daily life

Entering Holy Week

29 March 2021 by Kortney

Usually I feel like I limp into Easter ready to put Lent behind me. This year feels different. Is it because we have lived a pandemic year? An entire Lenten year. Here are a few resources that I will be using to create a bit of spaciousness in my soul.

Laudate Omnes Gentes by the Taizé Community. This record is on almost every day during Holy Week. We first heard it on Pray As You Go!

Pray as You Go. A reliable guide with wonderful music (usually!). I am excited to try the Saturday Evening Examen–a new feature I think.

Reading the Passion with Albrecht Dürer. This resource was created by our pastor for use durning our Palm Sunday liturgy. It’s a wonderful collection of woodcuts and scripture with a hymn interspersed.

And finally, if you can’t get out to services, you can participate (live or recorded) with St Michael’s. Mabel carried the processional cross on Palm Sunday!

Stability Through Copywork

22 March 2021 by Kortney

I am close to finishing copying out by hand Ursula Le Guin’s penultimate poetry collection called Late in the Day. I began this project in 2019 with her last book So Far, So Good. In many ways it was a better fit for this practice. The poems are even shorter, more concentrated, easier to approach. I find myself staying away from poems that will stretch onto a new page or a second day of work.

I think when I am finished with Le Guin, I will begin work on A Threadbare Coat by Thomas A Clark. Just listen to this poem!

More than anything I’ve learned about craft–line breaks and punctuation–the gift of this practice has been the stability of returning to the copywork over time. When I was out of sorts or the blank page was overwhelming, writing out someone else’s poems gave me a way in. Good words in my ear and out of my pen.

Have you tried copywork or a longer term project of another sort?

Treat Yourself

19 November 2019 by Kortney

When I show up to write, when I show up to do what I’ve said I was going to do, I treat myself. Some people use stickers or chocolates.

Me? I read a little about becoming a better writer.

Shaunta Grimes is a middle grade novelist who writes almost every day on Medium. She is no-nonsense and has plenty of experience to share. She’s also a great reader and curator.

This article called How to Become a Better Writer: 100 Resources is pure gold. Each day I read about just one resource. I follow the rabbit trails. I make notes in my Ideas Notebook (another Shaunta idea!) I end the day at the page filled up and ready to write tomorrow

Because really? That’s what I’m after. A writing practice that is sustainable and satisfying. Mornings at the page that fuel my life.

Click here to see all the Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry posts.