Lelia
Imagining 'Vague Days' Clearer through Writing*
I’m experiencing a concatenation of ideas about writing, self-understanding and self-actualization. Joan Didion started it. After her...
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Lelia
- Jan 2
- 2 min
Endeavoring in 2022
I’ve never been big on making New Year’s Resolutions. In fact, the idea used to annoy me deeply back when I worked out at a gym and...
Lelia
- Dec 24, 2021
- 2 min
Alter Ego as Creative Muse
To my delight, I fell down a Maxine Hong Kingston rabbit hole and discovered this gem from an interview in The Guardian. Describing a...
Lelia
- Dec 21, 2021
- 3 min
Edith Wharton + Principles of Creativity
Reading Edith Wharton, the biography by Hermione Lee, I’m becoming aware of why I never liked to read Edth Wharton’s novels, which are...
Lelia
- Nov 3, 2021
- 3 min
Edith Wharton's Gardening Life
“I am intrigued by writers who garden and by gardeners who write. The pen and the trowel are not interchangeable, but seem often linked.”...
Lelia
- Sep 22, 2021
- 2 min
Soul Vows, Astrology and Bette Midler
Soul Vows is my favorite of Janet Conner’s books. I have gone through it twice and have twice crafted my own set of vows. I think that’s...
Lelia
- Aug 17, 2021
- 3 min
Keri Smith, Play and Antidotes to the Wasteland
I’ve been thinking about Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal as a way to pay attention and engage with my imaginarium but it occurred to me...
Lelia
- Aug 12, 2021
- 2 min
Dominique Christina, the 4th House and Toni Morrison
I loved Dominique Christina’s This is Woman’s Work. It’s not a scholarly work on archetypes, it’s her lived experience of these...
Lelia
- Aug 11, 2021
- 3 min
Creativity, Motherhood and Self-Remembering
I'm inspired by the boundaries women set to protect their creativity and how often women persevere in being creative even if they only...
Lelia
- Aug 9, 2021
- 2 min
The Empress Tarot Card, Roses and Life Force Energy
I pulled the Empress card in tarot today and thought of the Dylan Thomas line “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower...
Lelia
- Aug 7, 2021
- 4 min
Mystics, Creativity and the Spiritual Path
I’ve been trying to read Carol Lee Flinders’ book Enduring Grace and am having to confront my repugnance for asceticism. The first female...
Lelia
- Aug 5, 2021
- 2 min
Scrapjournaling and Soul Exploration
Keri Smith has a great exercise in Living Out Loud in which you get a box and start a clipping file of anything that interests you. After...
Lelia
- Jul 28, 2021
- 2 min
Food Writers, Detectives and Soul Guides
I think of MFK Fisher as a food writer, but last night as I cozied up to Last House and a piece of pie (MFK Fisher would probably not...
Lelia
- Feb 17, 2021
- 3 min
All Bad Art is Sincere
Oscar Wilde wrote "All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling." Harold Bloom paraphrased Wilde's idea as "all bad poetry is sincere."...
Lelia
- Feb 3, 2021
- 3 min
Chase Jarvis's Creative Calling and the 11th house
"Most of us have a gap in our lives between where we find ourselves and the life we actually want to be living. It's time for you to look...
Lelia
- Feb 1, 2021
- 3 min
Creativity: A Commonplace Book
“... art is the bridge between what you see in your mind and what the world sees…” Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit “Everything is raw...
Lelia
- Jan 16, 2021
- 1 min
"Storytelling Is Good for Your Health:" A Commonplace*
I see her walking on a path through a pathless forest or a maze, a labyrinth. As she walks, she spins and the fine threads fall behind...
Lelia
- Aug 4, 2020
- 1 min
Snibblets
I love remnants and snippets, found objects and things that fall by the wayside. And I think it's really fun to put them together and see...
Lelia
- Aug 4, 2020
- 1 min
What 15 Minutes Can Do
I've been angry at my garden this summer. Hot, humid weather, weeds, perfectionism and overwhelm have led to resentment, resistance and...
Lelia
- Jul 24, 2020
- 1 min
Wobbly Mandala Day
A Jill-Badonsky-inspired wobbly mandala in honor of Jill's July 26 birthday. "Trusting the process leads to peace and contentment....