8:57 a.m. — Atlanta

listening to Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, Joan Baez

Good day, everyone. Welcome, new people. I have three places for you to visit today.

1] The first is a blog, Signals to Attend, I started following a few days ago, when the topic caught my eye on Freshly Pressed. Now, I wonder how I have gone through life without the thoughts and articulations of this essayist [alright, a little hyperbole... but only a little]. In this essay, David Marshall writes on the topic of habitual writers versus those who, like me and, as you will read, him, are not.

In the paragraph that had me laughing with the vividness of the analogies Marshall describes himself as My writing ways are less like a daily game of solitaire and more like the guy who, earbuds in, cavorts to a discman on the steps of a fountain across from my school. A solitaire player hopes each row falls-out perfectly, and perhaps expects against hope for the day cards will move without his or her hands. The discman and I are desperate.

Visit, read more, explore.

2] Thanks to Freshly Pressed [I must stop following the scent], I also found the site Which Silk Shirt. This is a site I visit when there are articles specific to craft. In her post ‘Word-Color Freedom,’ Lauren Camp asks How much do you plan a poem, and how much do you leave to chance? A few nights ago eating out with a new teacher and his wife, I was asked pretty much the same question. It led to an interesting discussion of methodology. While I know how I work, articulating it to someone who asked intelligent questions forced me to articulate what I do and how, which made me consider the pros and cons, and generally got me thinking, not a bad thing.

3] I have sent you to The Rag Tree before. As far as I’m concerned everyone should follow him, just to see the way a mind hungry for knowledge works. I never quite know where he will lead me next, but he does have topics that are favourites and one of them is language and its effects. On top of that he writes well.

The title alone, of this post, is hard to resist: ‘How to Eat an Essay–Capers & Copy Style‘. I mean, really… can you? In his discussion of a subject important for us to consider, he plays, considerably, so go on over and play with him. He will give you food for thought. Look around while there. A glance at the list of branches over in the right column will give you some idea of this thinker’s breadth. Reading through some of the branches will give you his depth.

Done. I shall see you tomorrow for this week’s roundup; Tuesday for a prompt on the power of truths; and Thursday, for what comes along.

Enjoy and happy writing, everyone.

P.S. In truth, you will see me again today when I post for Elizabeth’s Musical Notes.