Vita Sackville-West was born on 9 March 1892.
Birthday girl Vita Sackville-West in 1916.
QUOTE: “I worshipped dead men for their strength, forgetting I was strong.”
SOME WORKS: Sissinghurst; Solitude; The Edwardians; All Passion Spent; The Dark Island; No Signposts in the Sea.
A KEEPSAKE:
The Edwardians by Vita-Sackville West at Eager for Word. $12.34.
It all comes down to time management. In fact, most of my professional difficulties can be traced to that annoyingly persistent foe. Time management is, if you will, my arch-enemy. While I am extremely organized by nature, I have a hard time keeping firm control over my writing day. The busier I am, the worse my habits become. In March, I am working on the launch of two new blogs, editing a book and consulting on another, and creating three pieces of short fiction. This is in addition to my regular blogging, ‘zining, and writing commitments. My self-control is a shambles. My desk is, even as I type these words, littered with notes, most of which are scraps of half crossed-off to-do lists. My lovely notebooks, ditto. While it is deeply satisfying to strike lines through finished tasks, having a pile of disordered lists lounging about mocking my intentions does not encourage me to actually do anything. Quite the opposite. Technology is equally sterile when faced with dozens of work assignments. I will ignore every single electronic notification put in place to help me along the path to finishing jobs, and will do so every single time with unchained glee. Technology is only my friend when it is helping me waste time or stay connected with people. Otherwise, it can fly off. Continue reading
Louisa May Alcott died on 6 March 1888. Here she is, at the quarter-century mark, looking utterly captivating.
Louisa May Alcott
QUOTE: “Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know.”
SOME WORKS: Hospital Sketches; Little Women; Little Men; Eight Cousins; Under the Lilacs.
A KEEPSAKE:
Louisa May Alcott Quote Typography Print at Jane and Company Design. $20.00
…and died on this day, 2 March, 1930.
D.H. Lawrence, 1906.
QUOTE: “I cannot cure myself of that most woeful of youth’s follies-thinking that those who care about us will care for the things that mean much to us.”
SOME WORKS: Sons and Lovers; The Rainbow; Women in Love; Aaron’s Rod; The Plumed Serpent; Lady Chatterley’s Lover; The Rocking-Horse Winner.
A KEEPSAKE:
Essay on D.H. Lawrence by Kenneth Young at Dunedin Street. $6.78
25 Fascinating Photos of Writers at Home [courtesy Flavorwire]
Read a thousand books, and you will find a thousand selves. Look closer, for they are all incarnations of you. Some of these other selves, these other inhabitants of your brain, body, emotions, are but subtle variations of the well-worn person who stares at you disinterestedly from the mirror. Then there are the radicals, the rebels, the shockingly embarrassing mavericks. They are you, again and again and again. The shy, the bold, the terrifying. Still you, again and again and again. Initially, at least, they exist under the radar, below the surface; inchoate possibilities all. Some will die unknown and unnoticed. The rest will shoot to the surface, furtively or fanatically, one at a time. Once they are freed, they come and go: revolving, changing, ebbing and blooming. Eventually, the important ones settle in your psyche for eternity; others, having served a purpose, slough off like useless skin, spent. They are born because you have the courage, repeatedly, to do one of the most dangerous acts possible: open a book.
Reading is pretty cool shit, make no mistake. Few things ever approach the epic nature of discovering and savoring a good book. At the top of that exclusive list? Sharing your passion with like-minded people. Does that sound like fun or does that sound like fun? Yes? Good, because this is where I officially introduce the newest feature on A Small Press Life.
[R]evolving Incarnations: A Questionnaire For Passionate Readers is an interview series done in classic Q&A format. Each entry will feature one intrepid writer/blogger/artist/creative mastermind and their unique take on the same 40 reading-themed questions. The results are delightful. Don’t believe me? Come back here in an hour, as the series debuts with Jennifer Koe of Quirk’n It in the hot seat.
A new regular blog feature debuts on Friday. It’s bookish, illuminating, interactive and addictive. I’m excited to share it with you. Are you in, dear readers? Come back tomorrow, and we’ll get the (nerdy reading) party started.
Casino de Paris by Louis Gaudin, 1931.
New Rudyard Kipling Poems Discovered [courtesy Huff Post Books]
I am not a Kipling fan, but I am always fascinated and thrilled when work by long-dead writers is discovered.
Once Upon a Time, little girls were told they needed fairy tales. The goal was to hear the words, “And they lived happily ever after. The End.” It’s a scary idea. It says so right there: the end. A closed book. Happiness trapped under glass like a dead fly. The problem is that, when you are working toward an official Happily Ever After, you miss the nuances of the journey through the Big Bad Forest, the meat and mead of life: laughter, tears, growth, absurdity, knowledge, companionship, heartbreak, fulfillment, frustration, accomplishment. Life is messy, irreverent. It brooks no happily ever after. Why should it? Life is its own complicated reward.
Write your own story, but write it honestly. Live your own life, without succumbing to complacent platitudes. Embrace your own beautifully cracked version of success and happiness. Mine calls for writing words the best way I can, in reading more than is healthy, in loving a complex, brilliant, imperfect man. It allows for dust in the corners of my house and budding laugh lines around my eyes. I love every second of this broken bliss. It’s a thousand times better than any sterile Happily Ever After.
This is in response to the Daily Prompt: Happily Ever After. “And they lived happily ever after.” Think about this line for a few minutes. Are you living happily ever after? If not, what will it take for you to get there?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 