The Stories of Devil-girl is a novella which I recorded on a double CD set and released shortly before the war in Iraq broke out in 2003. It works at the crossroads of poetry and prose, and of autobiography and fiction, perhaps also of the brutal and the magical. I began writing it in 1989,… Continue reading The Return of Devil-girl! or, The Stories of Devil-girl, a novella
Writing Craft
Back to the Invisible: the intersection of truth and the poetic art
Neruda suggests in his poem Arte Poetica from the first volume of Residencia en la tierra published in 1933, that the poetic art, or at least the poet, works and flounders and suffers "Between shadow and space, young girls and garrisons", which calls to my mind, somehow precisely, the situation of 4 young Muslim men from England,… Continue reading Back to the Invisible: the intersection of truth and the poetic art
Business and Pleasure, and a little celebration of writers.
You know how everything you really want to do takes longer than you planned? Consider that the story of a writer. As well the story of this blog writer. There is something in store which has to do with my novella, The Stories of Devil-girl, and soon, I will be letting you know that news.… Continue reading Business and Pleasure, and a little celebration of writers.
The Invisible: Burning cereal and the creative process. And 2 poems out in Poet Lore.
So captured by the possibility of having a communal talk in cyberspace about this mystery of writing, that I am writing this, freewriting this onto the site, and it is, except in cyberspace, invisible. And this is what this posting is about, the invisible. And its power. We know that at the moment we are at… Continue reading The Invisible: Burning cereal and the creative process. And 2 poems out in Poet Lore.
Bad guys: characters who are unpleasant, embarrassing, evil, heinous, or even unsexy.
September 27, 2007 Dear Writers, This may the be first in a series of posts on bad guys, on miserable, annoying, cruel and unusual, evil types. You know, all that stuff we like to believe we contain not even a speck of within ourselves. In the good old days, a writer could name their characters something… Continue reading Bad guys: characters who are unpleasant, embarrassing, evil, heinous, or even unsexy.
Bad guys: characters who are unpleasant, embarrassing, evil, heinous, or even unsexy
Dear Writers, This may the be first in a series of posts on bad guys, on miserable, annoying, cruel and unusual, evil types. You know, all that stuff we like to believe we contain not even a speck of within ourselves. In the good old days, a writer could name their characters something so that when… Continue reading Bad guys: characters who are unpleasant, embarrassing, evil, heinous, or even unsexy
Notes on my Intermedia Arts Mentorship; a few interviews; and the Smashing Albuquerque Cultural Conference that filled this last Labor Day weekend.
September 26, 2007 Dear Friends, I am, as they say, back in town. I will be writing a longer post within a day or so, but I want to, had to, get out some information on some things I have done recently and would love you to look at or listen to. A quick note… Continue reading Notes on my Intermedia Arts Mentorship; a few interviews; and the Smashing Albuquerque Cultural Conference that filled this last Labor Day weekend.
summer notes; things to look for
August 25, 2007 I have just come back from teaching a workshop on autobiography and autobiographical fiction in partnership with writer and activist Demetria Martinez at The Leaven Center in the Michigan countryside, located on the Grand River. (We are available and excited to do more, so contact me!) An extraordinary group of activists and… Continue reading summer notes; things to look for
The Bridge as Web; Good News and Bad
Wow, there were words in the last post I didn’t even understand. I finally looked up “apophatic” and started to spend my time needed to write this posting following the links, the threads of the web in which the word connects to other words. You know what I mean. But this news has come in,… Continue reading The Bridge as Web; Good News and Bad
How does a word mean? How do words apply for the job of speaking about the inexpressible? Can they do it? And, looking forward to the road of Spider
July 16, 2007 First, please check out Ethelbert Miller’s site http://www.eethelbertmiller.com and you can also see my contribution to his E-Notes at http://www.eethelbertmiller1.blogspot.com — thanks! Now, here is a different take on what we usually hear about the “unspeakable”, about unspeakable horrors, that cannot (must not?) be expressed in words. I was looking at a… Continue reading How does a word mean? How do words apply for the job of speaking about the inexpressible? Can they do it? And, looking forward to the road of Spider
Anya Achtenberg 