I spent Saturday night in San Francisco with my friend An Xiao Mina, who happens to write a tech blog about meme culture and many other interesting things. We spent the afternoon eating sushi, getting lost in the city, and watching a fiction reading in a little cafe.
Sunday was primarily consumed with my minimalism efforts, as I trolled through stacks of old magazines deciding what was worthy to stay. It was a long, boring process, but it feels good to have most of that out of my house.
What I’m reading
I’m still working on Ancient, Ancient, by Kiini Ibura Salaam, and Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon.
Both I have been slowly enjoying and both I’ll be finishing this week.
What I’m Writing
I’ve worked on poetry in some form or another everyday this week, but did not finish anything.
I’m okay with that. Forward motion is forward motion.
Goal(s) for this week: Type up one to two novel poems. Finish and send out a submission of four poems to Poetry Magazine.
What’s Inspiring Me Right Now
The crisp cold days, full of blue skies and a plethora of imaginatively shaped clouds.
Opportunity of the Week
The Emerald Tablet is looking for original work that in some way reflects an influence of your choice as part of an ongoing reading series (so you would need to be able to perform at an upcoming event. The submission requires that poets and writers include an original fragment of fiction or poem that shows how their own works were influenced. I rather like how poems can be in conversation with one another, so this appeals to me.
Linky Goodness
Dissolving barriers between the real world, the digital world, and the creative world, a look at the 365 Project as a Creative Process, by Marisa Goudy.
“Certainly, a year of photos taught me to see my life from countless new angles. Early in 2014, my newborn and I were trapped inside by the polar vortex, tested by a four-year-old who was stuck in the Frozen vortex. With one creative outlet to depend upon every day – my 365 project – I kept the walls from closing in on me. Later in the year, as I rediscovered my public self, I was able to look at my world with new wonder and discernment, knowing I had to capture at least one moment of each day.”
I tend to be terribly inconsistent with daily goals, but I love the idea of them.