On dealing with the sting of rejection
If you’re anything like me, you might feel a bit of a blow to your ego or self-confidence when your work is rejected.
It’s a normal feeling, I suppose. Every writer who submits work will feel the sting of rejection.
Continue reading “Remember: we are not our work”Giving new life to old writings
About this time last year, I wrote in this space about how, during an attempt at housecleaning, I rediscovered of my old writings–college-ruled notebooks-as-journals, note pads and scraps of paper containing early drafts of short stories and essays and (mostly) notes about story ideas–and decided to investigate whether any of these old scribblings had any merit.
Continue reading “Resurrected writings, revisited”‘Our lives are our poems. You’re already living yours right now, you just need to write it down.’
Thoreau had his Walden — that wilderness refuge where he sought inspiration and “to live deliberately.” Today’s National Poetry Month featured author, Molly Remer, also took to the woods for creative and spiritual inspiration, and with fruitful results. Unlike Thoreau and his transcendentalist brethren, however, Molly pursues the practice of “inscendance,” which she describes more in the Q&A below.
A prolific poet whose works are deeply rooted in goddess spirituality, nature, and the sacredness of everyday life, Molly is also a priestess and mystic. Living not far from me here in rural south-central Missouri, Molly holds Master of Social Work and Doctor of Ministry degrees and has authored 15 books, including Walking with Persephone, Whole and Holy, and 365 Days of Goddess. You can find her books and other works on her Etsy page.
Molly and her husband Mark also co-create Story Goddesses at Brigid’s Grove, producing original goddess sculptures and ceremony kits. She is the founder of the devotional experience #30DaysofGoddess. Her passion for celebrating small magic and everyday enchantment in life comes through in her poetry, which blends thealogy, nature, and practical priestessing, reflecting her deep connection to the divine feminine.
Read on to learn more about Molly Remer’s poetry, what inspires her, her thoughts on nature, mysticism, and inscendence, and the importance to writers of finding their “power spot.” Read on to the end to discover a poem from Molly that is quite relevant to the state of the world today.
Continue reading “Friday Five: Q&A with poet and priestess Molly Remer”All around me, life is flourishing. But my writing life feels like it is dying on the vine.
Here we are in the middle of April, and all around me in this part of the world I see dogwoods are in full bloom, the brilliant purple flowers of redbuds giving way to the new, tender sprouts of leaves, and the dreary, dirty browns of winter erased by lush greenery, from lawns to trees to fertile undergrowth. My unevenly green yard is bursting with the yellow flowers of dandelions, which contrast with the canvas of lawn like the radiant stars of Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night.
All around me, life is flourishing, as it should be in mid-April. But my writing life feels like it is dying on the vine.
Continue reading “Failing to flourish”‘… writing should speak to the times and address what’s at stake for each of us in the present moment.’
The style and rhythms of hip-hop permeate much of J.L. Moultrie‘s poetry — such as “contra” and “doves,” both published last October by Hobart Pulp. But this multi-genre writer also draws inspiration from literary giants like Fyodor Dostoyevsky, James Baldwin, and Rainer Maria Rilke.
J.L. is a poet and fiction writer born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, where he continues to reside. He discovered his passion for writing as a form of self-expression and therapy over a decade ago. He describes himself as a “literary abstract artist of modernity,” crafting experiential and abstract works that explore the human condition. His poetry and prose have been widely published in journals such as Datura Literary Journal, Terror House Magazine, The Cabinet of Heed, and Neutral Spaces. Read on to learn more about this week’s featured National Poetry Month writer and his approach to writing, inspirations, and advice to other writers.
Continue reading “Friday Five: Q&A with multi-genre writer J.L. Moultrie”
