Three Bits of Gratitude 010613

Sunburst Cockatiel
Pittsboro, NC 2013


Today's trio of gratitude (Writer's Edition):

1. Anne Lamott
I love Anne Lamott's non-fiction writing. Her journals/essays on life, her writing about prayer and spirituality, and her writing about writing have helped me regain perspective at times when I have most needed it.

I follow her these days on FB and today in a posting she shared this -- almost as a throwaway line -- but it resonated deeply with me. It's from Samuel Beckett.

"Fail again. Fail better."

2. Kate DiCamillo
Kate Dicamillo has that rare ability to write prose that reads like poetry. Her middle grade books are all just so danged good it would be frustrating, if it wasn't for her FB posts where she admits to having huge writerly insecurities and remains humbled by the fan letters kids send to her.

3. Charles deLint
DeLint is another writer who makes the craft look easy. His Urban Fantasy stories -- incorporating fantasy themes into our own urban world -- are the kind of thing I wish I could execute even a fraction as well. I met him at a writer's conference put on by a nearby Town Council. I had no idea who he was and so didn't hesitate to ask him a question during his Q&A time. He asked me if I was a writer. "Well, I have a collection of rejection letters," I answered. "Then you are a writer," he responded.

Hearing that from a published writer made a world of difference. (It still does.)