Inspiration Monday: Marty McConnell

  Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnell leaving is not enough; you must stay gone. train your heart like a dog. change the locks even on the house he’s never visited. you lucky, lucky girl. you have an apartment just your size. a bathtub full of tea. a heart the size of Arizona, but not nearly so arid. don’t wish away your cracked past, your crooked toes, your problems are papier mache puppets you made or bought because the vendor at the market was so compelling you just had to have them. you had to have him. and you did. and … Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Marty McConnell

Inspiration Monday: Andrei Codrescu

“This is the time when the part of you that is music overcomes the part of you that is silence. This is when music rules the fools. It’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans, ladies and gentlemen, and the good times roll, and you might as well roll with them because there is only music to hold on to.” –Andrei Codrescu, “New Orleans, Mon Amour, Twenty Years Of Writing From The City” Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Andrei Codrescu

Inspiration Monday: Jeanette Winterson

“Truth for anyone is a very complex thing. For a writer, what you leave out says as much as those things you include. What lies beyond the margin of the text? The photographer frames the shot; writers frame their world. … There are so many things that we can’t say, because they are too painful. We hope that the things we can say will soothe the rest, or appease it in some way.” — Jeanette Winterson Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Jeanette Winterson

Inspiration Monday: Alice Walker

“There is an awful lot of anger in the world … and … there is a real need to be creative with it rather than destructive. I think of violence as basically useless; it doesn’t solve anything. The more violence you create the more violence you have. So it really is an inconvenience. It’s like lying; if you lie, you’re constantly trying to remember what you lied about and how you lied. With violence, if you create it, you’re always trying to figure out why you did it or how to deal with the messiness of it or, later on, … Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Alice Walker

Inspiration Monday: Paul Coelho

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back.” ― Paulo Coelho, “The Devil and Miss Prym” Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Paul Coelho

Inspiration Monday: Jonathan Rauch

“Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone. In contrast, after an hour or two of being socially “on,” we introverts need to turn off and recharge. My own formula is roughly two hours alone for every hour of socializing. This isn’t antisocial. It isn’t a sign of depression. It does not call for medication. For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: “I’m okay, you’re okay—in small doses.” ― Jonathan Rauch White Chocolate Blueberry Scones recipe here. Currently reading:  THE LINEUP: … Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Jonathan Rauch

Inspiration Monday: Rebecca Solnit

“Certainly for artists of all stripes, the unknown, the idea or the form or the tale that has not yet arrived, is what must be found. It is the job of artists to open doors and invite in prophesies, the unknown, the unfamiliar; it’s where their work comes from, although its arrival signals the beginning of the long disciplined process of making it their own.” — Rebecca Solnit Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Rebecca Solnit