between two fires
Since we've just been talking about monkey minds and about attention span related to sentence length, it's only natural that the word of the week should be
attention
If we take a look at what we're saying when we use that word, it'll come clear that really there can be no such thing as attention deficit; it's all a matter of quality.
Written by Ela Harrison
on Friday, 16 January 2015.
Posted in Blogging, All About Words, Mindfulness
private confessions, public confidence
A keystone principle of my work as an editor is confidentiality. I believe this is crucial, whether we're working on a poetry collection or an academic thesis, a science book or a cookbook.
No matter the subject matter or genre, my client is pouring heart and soul into the project. If I'm to help him or her produce their best possible work, the art that's in truest harmony with their creative impulse, s/he must be comfortable confiding in me, confessing to me, trusting me with sh*tty first drafts and skeletons in the closet.
Ad here's the paradox: confidentiality gives birth to confidence!
Written by Ela Harrison
on Wednesday, 07 January 2015.
Posted in All About Words, Literary Citizenship
talking back to books, books talk back
As a young person, I bought into the idea that books were unalterable. I remember lying on the grass for hours with an eraser, cleaning up my used copy of Herodotus's Histories, not wanting someone else's notes on his Greek or his content, offended that this previous owner had presumed to write on the book!
But in reality, we've been talking back to books for as long as... well, actually, for as long as farming and economies of scale gave us the free time to do so. The root of "scholar" and "school" means...
Written by Ela Harrison
on Tuesday, 16 December 2014.
Posted in All About Words, Literary Citizenship
there's no such thing as "start at the beginning"
My beautiful new blog is still a new blog, and I'm still learning its outlines and characters. A couple days ago, I discovered, quite by accident, that there was a comment box--with comments in it awaiting my approval!
Comments are now live; please post comments!
And so, with humble apologies to those commenters, this post is all about comments, the word and the abstract object.
Written by Ela Harrison
on Friday, 12 December 2014.
Posted in All About Words, Literary Citizenship
A happy Thanksgiving to everyone! A happy festive season as we move into the northern hemisphere's still, dark point. Time to reflect, to consume this year's harvest, to huddle and cuddle, enjoy one another. Even here, where the sun shines almost every day of the year, the days are short and cold. A touch of frost a couple nights ago, even one or two overcast days.
Written by Ela Harrison
on Wednesday, 03 December 2014.
Posted in All About Words, Mindfulness
It _had_ to be word of the week, didn't it?
Gratitude. Thanksgiving. Gratitude (Latin gratitudo) is a state of mind. Thanksgiving is a direct translation of the Latin gratias actio -- action, specifically a performance, enactment, of thanks.
Latin gratias means "thanks," but also it means "grace," in all the multi-splendored nuances of that word. Old-English thanc instead is cognate with "think" -- thanksgiving is an enaction of your state of thoughts.
Giving thanks and feeling gratitude--are they the same for you? This is a tail that can wag the dog--the action can lead to the feeling.
Written by Ela Harrison
on Wednesday, 26 November 2014.
Posted in All About Words, Mindfulness
making some connections explicit
As another week passes and as I reflect on where I/you/we/humankind/this blog came from and where we're going, I follow my tried and trusted path back into words and etymologies.
In honor of the movie I reviewed and recommended in my previous post, and in honor of that recurrent question, the word of the week is Origin.
Written by Ela Harrison
on Friday, 21 November 2014.
Posted in All About Words, Herbs and Plants