Trivium Magazine
A creative outlet for my shorter pieces, such as flash fiction, narrative poems, and short essays.
11/10/2020 - Creation
FIRST DAY: Big Bang
SECOND DAY: Great Expansion
THIRD DAY: Universe, nebulae, galaxies, stars, planets, moons
Birthed into the emptiness of spacetime
FOURTH DAY: Primordial Soup bubbled, gurgled, snapped, crackled,
And popped on lucky orbiting rocks
FIFTH DAY: Little Blue Dot in darkest corner of Milky Way
Waited patiently for its turn (eternity to the 10th power?)
SIXTH DAY: Millions, billions, trillions of
Asteroids with magical frozen water showered the Blue Dot
And co-mingled with the Hot Soup
SEVENTH DAY: Life started on its gruesome & harrowing journey
09/09/2019 - Living The Writers Life
A lot of non-writers are under the impression that the writers life is quite different from their own. They are under the misconception that writers, however successful or not, live in exotic places, hang-out at museums and art festivals, constantly on the go to writer's conferences around the world, or teach literature and writing at a major university. Even though this may be the perfect description of those five percent of authors, the other ninety-five percent not so much by a long mile.
Henry Beston, who wrote his award winning and endearing book, The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, was one of those five percent who lived the perfect writer's life. He had the talent, means, resources, and time to do so. William Faulkner spent several years hanging out in Paris during the thirties with other authors, drinking and writing and playing. Writers like this lived the kind of life that the rest of us has internalized as the true writer's life. We have turned their lives into a myth that everyone wants to strive for but in reality will never happen.
But yet there are the other ninety-five percent who struggle on a daily basis and still write and author books. Most are raising families, working full or part-time, or just struggling to survive a disability and life in general. Some have been and are brilliant writers, some mediocre, and most unrecognized. Most of the great writers have been members of this ninety-five percent. It would seem that the intense daily struggles adds fuel to the creative fire.
As a published author my advice to any would be writer would be to ignore the myths of the writing life perpetuated by the media. Unless you have the connections, means and time, forget Paris and a year at Cape Cod. However, one can replicate limited small versions of these experiences while struggling with daily life. Go to the beach for a week alone, commune with nature and write. Spend an affordable week somewhere exotic (or at least somewhere really different from your daily habitat), commune with the environment and write.
Being an unwilling member of the ninety-five percent has taught me two things about the writing life. The first is discipline and the second compartmentalization of my daily life. Discipline is self explanatory. What I mean by compartmentalization is setting aside a piece of my daily life that is used for writing and editing. I often get up two hours early before work and do nothing but writing and nobody bothers me. I call it my "writing compartment." By doing these two things I usually achieve my short term and long term goals as a writer.
Whenever I find myself envying the other five percent, I force myself to remember the life and struggles of the Russian novelist, Feodor Dostoevsky, who spent ten years in a government run Gulag. Not only did he survive but went on to author his brilliant memoir of the experience called, The House of the Dead.
So when you are feeling like your life is boring or stressful, having to raise children, punch a time clock, chase the dollar, pay taxes, deal with an alcoholic spouse, or your own physical disability, etc., know this for sure: You CAN live the writing life and maybe, just maybe someday write something truly brilliant that will hang around for a hundred years or more. Just remember the two criteria already mentioned : discipline and compartmentalization of your daily life. And if that means getting up two hours early or staying up late when everyone else is asleep, then that's what you must do. By following through with your own writing goals, publishing a brilliant piece of writing has more odds in your favor than winning the state lottery. Think about this for a minute!
FIRST DAY: Big Bang
SECOND DAY: Great Expansion
THIRD DAY: Universe, nebulae, galaxies, stars, planets, moons
Birthed into the emptiness of spacetime
FOURTH DAY: Primordial Soup bubbled, gurgled, snapped, crackled,
And popped on lucky orbiting rocks
FIFTH DAY: Little Blue Dot in darkest corner of Milky Way
Waited patiently for its turn (eternity to the 10th power?)
SIXTH DAY: Millions, billions, trillions of
Asteroids with magical frozen water showered the Blue Dot
And co-mingled with the Hot Soup
SEVENTH DAY: Life started on its gruesome & harrowing journey
09/09/2019 - Living The Writers Life
A lot of non-writers are under the impression that the writers life is quite different from their own. They are under the misconception that writers, however successful or not, live in exotic places, hang-out at museums and art festivals, constantly on the go to writer's conferences around the world, or teach literature and writing at a major university. Even though this may be the perfect description of those five percent of authors, the other ninety-five percent not so much by a long mile.
Henry Beston, who wrote his award winning and endearing book, The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, was one of those five percent who lived the perfect writer's life. He had the talent, means, resources, and time to do so. William Faulkner spent several years hanging out in Paris during the thirties with other authors, drinking and writing and playing. Writers like this lived the kind of life that the rest of us has internalized as the true writer's life. We have turned their lives into a myth that everyone wants to strive for but in reality will never happen.
But yet there are the other ninety-five percent who struggle on a daily basis and still write and author books. Most are raising families, working full or part-time, or just struggling to survive a disability and life in general. Some have been and are brilliant writers, some mediocre, and most unrecognized. Most of the great writers have been members of this ninety-five percent. It would seem that the intense daily struggles adds fuel to the creative fire.
As a published author my advice to any would be writer would be to ignore the myths of the writing life perpetuated by the media. Unless you have the connections, means and time, forget Paris and a year at Cape Cod. However, one can replicate limited small versions of these experiences while struggling with daily life. Go to the beach for a week alone, commune with nature and write. Spend an affordable week somewhere exotic (or at least somewhere really different from your daily habitat), commune with the environment and write.
Being an unwilling member of the ninety-five percent has taught me two things about the writing life. The first is discipline and the second compartmentalization of my daily life. Discipline is self explanatory. What I mean by compartmentalization is setting aside a piece of my daily life that is used for writing and editing. I often get up two hours early before work and do nothing but writing and nobody bothers me. I call it my "writing compartment." By doing these two things I usually achieve my short term and long term goals as a writer.
Whenever I find myself envying the other five percent, I force myself to remember the life and struggles of the Russian novelist, Feodor Dostoevsky, who spent ten years in a government run Gulag. Not only did he survive but went on to author his brilliant memoir of the experience called, The House of the Dead.
So when you are feeling like your life is boring or stressful, having to raise children, punch a time clock, chase the dollar, pay taxes, deal with an alcoholic spouse, or your own physical disability, etc., know this for sure: You CAN live the writing life and maybe, just maybe someday write something truly brilliant that will hang around for a hundred years or more. Just remember the two criteria already mentioned : discipline and compartmentalization of your daily life. And if that means getting up two hours early or staying up late when everyone else is asleep, then that's what you must do. By following through with your own writing goals, publishing a brilliant piece of writing has more odds in your favor than winning the state lottery. Think about this for a minute!