Here's an amazing essay by one of our best writers and a terrific human, Mike Magnuson. I hope it speaks to you and encourages some dream chasing.
Balance Life and Cycling Training for the Bone Ride | Bike in Balance
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Forgive me, Reader, for I have sinned. It's been three months since my last blog posting. I'm living my life, pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone. I'm in a grad school writing program and working on a book. My reward for hard work? I'm working with my favorite writer, Pam Houston (happy dance!).
The writing program is like a two-year marathon--how much can you read and write in two years? Eighty books and we'll see how many pages. I've dreamed of applying to a creative writing MFA for years. Ten years. The thing that held me back was my own thinking that I wasn't good enough, and lots of time wasted, rather than lots of time spent writing and reading.
I don't like it when people say, "Cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me." It rewards the illness. I do like to hear people talk about their journey, how it made them dig deep, find that inner strength that's always been there like an underground stream. Cancer's not the only situation that forces a personal journey; life offers many and various circumstances that propel us into unknown territory. We have all wandered in the desert.
On this day, I'm recommending two books. I hope they will become your new best friends. Contents May Have Shifted, Pam Houston's new book, a collection of 144 stories about seeking your place in the world, finding faith in a faithless age, the things we do for men, and BFF dogs, specifically a Russian Wolfhound named, Fenton. Though the book is fiction, there's lots of Pam in the stories. Her voice is the best friend who will never betray you.
Refuge, by Terry Tempest Williams. Williams speaks from that intimate space that lies between spirit and bone. Her memoir is one about how breast cancer affected her family, a meditative journey through grief, and Williams' determined spirit, her strong connection to nature, and the Great Salt Lake. She has a new book coming out in April: When Women Were Birds.
So there you go. As my writing friend, Amy, says, "Get crack-a-lackin'!"
The writing program is like a two-year marathon--how much can you read and write in two years? Eighty books and we'll see how many pages. I've dreamed of applying to a creative writing MFA for years. Ten years. The thing that held me back was my own thinking that I wasn't good enough, and lots of time wasted, rather than lots of time spent writing and reading.
I don't like it when people say, "Cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me." It rewards the illness. I do like to hear people talk about their journey, how it made them dig deep, find that inner strength that's always been there like an underground stream. Cancer's not the only situation that forces a personal journey; life offers many and various circumstances that propel us into unknown territory. We have all wandered in the desert.
So there you go. As my writing friend, Amy, says, "Get crack-a-lackin'!"
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