MadamMayo: cyberflanerie

Showing posts with label cyberflanerie. Show all posts

Cyberflanerie: Solitario Dome Edition

Inside The Solitario
Photo: C.M. Mayo
March 2015

For my Far West Texas book-in-progress and the Marfa Mondays Podcasting project, I am working on an interview with Texas historian Lonn Taylor, plus a short piece about the Solitario Dome of Big Bend Ranch State Park in Far West Texas, which is to say, US-Mexico border country.

Meanwhile, a few links about the latter:
Chase Snodgrass's flight over the Solitario:

Flora and Vegetation of the Solitario Dome
by Jean Evans Hardy, Iron Mountain Press, 2009
(Whoa, call the chiropracter, I brought this one home in my carry-on.)

Geology of the Solitario
by Charles E. Corry, et al. Geological Society of America Special Paper 250, 1990.

"Igneous Evolution of a Complex Laccolith-Caldera, the Solitario, Trans-Pecos, Texas:
Implications for Calderas and Subjacent Plutons"
by Christopher D. Henry, et al. Geological Society of America Bulletin, August 1997
(Super-crunchy PDF)

Google Maps screenshot

"The Solitario: Sentinel of the Big Bend Ranch State Park"
Megan Hicks, The Big Bend Paisano, Winter 2004/2005
(PDF)

"Geology at the Crossroads"
By Blaine R. Hall, Big Bend Ranch State Park
(PDF)

Entering the labyrinth of the Solitario via Los Portales
(That's my guide, Charlie Angell, he's the best,
check him out on Tripadvisor.com)
Photo: C.M. Mayo, March 2015

>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.

>Listen in to all the Marfa Mondays Podcasts anytime. The most recent is "Tremendous Forms: Finding Composition in the Landscape," an interview with Paul V. Chaplo, author of the magnificent Marfa Flights.

> Marfa Mondays #2 Charles Angell in the Big Bend

Cyberflanerie: Amusingly Strange Edition

OK Go Pilobolus dance video (hat tip to Swiss Miss)

More dancing, with pixels.

So what is Texas? One more mediation thereupon.

Field Lab blogger in Terlingua recites his poem, with pet longhorns.

Frank Chimero on what screens want.

>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Pita "dessssssspota" Amor, 100 Years Ago, Bay Area Shellmounds, Silicon Valley Solutionism, Nobody Knows What The Hell Is Happening

Pita Amor recites her poetry. (If you don't speak Spanish, ni modo, this is a must-watch).
P.S. My interview with her biographer, Michael K. Schuessler.

German-American Historian of Mexico Heribert von Feilitzsch on Why We Should Care About What Happened 100 Years Ago

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and this is the first I've heard of the Bay Area Shellmounds (which, in itself, says volumes).

Lloyd Kahn on Wild Foods from Berkeley and Oakland

Literal magazine covers Silicon Valley Solutionism

Evgeny Morozov talks about Silicon Valley Solutionism (video)

Learn to fix bikes.

Writerly quote du jour:

"Anyone who claims to have useful information about the publishing industry is lying to you, because nobody knows what the hell is happening. My advice is for writers to reject the old models and take over the production of their own and each other's work as much as possible."

From "Things I Can Say About MFA Writing Programs Now That I No Longer Teach in One" by Ryan Boudinot.

P.S. Read my blog post on making PODs.

Your COMMENTS are always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Mexico Book Edition

I'm presenting my book-- translated by Agustin Cadena-- Odisea metafísca hacia la Revolución Mexicana, Francisco I. Madero y su libro secreto, next week, on the 25th at 7 pm at the Centro de Estudios de la Historia de México CARSO in Mexico City. Presenters include Rose Mary Salum, Luis Cerda, Javier Garcíadiego, Manuel Guerra de Luna, and Yolia Tortolero Cervantes. >>Details here. << I am especially delighted to be able to present the book in this venue because it is the home of President Francisco I. Madero's personal library, very possibly the most important collection of late 19th - early 20th century esoterica in Latin America.

Food historian Rachael Laudan's superb Cuisine and Empire, which has quite a bit to do with Mexico, is now available in paperback.

Nancy Marie Brown recommends Anders Winroth's The Age of the Vikings, so it must be good. I downloaded the Kindle and am avidly reading-- I have this theory (could be solid, could be a marshmallow puff) about raiding by Vikings and Comanches... stay tuned.

(Just an aside: the Vikings smoked pot as early as the mid-9th century.)

Updates on my recommended books on Mexico page include Brian DeLays's The War of a Thousand Deserts. Must reading for anyone who wants to understand the US-Mexican War-- and the Comanches. More about this book anon.

Out in March, looks fascinating: Sharman Apt Russel's YA novel Teresa of the New World.

Out in April, must read: Sam Quinones' Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic.
(>Read my review of his True Tales from Another Mexico for Wilson Quarterly.)

Top of my reading tower: Laila Lalami's novel based on the story of Cabeza de Vaca & Co., The Moor's Account.

>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: James McGrath Morris, Mexican Baby Jesus, Maps, Tiles Stoves, Hang, The Umbrella Man

James McGrath Morris's "Type A" Column for the Santa Fe New Mexican, including E-books: the legerdemain of tomorrow?

Morris also has a new book out, Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, First Lady of the Black Press.

Check out the book's trailer—it's well worth watching (especially for the bit about President Eisenhower.)

And check out his article about writing this biography, "Reporting Across the Color Line," in The Daily Beast.

Mexican Baby Jesus in the "Mexico Cooks!" blog. (No worries, BJ does not get broiled.)

BBC: Maps That Shaped the World

The Billfold: Real Life As a Pastry Cook

Número Cinq Magazine's Virginia Woolf: Voice and Pictures

Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais - His Life and Work

Interesting Low-Techerie: Tiled Stoves

From ye olde soundworks category: Hang: A New Instrument

Utterly fascinating op-doc: The Umbrella Man

How to Reduce Your Mail To Almost Nothing

>More Madam Mayo Cyberflanerie

>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: PEN San Miguel, Rachel Laudan, Russia, Stephen Woodman, Textured Chocolates, Barbara Hero

My January 13, 2015 talk for PEN San Miguel in Bellas Artes, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, about my new book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, is now a podcast. >>Listen in here.<<

MORE HISTORY

Food historian Rachel Laudan Takes on Tiny Bubbles

Russia Before the Revolution (in Color)

MORE MEXICO

Stephen Woodman's Mexican Labyrinth: Temazcal Adventure

TEENAGERS & THE YOUNG AT HEART

A Teenager's take on social media
(My reaction: eew. Yes, I have FB, twitter, this blog, a website, a youtube channel and podcast, all in service of and/or as platform for my writing which is, entirely intentionally, public. But the idea of living my personal life so intensely mediated by "social media" just curls my toes. Yeah, I'm old. The thing is, not every innovation is better or for the wise. In my generation, for example, television watching vacuumed up hours, weeks, months, years.... I mean, I don't think that on my death bed I will I celebrate having watched reruns of "Batman"... And cigarette smoking was the fashion, until it wasn't. I remember pet rocks, too. A lot of stupid crap. Well, but most people do what most people do.)

The Hands of Georgia O'Keeffe

TED TALK DU JOUR

Ruth Chang's TED Talk on Hard Choices
(Note to college applicants: this is a must see.)

NEAT BUT KINDA MYSTERIOUS STUFF

Textured Chocolates

Submarine Sandwich

Barbara Hero's Pythagorean Lambdoma Harmonic Keyboard

>>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Who's In Charge? Edition

www.slowfactory.com

Today one of my favorite blogs, my daily dose of bloggy wisdom, Seth Godin's, features "Doing More, Giving More, Who's in Charge?" (Who's in charge? Hey, Hamlet, that is question.)

More cyberflanerie:

Rare books and Iceland: Nancy Marie Brown's blog, God of Wednesday, has a scrumptiously crunchy post about the Fiske collection of Icelandia at Cornell. (I adored Brown's The Far-Traveler, about Gudrid the Far-Traveler of Iceland, and often quote from it in my literary travel writing workshops.)

Totally heart SlowFactory's space scarves Carina Nebula and Dust Devil Lines in the Sand.

In the Globe and Mail: "When a Car Becomes a Cathedral."

On This is Colossal: Eleanor Lutz's deconstructed bird and insect wing patterns.

For the artist-in-charge: Gumroad Resource Center

(Check out my lil' gumroad shop here.)

Eew, Frankensteiny: A worm's mind in a lego body

Soon your robot can put your seatbelt on for you: Kevin Kelly on The 3 Breakthroughs that Have Finally Unleashed AI on the World

Guerrilla mosaic artist in Chicago fills in potholes. (Potholes in Chicago can get so bad... when I lived in Hyde Park there was one year we started calling my section of University Avenue "Iwo Jima.")

Human energy expert Rose Rosetree explains the deeply weird attraction to unwrapping stuff on YouTube.

SOL Literary Magazine is out from San Miguel de Allende and I am delighted to mention that it includes an excerpt from the opening chapter of my latest book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual. That's in the nonfiction section with some excellent company, including Joseph Dispenza, Gerard Helferich and Michael K. Schuessler. Thank you, Eva Hunter and Cazz Roberts and all who work to make this beautiful literary magazine possible. It is an honor indeed.

www.sheepdogmovie.com

A documentary film about border collies and sheepherding that I really want to see (splendid trailer!): "Away to Me" by Andrew C. Hadra.

Jenny Redbug's top 5 favorite books for this year (!!!)

My own top 10 list of books read 2014 will be posted shortly.

Your COMMENTS are always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Naomi Shihab Nye, Chinese Chicken Pop, Ye Olde Checkers, Cool Tool for Creating Timewealth, Clay Shirky, Susan J. Tweit

Wang Rong Rollin does the chicken thing

Whatever has befallen you, you will feel better when you read Naomi Shihab Nye's "Gate A-4"

Soup or silly: Chinese Chicken Pop (does anyone remember the days of Mao pajamas? I visited in 1982 and now it seems like a surrealistic dream.)

From south of the border, pues si, amigos y amigas, dear readers, and all cockerspaniels gathered 'round, Nixon's Checkers speech has been Fukushimaed. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tdJ06CLjjxE

Speaking of Mexico, and how very weird things can get, Heribert von Feilitzsch blogs about the Hindu-German conspiracy.

No need to drink coffee, just watch Jason Silva.

An anti-zombie-shuffle fix, aka "cool tool" for creating "timewealth": my guest-blog for Kevin Kelly's Cool Tool blog on the Filofax Personal organizer.

Frank Chimero on What Screens Want.

The brilliantly insightful Clay Shirky on Publishing and Reading.

(Note to self: first shovel snow for 12 hours) Susan J. Tweit's lavender rosemary scones.

A gorgeous sample of four: Guarding the Air: poems by Gunnar Harding, translated by Roger Greenwald.

Cyberflanerie: Bug-a-salt, etc.

Cyberflanerie: Mexico City, Patzuaro, Tijuana and Tulum

Cyberflanerie: Fun in Mexico, Literary Edition

Cyberflanerie: Flying Above Earth, Seth Godin, Nassim Taleb, Sakura Review, Babel Cube, Your Clothes

Just back Austin's totally bodacious Texas Book Festival-- will post anon.

New literary translation journal, Sakura Review

Speaking of translation, Babelcube is up to something that looks like a paradigm-morph...

Hat tip to Swiss-miss: Angel's view (takes a moment to load, totally worth it), Northwest coast of North America to Central America

And now to come smashing down to earth: Seth Godin on the media (my take, too, though I wouldn't have put this way-- so sad, but amusingly spot-on).

Food historian Rachel Laudan on her mother's cooking

Nassim Taleb interviewed for Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner (podcast)

How the clothes you wear are more powerful than you might think (I mean you in the gray T-shirt)

COMMENTS always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Sarah Zalan's Photoblog, Music Theory, Brown Bears, Mecca, and You Are Not Late

Sarah Zalan's glorious photoblog, "One"

Coursera's Fundamentals of Music Theory

Puffer Fish "Crop Circles"

More geewhiz animal stuff: Brown Bears at Brooks Falls, Alaska

Geewhiz people stuff: Aerial ropeways for cargo transport

Skip Atwater says he didn't make goats fall over (podcast)

Cosmic Flowers Unfolding by Ben Ridgeway

Retired Nomad's Requiem for a Castle

The Destruction of Mecca

Kevin Kelly says, You Are Not Late (woohoo)

==> COMMENTS always welcome.

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Just back from the Women Writing the West conference, and about to head to to the Texas Book Festival, where I am presenting my new book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, on Sunday October 26th. More anon.

Cyberflanerie: Writerly Whatnot & Miscellaneous Missives Edition

Michael Hyatt says imprints don't matter. Interesting argument, possibly valid. For the general reading public, certainly valid.

Learn about my one day only Literary Travel Writing workshop to be held at the Writer's Center, Bethesda MD on Saturday October 11th.

Updated and redesigned webpage: Giant Golden Buddha & 365 more Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises.

My amigo novelist Peter Behrens (and guest-blogger for Madam Mayo) sends this message:

"I'm leading a 5-day writing workshop next month at a retreat center on the west coast. Cortes Island isn't easy to get to, but it sounds like an amazing place. A few spots still open: I'd be very grateful if you could fwd the link to people who might be interested. http://www.hollyhock.ca/cms/Peter-Behrens.html There will be no chanting in my workshop."

And my San Miguel de Allende writer amigo (and guest-blogger for Madam Mayo) John Scherber writes:

"My new book on the expat experience offers an intimate look at issues everyone thinking about settling in this historic town must consider. Health care, cost of living, crime, housing, and many others are answered with frankness and insight. Available in print, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, and iTunes formats."

Speaking of San Miguel de Allende, I'll be opening the season for PEN San Miguel on January 13 at 6 pm. Be there or be cuadrado.

New on the blog roll: travel writer and blogger Francis Tapon, new on the blogroll (over to the right and scroll on down)

Holly Brady, former director of the Stanford Publishing Course, suggests the best fonts for books covers and the best fonts for book interiors.

===>>>COMMENTS always welcome. And you are also most welcome to sign up for my newsletter.

SURF ON:
>MADAM MAYO
> Cyberflanerie: Epic Travel Edition
> Cyberflanerie: Fun in Mexico Edition
>>>>>AND ON THE HOME PAGE, WWW.CMMAYO.COM
>>>>> Updated and redesigned page on recommended reading for creative writers
>>>>> Marfa Mondays: Cynthia McAlister with the Buzz on the Bees

Cyberflanerie: Definitely Different Edition

The Octopus Mandala

Toy Mammals and Dinosaurs Burdened with Miniature Civilizations

How the Sun Sees You

George Lombardi's Mission to India (well worth the listen)

Ye Olde Roots of the Federal Marijuana Ban

The Art Car Museum

Big Foot or Another Guy in a Ghillie Suit? (The Ghillie Suit reminds me of a neighbor's dog…)

Nancy Marie Brown on the Ornament of the World

P.S. I hear from Clare Sullivan that there are still a few spaces left in what looks like a terrific poetry retreat in Oaxaca, Mexico. Check it out here.

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SURF ON

Madam Mayo:
> The Novel is a Mandala
> Cyberflanerie: Fun in Mexico, Literary Edition
> Top 10 Books Read 2008 (#1 was Nancy Marie Brown's The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman)

And on the home page, www.cmmayo.com
> Upcoming workshops: Literary Travel Writing one day workshop October 11th at the Writer's Center
> Marfa Mondays: Podcast interview with historian John Tutino: Looking at Mexico in New Ways
> Conversations with Other Writers: Podcast interview with novelist Solveig Eggerz

Cyberflanerie: STUFF & Stuff & More Stuff Edition

Seth Godin on the Nitty-Gritty Boring Stuff (of being an artist-- or whatever).

For those who don't have much stuff (or happen to have some spare $$$ for a writing studio): the Molecule Tiny House.

Mike Clelland on how to pack only micro amounts of stuff and hike off into the sunset (watch out for that link to his UFO abduction blog, though).

Lighten Up! Free Yourself from Clutter by Michelle Passoff. One of my faves.

They're called "garbage gyres": NYT on those Texas-sized floating islands of plastic.

For the metaphysically inclined: Rose Rosetree on 15 types of "STUFF" (astral whatnot that can get stuck in the aura, that is).

More metaphysical stuff: Karen Kingston on the energies in stuff (objects).

Five Death Bed Regrets (not one to do with stuff…) via the blog about dealing with stuff by Julie Hall, author of The Boomer Burden, a peace-inducing book about dealing with your parents' lifetime accumulation of stuff.

COMMENTS always welcome

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SURF ON:

Madam Mayo:
>30 Deadly-Effective Ways to Free Up Bits, Drips & Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing
>Decluttering a Library: The 10 Question Flow Chart
>On Decluttering Your Writing or, Respecting the Integrity of Narrative Design
>Guest-blogger Regina Leeds on 5 + 1 resources to Make Writer Happy in an Organized Space

And on the homepage, www.cmmayo.com:
>Ten Tips for Organizing a Novel-in-Progress
>Updates on Recommended Books on Mexico
>Updates about my upcoming workshop on Literary Travel Writing at the Writer's Center & other events

Cyberflanerie: Writers and Writing: Sam Quinones on the Mennonite Mob, the Daily Skimm, Write On!

Debra Eckerling's Write On! August newsletter is out. (Thanks, amiga, for the mention of my "30 Deadly-Effectve Ways to Free Up Bits, Drips & Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing" and the new gumroad.com edition of From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion.") Lots of useful information in there for writers. Take note, those of you looking for some inspiration, Eckerling is offering Purple Pencil Adventures, her Kindle of writing prompts for free on specific dates. Read the newsletter to find out all about it.

Sam Quinones, who I admire more than I can say, has just posted on his blog about the Mexican Mennonite Mob. Whoa.

Something I find charming, useful and yet totally appalling: The Daily Skimm.

How to Rank Well in Amazon. Uh, for all one's spare time.

James Somers asserts: You're Probably Using the Wrong Dictionary.

The always elegant and thoughtful Pat Dubrava on Discovering Indians in 1951.

COMMENTS always welcome.

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SURF ON:

Madam Mayo:

>Why Aren't There More Readers? A Note on Curiosity, Creativity and Courage

>Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West by Rubén Martínez

>My Little Gumroad Shop

And on the home page, www.cmmayo.com:

>Review of Sam Quinones' True Tales of Mexico

>Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises: August

>New Workshop: One One Day Writing Workshop at the Writer's Center on Literary Travel Writing, Saturday October 11, 2014.

Friedrich Liechenstein (Again): Happy

Better than 3 cups of coffee. But the ending is profoundly absurd. I think. Anyway it wasn't Brad Pitt in a chicken suit.

SURF ON:

>Watch more of Herr Liechtenstein (nobody pours cereal into the bathtub with more elan…)

>Cyberflanerie: Prozac Not Needed Edition

>Cyberflanerie: This 'N That Cat Edition

COMMENTS are always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Ken Albala, Ellen Prentiss Campbell, Susan Merrell, Zack Rogow, San Miguel Writers Conference, Oxt, Leslie Wells, Burning Man's Economist

Ken Albala's Food Rant Blog.

My amiga the fabulous writer Ellen Prentiss Campbell interviews Susan Scarf Merrell about her new novel and the influence of Shirley Jackson.

Zack Rogow on Literary Fame
(So true…)

An outstanding example of a cover
designed for Kindle

The new bilingual blog of the San Miguel Writers Conference.

Oxt: the new word that will make your slightly simpler, forever.

"A New York Editor and Author Goes Indie," Leslie Well's eye-opening guest-blog for Jane Friedman. (Love that Kindle cover!)

The Burning Man Blog asks: Does Burning Man Have a Favorite Economist?

Stayed tuned for an avalanche of blog posts: Rose Mary Salum's splendid anthology, Lisa Sharp on Cananea, and Araceli Ardón on the magnificent Missions of the Sierra Gorda. And I'm working on Marfa Mondays podcast #14, on the Apaches. Spent the weekend updating the website for my latest book-- more updates to do-- but anyway, check it out here.

COMMENTS always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Supergeil Starring Friedrich Lichtienstein

Cyberflanerie: Writerly Edition (Aimee Bender, Claire Cook, Djerassi, Historical Novelists Society, Guadalupe Loaeza, Leslie Pietrzyk & More)

Pictured left, my handsome new writing assistant, Uli Quetzalpugtl. Right now he is specializing in mind-clearing walks. He will be four months old on the 25th. Yes, he is a pug. Yes, those are his real eyebrows.

Aimee Bender on What Writers Can Learn from Good Night Moon
(Hat tip to @portershreve)

Claire Cook on Why I Left My Mighty Agency and New York Publishers (For Now) on Jane Friedman's Blog (well worth reading, and Yours Truly left a lengthy comment.)

Djerassi Resident Artists Program
> Watch a brief introductory video

Day before yesterday I finally joined the Historical Novelists Society, thanks to fellow members of Women Writing the West suggesting it. Joining Women Writing the West was one of the best things I did last year. I may have been publishing for over 20 years, but everything in publishing has so changed in the past few years… fellow members' advice on the listserv has been invaluable.

Uli visits the childhood home of Willa Cather,
Red Cloud, Nebraska, June 2014.
What can I say, Uli has good taste in authors.
(He does try to chew my hand, after all.)

Here's what really impressed me about the Historical Novelists Society: their webpage is completely automated. I was able to pay, add my bio, and see my member listing without waiting for anyone to get back to me, bingo. (Such is life in the time of the bots…)

Yesterday I was interviewed for Mexico City's MVN radio live by Mexican writer Guadalupe Loaeza about Mexico's Second Empire / French Intervention and my novel El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano (Agustín Cadena's translation of my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire), fue una verdadera delicia. Hope to have that link to the podcast by tomorrow. (P.S. Back in 2006, I translated a bit of Loaeza's hilarious classic on Mexico City's Polanco neighborhood for my anthology Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion). By the way, Loaeza's website takes a moment to load because it's got all this flash. Be patient... it's worth taking a look at.

My amiga novelist Leslie Pietrzyk on the writing life: it really is a bowl of cherries.

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SURF ON, DEAR WRITERLY READER

30 Deadly Effective Ways to Free Up Bits, Drips & Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing

Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises

Regina Leeds Guest-Blog for Madam Mayo 5 + 1 Resources to Make a Writer Happy in an Organized Space

Conversations with Other Writers podcast series

Cyberflanerie: Mexico, Dinofuzz, Head Like an Orange, Keffir, Farnam Street & etc

The always excellent food blog Mexico Cooks! offers a mezcal primer.

My amiga, intrepid traveler Judith Leaver on Finishing Spanish School (Or Did It Finish Me?)

Travel writer Sean Paul Kelley on José María Sánchez y Tapia.

Interesting GIFs on Head Like an Orange.

How to Travel with Keffir and Be a Pioneer.

Hooray for Dinofuzz! (I am still recovering from the elimination of Pluto; now they say dinosaurs had colorful fuzz…)

Shavings: a Blog for Woodworkers by Gary Rodowski.

Brainy: Anat Baniel and Jill Bolte Taylor on HuffPost.

Alain de Botton offers A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success (Infectious accent alert!!)

More cyberflanerie at Farnam Street Blog.

COMMENTS always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Cracking Open the Door to Creativity (A Few Resources)

Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises

Debra Eckerling's new Kindle, Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages

More for kids (of any age): Karen Benke's Rip the Page!

> Her guest-blog for Madam Mayo, 5 Writers on What It Takes to be a Creative Writer> Her latest book, Leap Write In!

My ever-longer list of highly recommended books on creative process/ life.

Read interviews with accomplished writers, such as Leslie Pietrzyk.

Read even more interviews in the Paris Review.

Listen Better (Julian Treasure's TED Talk)

Follow poet, writer and creative writing teacher Zack Rogow's excellent "Advice for Writers" blog.

Get inspiration from visual artists (all links to the blog This Is Colossal)

Sand Creatures Suspended in Midair by Claire DropperMiniature Medieval Interiors by Matthew Simmonds Why not bake some Planetary Cakes?

Wear the sky in luxurious silk

(Whew, even your coffee will taste, like, expanded.)

Organize your book-in-progress

Organize your refrigerator with Fridge Binz (I am not kidding.)

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SURF ON

>30 Deadly-Effective Ways to Free Up Drips, Bits & Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing