My husband drags me out of the rapture of a NY finger lake in a summer storm, my love, it’s time. Briny tears, freshwater and I shower the front seat and we speed off on the highway home, gushing clouds and flashing sky.

Jen Groeber in car

Back on the grid, I hear from one of my fave bloggers – Jen Groeber @ Mama Art – who says she’s part of a blog hop and wants to connect her pounding heart to mine. All I have to do, she coos, is talk about my process, what and why I write. This artist, Jersey girl and mom of 4 burns my fire, so though I bow to the mystery of creativity, I have to try.

A monsoon pounds on the roof. I sit quietly, finger my soul, scratch my teeming brain, and puzzle words. Ok, so now you know how I write, but for the love of letters, do you really need to know why?

When asked why he dedicated his life to the pursuit of solitude and physical inactivity, dearly departed Colombian homeboy Gabriel Garcia Marquez said, with his characteristic quill to the heart: I write so my friends will love me more. Then, he bent his fingers into a steeple (what else does a writer do with their hands besides smoke?) and paraphrased the one and comely Rainer Maria Rilke: if you believe that you can live without writing, don’t write. (Vanity Fair, 1988)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

What they said.

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Not to steal too flagrantly and get off too easy, here are a few tips I’ve been jotting down, from my writer’s life. I hope they are helpful to the scribe in you. If you want to know more, read between the lines.

1) Work that opening sentence and it will get you where you want to go.

2) Quit cigarettes because it’s hard to write without them.

3) Get over yourself. Go beyond.

4) Sit up straight, stand up often and dance your beautiful body.

5) Listen to your characters, let them speak.

6)  Fuck syntax, as long as it sounds good.

7)  Don’t worry about being politically correct, if you’re writing the truth, you won’t often be.

8) Drink lots of water, and pee it out.

9) Learn to write faster. The internets.

10) Write for your life, it will rock your world.

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For more of my musing about writing, read A Writer is Born, How to Stop Smoking and Keep Writing, How to Stop Writing, and On Writing.

David DixonNow, let’s talk about someone who artfully avoids a direct reveal. Please check out another of my choice blogs, the hilarious heartbreak of Bring Me the Head of David Dixon.

David, I’m tagging you, dude, because we want to know more about what and why you create and who the freak you are. Damn the written word, tell us in a strip!

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coexist

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FAN THE FLAMES: Blow your mind.

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Now, thrill me and visit our spanking-new GIFTS PAGE: the home of all the art & merchandise we have to offer in exchange for your heart-growing donations. One click right here.

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GOOD NEWS FLASH: While the news is a Shakespearean nightmare, I see a global shift-of-consciousness and a groundswell of support for peace and love that I have never felt in my lifetime. We have no choice but to learn to live together or die. More soon.

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