My lava lamp Is working again, Its orange ball Moves slightly In the lamp’s bright Interior liquid. I bought it Years ago In memory of Paul He had one, So I needed one too, To sit on my Office desk in A room where he Was my muse. But the lamp broke, And wasn’t fixed Until yesterday. It feels like a gift From the past. Lava lamp information From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Lava lamps of several different colors An original Mathmos Astro lava lamp A lava lamp is a decorative lamp, invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company Mathmos. The lamp consists of a bolus of a special coloured wax mixture inside a glass vessel, the remainder of which contains clear or translucent liquid. The vessel is placed on a box containing an incandescent light bulb whose heat causes temporary reductions in the density of the wax and surface tension of the liquid. As the warmed wax rises … [Read more...]
A room of my own – revisited
This morning I talked to a man I recently met at my gym while we both worked out on the elliptical. That’s a new one for me. I usually plug in my ear buds, listen to music, read my New Yorker, and hardly say a word to anyone while I exercise. And he was very inquisitive – he asked about my back ground, my religion, my home town, my current home town, how long married, where I’ve traveled, and of course the dreaded question – number of children. That question always stops me in my tracks – even now, over 18 years since my son Paul left us. And I told him truthfully that Paul took his own life because he had bipolar disorder. As a result I resurrected a piece I wrote for the now defunct Red Room site in 2013 – about the room I’m in right now – my private writing space. Even my husband knows not to bother me in here when my door is closed. In rereading this piece today, I can honestly say, not a lot has changed. He’s still in my room with me. My Private Island - A Room of My … [Read more...]
How I’m finding my muse again
I've had a tough time getting back to my writing routine since completing my recent consulting job. While consulting I did manage to write a journal entry almost everyday, but that was the extent of my writing practice. Besides the grueling proposal work I lived out-of-town in a hotel and ate bland uninteresting food for about four months. I had hardly anytime to do anything else besides work. There were no muses in that hotel room, believe me. The first thing I did when I got home was sleep. I napped several times a day for two weeks, until I finally felt like myself again. Although I worked out in the early mornings as usual, not long after breakfast I needed my first nap. Finally I started to look for something to kick-start my writing, to bring back my muse. I had put my list of poetry prompts into my Dropbox folder so I'd have it handy while I was away, but I never once opened that file. I didn't even update it with the prompts that came by email every Wednesday. So that … [Read more...]
Here’s Jennifer Roland on awakening your muse
My guest today is Jennifer Roland, author of 10 Takes on Writing - her interviews with ten authors who live in the Pacific Northwest. This is her second stop of her Wow! Women on Writing virtual book tour. Please welcome Jennifer and her words about finding inspiration about writing and how to keep our seats in the chair even when your muse has escaped out the back door. For me, walking - especially on the beach works. I look at the ocean, take pictures of the gardens I pass along the way, look up at the clouds, and pretty soon, I'm ready to sit down and write. Please share what you do to awaken your muse. Here's Jennifer: How to Find Inspiration Even When It Seems Impossible by Jennifer Roland As writers, we have a love/hate relationship with the muse. When the muse comes to visit, it's all wonderful. The ideas flow. Every word is a little bit of magic, and they come together with ease. So what's the problem? That darn muse doesn't come every day. Sometimes, … [Read more...]
Inspiring Spaces Blog Hop: share what ignites your creativity
My friend Cate Russell-Cole has started the Inspiring Spaces Blog Hop, and I had to participate. I created the room in our house where I write six years after the suicide death of my son Paul. It was the last room he lived in. I've written about this room and how meaningful and healing it is for me before A version of the following poem appears in my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide. Making Room for Me After six years I stacked Paul's books and records, once in alphabetical order on his closet shelves, in boxes out in the garage, and finally cleared away all the dust. I recreated his room and closet, with a new hardwood floor, a bay picture window, deep taupe walls, a white ceiling and crown molding, and file drawers and book shelves for storing my books and poems. I refurnished his room in shades of black and orange. The sofa is like a futon because he … [Read more...]