Happy Blue Full Moon

It's New Year's Eve where I am. Some places have already rolled over to 2010 and it's New Year's Day; I have just under 2 1/2 hours to go. Tonight at work someone told me it was a New Moon and a Blue Moon - a rare occurrence. I tried to find the significance of that or some interesting folklore - but didn't. If someone knows some, I'd love to hear it! All I really found was that the idea of a "blue moon" being the second full moon in a month may have been a misinterpretation or may have been a quote taken out of context from an off-hand comment made by a writer in an article. While I couldn't find any specific significance of the Full Blue Moon on New Year's Eve (or any other time, except for around Easter, when a priest used to tell the people which was the real full moon to determine the date of their celebration).

And, while on the subject of the pending New Year - the topic of "resolutions" comes up, of course. A writer I met in Oaxaca in December '08 had a wonderful post about this topic. She said it very well, so I'll share an excerpt and you can click on the link to her blog to read the rest. It's worth the click and time to read!

From Shell at "A Cabin in the Woods":

"Resolute

I hate New Years Resolutions. They are phony set ups designed to manipulate us in to gung ho conquer the world mentalities that result in our crashing and burning. Think about New Years diets – total set up. For two weeks we will lace up our sneakers, walk with purpose for 20, 30. 50 minutes, eat Special K or 100 calorie soup three times a day, and suffer in silence at our internal lack of willpower. Then, we go to lunch with friends and “slip” – its all down hill from there. That is, until the spring when the “get ready for swimsuit season” influx begins again. The same goes for New Years decisions to quit smoking, clean out the garage etc… It’s not that these things don’t sometimes work. They do. But I would argue this has much less to do with the New Year drunken (on food or wine) proclamation than the time just finally being
right. .... "

(click on "Resolute" to read the rest of the essay.)

Yes, this year I think I will follow her lead and focus on my hopes and dreams, rather than resolutions. I have already resolved to be more active and more fit. It's time to follow my dreams and let my hopes instruct me.

Thank you, Shell, for your insight (as "unacademic" as it may be deemed, it is powerful and what we need to hear ... right on!).

Favorite blogs: writers & writing

I've added a couple more blogs to my reader recently and I thought I'd share some of them. I used to put bookmarks in a folder called "blogs" (original, I know); but then I had to remember to open the file and click to link to them and then scan through the blog since the last time I'd been there to find what I wanted to read.

That system failed.

Then I tried a couple different readers and found one that works well. And I have it set up so that when I open up my computer, there are the posts that have happened since the last time I was on. I can open and read them or not - hold them for later, whatever. I know you all know the drill.

But as I added one more blog to the ever growing list today, I decided I wanted to share a few of the writer's blogs I have listed. There are more - but here are a few to sample.

Ariel Gore

WOW! Women on Writing

Writing Under Pressure

A Cabin in the Woods

The Editing Room

Portland Women Writers Workshop

"Voices Against Violence" zine submission deadline extended

Great project still needs submissions.

The editors

have extended the deadline for the Voices Against Violence zine to Feb. 2nd. Here’s the original call out[inserted below]

What we’ve got so far has been great, but I’d like to see some responses and issues still not addressed and artwork.

Included topics can be: healing from trauma, transformative words used as a healing mechanism, enabling healing, life after trauma, self-help guides/resources, self-healing, dancing as means to healing, healing through narration, forgiveness (do we need it?), & collective trauma.

Here is the original call for submissions, which includes more information:

Call out for Submissions

Voices Against Violence Zine is accepting submissions for our next issue. Please send in your essays, poetry, letters, personal accounts, artwork & photography to be included.

What is the Voices Against Violence Zine? A small zine-diy style, with work from people of color, indigenous folks, trans people & queer survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and sexual assault. Included topics can be: healing from trauma, transformative words used as a healing mechanism, enabling healing, life after trauma, self-help guides/resources, self-healing, dancing as means to healing, healing through narration, forgiveness (do we need it?), & collective trauma.

Voices Against Violence zine is to be used as a community teaching tool, as a jump off for discussion and creative outlet and for conversations that need to happen.

Voices Against Violence is part of Café Revolución, with help from Philly’s Pissed. Check out their downloads.

Send submissions in English, Spanish, tex-mex, spanglish or any combination* via email, either in text in the body of the email or attached in .txt format to noemi.mtz (at) gmail dot com.

In the subject enter voices against violence submission. Include a brief bio, your mailing address, website if any. Mention your zine or any upcoming projects you’d like. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know or include a pen name. Email any photos, artwork as an attachment.

*translations would be cool but not necessary.

The editor, Noemi, of this zine is a skilled writer and all around awesome person I met through Ariel Gore online workshops. Submit if you have something and feel free to contact Noemi with any questions.

I could walk faster!

surprise snow snarls roadways
What a headline, right?

Although I didn't find it too amusing when I volunteered to go in to my part-time job early to cover for some people who couldn't make it through the snow. The volunteering part was fine; a little extra cash - no problem. I have studded tires and could do it. The "no fun" part was that I had no idea it would take me five hours. Yes, you read that correctly. Five hours to go a total of about 18 miles.

Truly, I could have walked there faster.

Oh, well. I did make it. And 1.5 hours before the shift I was already scheduled. Now I just hope that my car is okay, because it wouldn't shift out of first gear once I got to the part of the freeway where we were going over 7 mph. And my car wouldn't go very fast, the RPMs rose but it slugged along. Hopefully it will be cooled and working properly. Or else I'll be taking the side roads, less traveled, slower, on the way home. And hope they are plowed or sanded. Or maybe crawl along part of the freeway.

Here's hoping it will shift properly. I can't quite walk 20 mph - but it would be really annoying.

Especially after 5 hours to go 18 miles.

Ah, snow. Beautiful. And if people would just accept that it's not plain rain and it's not dry pavement, I think I could have done it in 2 hours.

resource: The Internet Writing Workshop

Stumbled across this resource for prompts and other writerly exercises and resources. They have received the Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers award.

The Internet Writing Worshop

As a taste, here is their most recent exercise:

It's A Crime!

Created by:
Alice Folkart
Posted on: 27 Dec 2009

Exercise: In 400 words or less write a scene with at least two
characters and a crime in progress. Give a clear idea of the place and time, what kind of crime it is, who is committing it and happens. .....

Click on the title link (It's A Crime) to get the rest of the information about the exercise!

Below is their statement of who they are from the website.

The Internet Writing Workshop has monitored critique groups for
fiction, nonfiction, novels, romance, short prose, poetry, scriptwriting, and
practice writing. Each have participation requirements. The IWW also has groups
discussing the art and craft of writing in general, creative nonfiction,
speculative fiction, and marketing. The IWW is a cooperative. Membership is
free.

art, culture, open mic

I'm putting together a resource list of spoken word/literary reading events in and around Portland. I will announce more as I get the website set up and have a clearer vision of where I'm going with this. (I did purchase a domain name last night, which I'm also keeping secret until I know better the structure of what I'm doing!)



In my research, I ran across Colored Pencils, which presents Art and Culture Nights, which includes open mic. I have seen a couple of announcements for these - but have never been. Here is one video from their website to whet your appetite!

but, really...

I do wish everyone the best of the season: joy, prosperity, fulfillment, and boundless creative energy.

Happy Creating and may inspiration take up residence in your home.

bah

HH
MC
HNY

Okay - now I've said it. done. (happy holidays. merry christmas. happy new year.)

How about: Happy HanSolMasZa !?!

Soon, we can return to our regular lives. Right? Okay - I'm done grousing. I'm just so done with the traffic and the hundreds of times a day I say or sign one of the above in one of its various incarnations (just as we say it differently in English, there are different ways to sign the concepts, too - some more correct than others and the three I put at top are, well, not anywhere close to correct, though often used).

Not judging, just venting.

*grin*

And the xmas tunes are stuck in my head. Which can be seen as either a positive distraction (phone ringing, looping messages while on hold) or an interruption ("I'm sorry, you said your name is what?").

Back to it.

One more day of the music. Two more days of shopping / traffic nightmare (Saturday is the only day of the year for worse shopping nightmares than "black friday") - although tomorrow won't be busy unless one needs to go to the store and can find the couple in the area that are open.

Griping done!

Lunch time.

Manuscript contest

AWP Award Series series begins accepting submissions in January

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is a nonprofit organization of writers, teachers, colleges, and universities. AWP sponsors an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works—the AWP Award Series. The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence. The Donald Hall Prize for Poetry is an award of $4,000 and publication for the best book-length manuscript of poetry. This competition is open to published and unpublished poets alike. The Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction awards the winner $4,000 and publication. Winners in the novel and creative nonfiction categories receive a $2,000 cash honorarium from AWP and publication. The Award Series conducts an evaluation process of writers, for writers, by writers. AWP hires a staff of “screeners” who are themselves writers; the screeners review manuscripts for the judges. Typically, the screeners will select ten manuscripts in each genre for each judge’s final evaluations.

Go to the AWP website for more information, including formatting and other guidelines.