by Minerva Rising Contributor | May 9, 2013 | Uncategorized
I like to write, so I enroll in an 8-week writing class. On the first day, when it’s my turn to check in, I say, “I have no formal training in writing, never studied English beyond high school. I’ve taken adult education writing classes, groups and workshops, and...
by Minerva Rising Contributor | May 6, 2013 | Uncategorized
So I’ve started a new project – a collection of short memoir pieces that recount some of the many jobs I’ve had, accompanied by fictional stories inspired by each of them. From realtor to chicken rancher, from chambermaid to cook to box maker to landscaper to...
by Minerva Rising Contributor | May 2, 2013 | Uncategorized
I’ve been thinking about the kind of day that happens, like today, when everything that first comes to mind is dreary, when even the weather is unready for itself. Before I open my eyes, the rain. Maple leaf-blooms and starter daffodils stopped by last night’s cold....
by Minerva Rising Contributor | Apr 29, 2013 | Uncategorized
In the past two years, as I have revised and reworked my manuscript of poems, “Confluence,” I have thought seriously about principles. I have thought about ordering principles and about the principled act of walking outside each day. I think of the Midwest, of...
by Minerva Rising Contributor | Apr 25, 2013 | Uncategorized
It was a white winter Sunday when we followed the turkey tracks along the bank of a spring-fed stream. As my partner and I trekked the trails of Walla Hi Park we had been diligently following all winter, we decide to deviate from the hiking path. We pointed the...
by Kim Brown | Apr 22, 2013 | Uncategorized
Four weeks ago, when I wrote the Boundaries blog, I asked the question: why do I write? And I found myself thinking about the sixth grade. I was a late bloomer. I still wore a little-girl undershirt, while all my friends sported training bras. Whenever we got a...
by Minerva Rising Contributor | Apr 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
We learn halfway through Creative Writing 101 to write about not only what we know, but also about what fascinates and intrigues us, even what thrills or terrifies us. Lyric poets learn quickly to color outside the lines, moving beyond broken hearts and changes of...
by Michelle Orr | Apr 15, 2013 | Uncategorized
I decided to go for a photo walk on my neighborhood’s walking trails. This was the second picture I took while trying to adjust my camera’s settings. Normally my first few shots are not view worthy–exposure, composition, and aperture are all off as...
by Minerva Rising Contributor | Apr 11, 2013 | Uncategorized
Do painters overdose on paint? Do bakers tire of flour; do gardeners get sick to death of dirt? I wonder this, as I lie in bed in the early morning, thinking about how I travel through my days gorging on words.We live in a wide, fast-moving torrent, a Columbia, a...
by minervarising | Apr 8, 2013 | Uncategorized
I’m walking on the beach this morning and a couple walks by me in the other direction. I remember a writing assignment that Bea Gates gave us – listen in on someone else’s conversation and then write about it. Thank you, Bea. “I sure wish I loved Jesus as...
