I saw a post on Facebook by Lisa Cron about her page on the site that I finally investigated. Lynda.com is an online learning center offering a myriad of courses from art and design to photography and, well, now writing. Lisa Cron, author of Wired for Story, has a new course up and running for those of us wanting to know more about story structure.

I’ve raved about Wired for story before, and I imagine the course follows Lisa’s book somewhat. But, if you’re like me, sometimes reading the book isn’t enough. I want more.

The course isn’t free. Not exactly. But, the cost is certainly doable: $25 gets you a 30-day subscription to lynda.com, which allows you to view Lisa Cron’s course AND any other courses that suit your fancy. Perhaps something on illustrations for a children’s book? One on formatting that ebook? Once you’ve subscribed, they’re all free. Even if you only watch Lisa’s The Craft of Story and cancel your membership after 30 days, that’s still a pretty good deal.

Another author using the internet as a classroom, of sorts, is Lisa Rivero. She’s written a great book for young historians called Oscar’s Gift, about Oscar Micheaux, the first major African-American filmmaker who has history as a homesteader as well. Right now, in honor of Black History Month, she’s posting lots of extras to go with her book: videos, writing prompts, and news about the time period in which Oscar lived. If you write historical fiction, for kids or grown-ups, check out Lisa’s website to see how historical resources can enhance the reading experience.

What’s new or noteworthy with you? And, have you ever visited lynda.com? I’d love to hear from someone who’s taken courses there, it looks so inviting.