I’ve spent the last few days going through 15 years worth of Horn Book Magazine, ripping out articles, quotes and mostly, artwork for a special collage project. The process has tossed me backward, to my early writer years when I wanted to do it all, write it all. The energy level I had back then was different, fueled mostly by manic moments.
Poem a Day #22
I used to be haunted
by voices of characters
begging me to tell their stories
making me ignore a lot of things
that shouldn’t be ignored
in order to put words on the page.
Then it got silent
in my head.
In my heart
I worried
perhaps the lack of haunting
meant the characters had moved on to
someone else,
someone
who could give them the attention they deserved.
I hear differently now
not in such a rush
not in such a race
no need to trap the stories before they unravel.
I trust less and more
at the same time
I still listen to the voices
but I listen with my heart
instead of frantic fingertips
no longer worrying
about the silent spaces.
Susan Taylor Brown.
All rights reserved.
!!
I’ve had a version of this feeling since finishing my last book. That book said so much that I needed to say. In many ways, it put to rest a lot of things for me, and I had no new story that came upon me with the urgency that it had.
Now I’m working on something new and it is revealing layers of things that I need to say, so apparently I haven’t run out of stories yet! But also, the temporary silence was a relief, because before that I had written a lot of projects back-to-back (no–overlapping, actually!) and I needed a rest.
First of all, great use for old Horn Books!
Second, love this:
“I trust less and more
at the same time
I still listen to the voices
but I listen with my heart
instead of frantic fingertips
no longer worrying
about the silent spaces.”
Less and more at the same time. Ain’t that the truth!
You can certainly see your expertise in the work you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to mention how they believe. All the time follow your heart.