send in the elves

send in the elves

My desk this morning, instead of being covered with books and manuscript pages, is covered with Christmas lists.  I wanted to make a post.  But it was hard to draw my mind away from the unanswered questions and undone errands on my list–with the clock ticking. ...
under her hand

under her hand

Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark Breaking it down, as they say.  Taking a closer look. Some of the similes:  Ray thinking about Thea:  “She was like wedding cake, a thing to dream on.” Thea thinking about an older couple she had seen together: ...
breathing in art

breathing in art

Reading Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark is like breathing in art, instead of air.  It’s in the words chosen by the author, in Thea’s artistic pursuit of her voice (a lark, of course, known for its beautiful songs), and in Thea’s love of the...
reading in slow motion

reading in slow motion

I felt like I was reading in slow motion, floating along on the words of Willa Cather.  The Song of the Lark is rich.  The words paint pictures and hold you.  Impossible to skip any.  It’s one of the best books I’ve read all year.  The full text is...
more than this

more than this

This morning, as I found myself wishing for an ordinary day without any of the extra tasks brought on by the holidays, I came across this passage from D. H. Lawrence’s Women in Love: “Ursula often wondered what else she waited for, besides the beginning...