lilyionamackenzie

[lilyionamackenzie]

How writing shapes us as we shape it!

From the window seat in our master bedroom, looking through the French doors into my study, I can see the white bookcases, lining one wall. They remind me of honeycombs we kept on the farm, books now the honey that my bees/mind goes after. They also are why I write, so I may add my own work to that collection. Continue reading How writing shapes us as we shape it!

[lilyionamackenzie]

An ode to the imagination!

Recently, I tried revising a children’s story of a girl sleeping in an elegant dollhouse, an image I had in a dream awhile back that has stayed with me. But I felt extremely critical of what I wrote. I had to stop. For now. Let it breathe. Let the criticalness soften. Fall away. Continue reading An ode to the imagination!

[lilyionamackenzie]

Revisiting Morocco in Paul Bowle's THE SPIDER'S WEB!

I’ve been rereading Paul Bowles’ The Spider’s Web, hoping to renew our nine-day visit to Morocco that we did some time ago. The book has added to my understanding of Moroccan life, its pluses and minuses. Reading it was similar to visiting another country. The novel offers its own Morocco, the country of Bowles’ imagination. But did it give me insight into Morocco I wouldn’t have had…

[lilyionamackenzie]

It’s 3:05 on a Thursday (many years ago now, but whenever I sit down to write, I’m reminded of these sessions). I’m sitting in my classroom, asking students to join me in putting their thoughts on the page. This is old stuff to me. On my own, I do it constantly, dribbling out lines that seem to come magically from the pen (computer keys) and form themselves into what we call sentences, made up of…

[lilyionamackenzie]

How memoir shows that we're all fictions?

I opened the I Ching at random this morning and came up with #38, K’uei / Opposition.  The commentary says it is common for two opposites to exist together, needing to find relationship. I realize an opposition is being set up just in the act of writing my memoir Drop Out: my inner writer will be observing everything I do closely and recording what she finds valuable. I’m reminded of a review of…

[lilyionamackenzie]

On not being perfect!

Over the years, I’ve spent considerable time in therapy, analysis, and self-reflection, examining dreams, my relationships with people in the external world and with the “little people of the psyche.” I’ve also practiced meditation, participated in worship at churches and synagogues, and had an active interest in the spiritual life. In short, I’ve tried to become more aware, hoping that in the…

[lilyionamackenzie]

Have you walked the labyrinth? Join me!

In medieval times, the labyrinth was considered the geographical and spiritual center of the world. Curious to experience what it’s like to walk one with other people, I enter San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, remove my shoes, and begin my trek. The canvas surface feels rough against my bare feet, awakening the soles from their usual sleep. Continue reading Have you walked the labyrinth? Join me!

[lilyionamackenzie]

What does thirteen mean to writers?

Recently I dreamed I was writing furiously on a piece entitled Thirteen Hills. This happened around the time I also was exploring the idea of a thirteen-month year by using the lunar calendar. When I awoke, I immediately thought of Wallace Stevens’ poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” Of course, birds come to mind when I recall my cats. I didn’t want to prevent them from hunting, but I…

[lilyionamackenzie]

Amazon is offering a sale on FLING! till 4/28. Buy it for only $12.98!

Is it possible to come of age at 60 or 90? Is it ever too late to fulfill your dreams?When ninety-year-old Bubbles receives a letter from Mexico City asking her to pick up her mother’s ashes, lost there seventy years earlier and only now surfacing, she hatches a plan. A woman with a mission, Bubbles convinces her hippie daughter Feather to accompany her on the quest. Both women have recently shed…

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A response to John Crowley's The Solitudes

I just finished reading Crowley’s The Solitudes with great relief.  I haven’t hated a book so much in a long time, but I felt obligated to read it for the reading group I belong to.  From the first page, I struggled to get interested in the work, rereading the first 30 pages or so two or three times and still not able to enter it emotionally or intellectually.  The clumsy ungrammatical sentences…

[lilyionamackenzie]

Why do I write?

Why do I write? Because if I don’t, I feel as if part of myself has checked out. It’s as important to me as food. Okay, it is food, the word like a communion wafer that melts on my tongue, nourishing body and soul. It’s also like having a lover that never loses his attractiveness, beckoning on the fringes of my days, waiting to embrace me. Continue reading Why do I write?

[lilyionamackenzie]

Suzanne Sherman offers great advice on creating characters ,in memoir!

For thirty years now one of my favorite teaching topics in memoir classes is showing characters. This week in class, everyone created character studies for the people they’re writing about. I want to share some tips for how to do this yourself. Continue reading Suzanne Sherman offers great advice on creating characters ,in memoir!

[lilyionamackenzie]

Why Canada continues to be my home and native land!

I’m not your garden variety Canadian. I don’t own a Hudson’s Bay blanket. I don’t go to hockey games anymore. I’ve stopped being nice. I’m no longer so polite. And I gave up my citizenship when I became an American many years ago. But I can’t seem to shake my country of origins, especially now that Trump has become so enamoured with making Canada the 51st state. It makes me want to give up my…

[lilyionamackenzie]

How are comic books and graphic novels siblings?

I wish I could get excited about graphic novels. I looked at Maus many years ago and tried to get into it. I couldn’t. I didn’t like having prefab images put my own imagination on hold. I didn’t like the lack of complexity I enjoy so much in a literary novel (no graphics). It was like watching tv in print. Everything is oversimplified. Reduced to its lowest common denominator. Oddly, I loved…

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Thanks to Elizabeth Winthrop Alsop for shining her light on "The Good Old Days in Publishing"!

The Good Old Days in Publishing A nostalgic backward look This is the second of a two part series on publishing before the Internet. You can read Part I here. I first went to work in publishing five decades ago. It was a move I made consciously in order to understand the inner workings of what was then called Harper and Row (now HarperCollins) because I wanted them to publish my work. I started…

[lilyionamackenzie]

Suzanne Sherman offers great advice on structuring memoirs!

Story Structures for Memoir American films tend to follow a three-act story structure with a key turning point at the end of the first and second acts. Memoir has no single formula like that for its structure, though it’s not a free-for-all. There are options to choose from. When I started writing a memoir a few years ago, for the first draft I used a standard narrative structure, telling the…

[lilyionamackenzie]

On not being perfect!

During my life, I’ve spent considerable time in therapy, psychoanalysis, and self-reflection, examining dreams, my relationships with people in the external world and with the “little people of the psyche.” Continue reading On not being perfect!