Writing & Literature

ON CONVIVIAL SABBATICAL

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For the month of January and to kick off the new year, I’m going into full immersion mode and taking a sabbatical.

As I’ve written throughout 2010 and pondered the idea of a Convivial Society, I have decided that to create and experience such a place, you have to start with the very element that sets its foundation, that gives root to the possibility of its creation and existence, and that is the woman…a convivial woman. For this reason…

I’ve decided to rebrand by changing the name of the site from Convivial Society to… (more…)

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Mantra: What’s Your Thought Form?

I have this humongous Synonym Finder that I’ve had since my sophomore year in High School and keep handy, because looking up words and all the many different ways to say things fascinates me. The next best thing to that is Google, Wikipedia and Merriam-Webster online. I also love the book Sin and Syntax, and perusing books by Karen Elizabeth Gordon. (Feel free to share you favorite resources in a comment!).

So, I found myself hanging out on my bed with my friends, Synonym Finder, Laptop and my All Things Convivial notebook and I started thinking about the word Mantra. The following post evolved because of that thought…

MANTRA: is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of “creating transformation”; a translation of the human will or desire; an expression of “Being”; “Thought forms.”

Here are my thoughts in word, sound and symbol form (as well as a brief history behind how they came about for me):

Word: Convivial

The year is 2001 and ‘m watching Barbara Walters interview the cast of the movie, Ocean’s Eleven. Leading lady, Julia Roberts is surrounded by Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Don Cheadle. Along these lines, Barbara asks her, “So how was your experience making the movie with all these great guys?” Julia purses her lips as we all know her to do and says, “Convivial.” Like a gust of wind to the depths of my soul, I was overtaken by the sound of this word. Never forgot it. As you can tell.

Mantra: Know Your Power. Live Your Life.

Sitting in my kitchen with my dear friend, Nina thinking of a tag line for my soon-to-be site, Convivial Society. What do I want to say? What is my message? Those were the questions to kick off our brainstorming session. Nina wrote while I threw out words and phrases, scratching this and that off the list…then…it hit me…and she smiled and wrote it down. That was it. No doubt about it.

Symbol:

While working to create the logo for this site, I provided these details to the designer for logo creation:

Need a logo designed for woman’s website that will focus on empowering and connecting women in age group 20-40′s who want to learn from and share their experience with like-minded women who are ambitious, original, caring, energetic, positive, fun-loving, and seeking the guidance,resources and relationships to live a convivial life.

(Wanted designer to get a feel for me, since I am my target market, so I said the following…)

Intuitive, insightful, thoughtful, lover of the written word, creative, writer, diligent, vigilant, persevering spirit, embrace strength, humility and vulnerability ; love the words equanimity, rhapsody, sexuality, harmony, bossy…and lovely.

…

Convivial times, indeed.

When you imagine your thoughts in “form”. What do they look like? Sound like? Feel like?

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I write to empty my mind and to fill my heart. Writing is easy: just stare at the screen of your computer until a tear drops on your keyboard. -Paulo Coehlo

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Money, A Memoir: Women, Emotions and Cash

This is a great book for all the convivial ladies to check out. Money and women make the world go round, but the disconnect between the two is definitely apparent. How’s your relationship with, thoughts about, management of, money?

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The Ever Inquisitive Bohemian

Bohemians…aren’t they always questioning?

Not only questioning. Defying, rebelling, transgressing, transforming, embracing risk, excess and the idea of Utopia. Bohemians have backbone. They’re willing to suffer for their beliefs, their art. They don’t sell out. They are iconoclastic, incendiary, bombastically volatile and gracefully volatile, sometimes surreal. They have poetry. The Bohemian is drunk on words…

-Excerpt from Bohemian Manifesto: A Field Guide to Living on the Edge by Lauren Stover

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Behold it. Become it.

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The Infamous Writer’s Question

For as long as I’ve called myself a writer, there is always the infamous question posed by others about my craft, “So…what do you write?” Many times before, I’d draw a blank. What do I write? Is there a name for it? I mean, a specific one? I was being asked to label what I wrote, and I’m not a fan of labels. I felt cornered to give it a name, as if it was the same thing each time I wrote, the same message, the same impact. And it never is. Only now have I figured out the simple truth about what I write and all gratitude goes to Beat generation writer, Jack Kerouac. According to Jack, and now me, “I write how I feel.” Simple and true. However, this answer may not satisfy inquiring minds, but let me continue with what Jack once said: “Write how you feel, because feeling is the essence of intellect, because without feeling nothing can be known…” Jack’s idea can easily transfer over into every day life, as well. Recently, I was reminded by a dear friend that we are here to take nothing away with us; only to experience. As a writer, I am here to experience, to feel all that I can, and to express it in a way that is true to me. I am nothing other than pure energy and feeling in this world.

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