cecil vortex

milestone

2009-11-07T10:33:09-08:00

My daughter finally reached the age where she slept in so long on a Saturday, I teased her with the old "oh wow, I forgot I had a second child" bit. Much more importantly, I finally reached the age where I amused myself by delivering said tease. Woohoo!...

Outrageous

2009-11-03T20:39:51-08:00

overalls are rocking out country-style tonight. That outrageous fiddle, the toe-tapping outrageous lady singer and Brother Jeremiah with his bass and jaunty fresh-brimmed derby. You are all outrageously dressed up like Depression era folks tonight. Except so much cleaner....

Frog hopping sentiment

2009-11-02T17:44:19-08:00

roomward covering corners carrying photos of tadpoles large eyes and feathers and whatnot while painting the scene with shades of frog hopping feathers sentiment burp...

Just for fun

2009-11-01T08:50:37-08:00

Sam wanted to bob for apples on Halloween "just for fun." Which was a relief, because I know there are some people who bob for apples competitively, and others who bob for apples professionally. And I'm just not ready for him to make either of those leaps....

My latest several hundred dollar idea.....

2009-10-31T13:33:03-08:00

Dial-a-Madlib-word. Call any day or time, say "adjective" or "number" or "person in the room" and get the goods for 10 cents a pop. 20 cents for "type of liquid." I know, speaking as a doting parent, I would pay $1.40 cents easy to have my children's Madlib-word-appetite sated....

Dreamful swimming, it's the first

2009-06-06T08:27:59-08:00

wriggle of morning thought. Something to hold on to. To pull him out. Sharp. He bites-- Hold on! Hold on! Tight jaw, reeling in, line stretching, water shake. There's a bend and a swing. with the whole scene swirling past too fast then he's flopped over and down onto the plankety board bottom of the shiver boat. Standing above himself now. Wide awake. Cold....

Plug-ness: Poetry Reading, This Thursday

2009-06-02T08:52:59-08:00

I'll be reading a few poems this Thursday night at the West's Oldest Independent Bookseller (aka, Books Inc, Alameda) at 7:30 pm along with Jannie Dresser, Julia Park Tracey, and some guy named Don. I'm not sure whether we'll be reading in sequence or simultaneously, but that's the drama, right? Bay Area folks, of course we'd love to see ya there....

I don't know why

2009-05-31T13:37:26-08:00

everyone wants me to ashamed of my relationship with kale. Maybe it's because it's considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms? People need to get over that....

An about-creativity.com interview with National Novel Writing Month's Chris Baty

2009-05-25T20:02:26-08:00

Now that we've moved the creativity interviews over to about-creativity.com, my plan is to post brief excerpts here, both to share favorite bits, and to let folks know when new interviews go live. The most recent interview was with Chris Baty, founder of National Novel Writing Month, an extraordinary site, community, and annual event that exhorts people to write a 50,000 word novel over the course of November. Baty's been doing this for years now, and I wanted to find out what he's learned from getting hundreds of thousands of people to tackle a creative project of that scale...

The Brothers Karamazov Deathmarch, Week 14

2009-05-20T12:28:14-08:00

Congrats, ye mighty 'marching band! It's the final week and this week's page count target is pretty straightforward -- we're racing toward the back cover. When you've finished and posted your closing comment, be sure to drop me a note at "poetry at cecilvortex dot com" with your shipping address to stake your claim on a custom magnet (not actually guaranteed but likely) to pull loose paper toward fridge doors. Big thanks to you all for taking this ride. I'll confess that I get a huge kick out these 'marches, and I hope youse do too. See ya round...

The Brothers Karamazov Deathmarch, Week 13

2009-05-13T21:59:22-08:00

...in which I forgo all attempts at pith to focus instead on (1) timely posting! and (2) correct categorizing! I'm still reading, enjoying, trailing behind. Hope to meet you at the finish line, perhaps while you're all packing up your cars and/or napping under trees..... Next Wednesday: Let's catch up for at the end of Book Twelve, Chapter 8, along with the "indisputable one!" (which is to say: please use this thread for comments on pages 0-715; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o' day Tuesday)...

The Brothers Karamazov Deathmarch, Week 12

2009-05-06T21:25:44-08:00

Welcome to Week 12 and my first best opportunity to make good on last week's pledge to be late- nae-more. Let me also declare general amnesty to anyone who didn't have a chance to comment last week. There was hardly enough time to get the keyboard, and yet somehow, astonishingly, 17 of you did. I think, by the way, this is a Deathmarch record -- I can't recall this many marchers making it this close to the end afore. Speaking of which..... Next Wednesday: Let's meet up at the end of Book Twelve, Chapter 1 (just a little bit...

The Brothers Karamazov, Week 11

2009-05-02T21:26:55-08:00

I had a great day today reading 60 pages, and I'm still 30 pages behind the last target! But I pledge this to ye, my deathmarching pals: You've all been wildly patient with me, even a certain Old Man. From here on out, particularly as we close in on the conclusion, I'll put the good of the many above the few, and most especially the one, which means posting on Wednesday, whether I'm with the pack or miles behind. As regards the text, I'm in the happy-reader camp -- really enjoyed Dmitri's inquisition, all the lovely spins and dips...

The Brothers Karamazov, Week 10

2009-04-23T20:36:36-08:00

4/30 Update: I'm extra special behind this week but will post tomorrow. For those saying, "what the what?", between you and me, the next target is: Book XI, Chapter 6..... And just like that, it's Week 10! I'm still reading, having a great time with the book, but I can't say I've caught up. In my world, Dmitri just had a glorious extended freakout involving angry Poles and blood and money and at least one moment of delirium, and then the roof caved in. I can see now what everyone's been talking about in the comments. It does feel...

A Whole New About-Creativity.com (Don't You Dare Close Your Eyes)

2009-04-21T08:17:27-08:00

I'm delighted to share the news that the "Conversations about Creativity" interviews on this site have moved over to their entirely new digs at about-creativity.com. A post on the about-creativity.com blog gives a tour of the major changes we've made, but the quick version is: (1) interviews are now organized and presented in a way that should be much easier to browse through -- content burbles up, I say, literally burbles up through vents and other hot spots! (2) We've created a couple of all-new areas where you can let folks know what you're working on and share what...