Tag Archive | Toni Morrison

My Bucket List

Aug25

Recently, a friend posted her author bucket list–a list of things she wants to accomplish as an author/writer before she dies. Her post at FaithSimone.com inspired me to think about what I want to “check off” as an author/writer before I “check out.” I’ve always kept a list of goals as a career guide and because of that it took me a while to understand the difference between goals and a bucket list. But once I separated the two in my mind, I had a ball creating my wish or dream list.

Below is my list. What about you? Do you have a personal, career or professional bucket list? If so, feel like sharing?

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1. To have publishing credit in multiple categories/genres: children’s, screenwriting, romance, horror, etc.

2. To attend at least one of the premier literary awards ceremonies: Nobel Prize, National Book Award, Academy Awards, etc.

3. To buy a writing retreat; a private oasis where I can visit, think, dream and write.

4. To have lunch with Toni Morrison and Stephen King, individually.

5. To establish a scholarship for young African American creative writers.

6. To establish a stipend-based award for adult African American creative writers.

7. To read at least one book by the “important” novelists. (Thanks to Carol Baladywer for expanding this list.)

8. To attend an international writers retreat and/or conference.

9. To attend a major literary event in NYC, the mecca of the US publishing industry, such as the Harlem Book Fair.

Women’s History Month – Sean’s Influence

Mar29

I’m sad to see the end of Women’s History Month. I’ve learned so much this month about women writers (my focus for the month) and the influence they have had on many. My prayer is that we, women continue to shape and evolve this world in a way that brings truth and balance, front and center to all lives. So, as Women’s History Month comes to a close, enjoy this last commentary from writer, author Sean Wright as she shares her thoughts on the woman writer who influenced her.

Sean Wright

My first love was books, not boys—even before I could really read. I recall sitting in a sunbeam as a girl with a stack of books, enraptured yet simultaneously relaxed by the effect of the written word; they “say” something–without voice. Wow! I was hooked.

Once I learned to read, I dived right in–deeply. There were Ramona and Encyclopedia Brown books, poetry by Shel Silverstein. I even attempted to contribute to the writing craft with a story of my own at eight, about a girl who finds a strawberry in the woods the size of a Volkswagen. Years passed and I didn’t stop prowling the library, searching for the next adventure on pages. Heck, the library even rewarded me with a hot fudge sundae for my patronage and no late fines in sixth grade.

I stayed a voracious reader until one author changed my life at thirteen, calling me to write: Toni Morrison. My mother belonged to a book club and one of their books was The Bluest Eye. My mother let me read it and I was mesmerized. Ms. Morrison is a literary genius. She takes risks in her stories that seem impossible but makes them work. Her writing style is clever and beautiful. Ms. Morrison can make themes as ugly as slavery, incest and racism sound almost lyrical, poetic. You catch her drift in a way that haunts you—forever. And I wanted to do that, too: tell stories that had the staying power of a stubborn stain.

I wrote articles for some small papers and magazines but kept at my creative writing, amassing a fine collection of rejection letters—enough to wallpaper my house—but kept going. After what seemed like endless rejections and revisions, I got a short story published; thirty years after I wrote the gigantic strawberry story! The following year, an essay I wrote to Glamour magazine was selected to be made into a short, online film that an actress directed. I got another short story published last year and am working on a novel.

There were other female writers that tickled my fancy as well—Alice Walker and Terry McMillan—but Toni Morrison blew the dust off my senses, off my writing skills. I still have the same copy of The Bluest Eye. The cover is faded. Chunks of pages have separated from the binding and I’ve had to put tape on the spine to hold it together. People see it, grimace and ask, “Why don’t you buy an updated copy of that book?” The answer is simple: because I don’t want one. My battered copy of The Bluest Eye is my icon for my calling as a writer. Happy reading and writing, my friends.

Sean C. Wright is native to Dallas, TX, and earned a degree in English from University of North Texas. She is the author of the short stories Hazel Hogan and Devil Does Dallas. For more information about Sean, visit http://www.iwrightaway.com and her blog: http://www.seanarchy.wordpress.com.

Women’s History Month – Simone’s Influence

Mar22

Simone da Costa
Simone da Costa
Creative Writer, Author, and Journalist

When Ann first asked me to be a part of an initiative she was concocting, a big smile swept across my face and lingered there for several seconds. Little did she know that I was elated at the thought of being considered for her project, an undertaking to recognize women writers as it is Women’s History Month in America.

There are a few great women writers who have helped influence my writing style, ones such as Mary Monroe, Philippa Gregory and Jane Austen, but mostly American novelist, editor and professor, Chloe Anthony Wofford who goes by the pen name of Toni Morrison.

I first came across Ms. Morrison’s epic work, The Bluest Eye let’s say in my late high school years, long ago. My first thought was wow, such rich detail of her characters and the brazen realism so meticulously ironed out. I speculate that Ms. Morrison purposely did not want to leave anything out. She had a story to tell and she would be damned if she did not tell it the way she saw fitting and she did just that.

With reading just a few words from her books she held my gaze, captured my eyes, moving from side–to-side, scurrying to get to the next page while my willing fingers worked in partnership with my eyes that somehow said to them, “Hurry, turn the page.” Her off-putting words commanded my attention; I became defenseless and I had to read on. I kept reading, though at times I might have tried to stop. Unaware of the grasp her words had, that her words had already won me over, I did not even know it until my scampering eyes told my willing fingers again to, “Hurry, turn the page” until I finished the book.

As a young writer, I am always growing and learning, and over the years I have come into my own style of inscription in that I believe in not only creating a good story for entertainment or amusement purposes, but also to unmask its true essence and make it believable. Whether it is fiction, non-fiction, romance or literature, I want to create and capture a world like no other.

Ms. Morrison has helped to shape my writing style because she has an innate boldness to stylistically write without fear, a fearlessness that surpasses all writing boundaries and communication barriers that some writers may be too weak or too afraid to try. Ms. Morrison has said, “I am sometimes frightened of what I write, but I can’t look away. I will not look away. That’s the one place where I’m going to, you know, make eye contact. It’s a free place for me. It’s not always safe, but that’s the one place where all my little vulnerabilities, and cowardice, cannot come to the surface.” http://www.empirezine.com. So, you see, if the stroke of Ms. Morrison’s pen can inscribe with such spirit, I one day hope to be able to do the same, of course in my own way.

The Bluest Eye
A Novel by Toni Morrison