To order The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

One of the most exciting aspects of the writing life is to seek out sources of inspiration. They can come from nature, other people, or other forms of creativity. Sometimes, we not only find something, but are so surprised by the content or message that it spurs us to stretch our boundaries of creative expression.

I experienced such a moment Tuesday night, when I went to see the movie, This Is It, the rehearsal footage from what was to be Michael Jackson’s last major set of performances (or so he said). Even though I am not a Michael Jackson fan, his music has been on the radio since I first heard the Jackson 5, so I decided to see what the final act was going to be. After all, he has broken boundaries for 40+ years; virtually every pop star of the past four decades owes their existence in the public eye to him.

What came across the screen was something wonderfully different: An intimate, behind-the-scenes two-hour presentation of how a great musical performance is assembled, directed, choreographed and scored. And it all revolved around “the man in the mirror,” whose dance moves and voice at 50 were not much slower or lower than the Thriller years. No question about it: This Is It was going to anthologize his four decades of musical greatness, with stage sets for every era and the songs that made MJ second only to The Beatles in creating frenzies of screaming girls.

I watched the movie from a writer’s perspective, and what I saw was just as impressive. No matter what you think of him as a person (and I know from my late friend, the great golfer Payne Stewart, that MJ sought above all to be the best father he could be), Michael Jackson was an auteur. He was an absolute genius at receiving and hearing the music with his inner ear, visioning the physical movement of that music, and bringing it out with a combination of voice and dance moves we may never see it again. He did it as artist, director, choreographer and singer. Furthermore, every minute of This Is It showed the glue, the uniting aspect: everything creative that moved through Jackson was touched by his heart and soul. I felt like I was watching a soul on film that knew, at every moment, that this was truly it – and he was bringing his entire life force into each song, each performance.

A great example (and this is the only piece of the movie I’ll reveal) came during the rehearsal for “Beat It.” Jackson worked out all of his moves, positioned his guitarists on stage, made sure the lighting crew knew how he wanted the lights to fall, then sang. When it came time for the late solo, he stood next to one of his guitarists, Orianthi Panagiris (a 24-year-old Australian; she’ll be a star after this debut). When she stayed with the solo we all remember from Thriller, MJ stopped her and said, “This is your time to shine,” then instructed her to cut loose – to burst with what she felt inside her heart. The result …

… well, see for yourself. If you are a guitar fan, then the next three minutes are worth the ticket price. No wonder country superstar and fellow striking blonde Carrie Underwood dueted with her earlier this year!

Receiving the music. Hearing and feeling it deep within. Visioning the physical movement of the music. Bringing it out with every tool and talent always available, at the ready. Listening to the beat of his heart at every moment. Honoring the vision. Inspiring others with it. Delivering the goods in full force to the audience.

Sounds like a winning recipe for great writing, doesn’t it?

So today, I find myself moving through my book ideas, and the books with which I am helping my clients, with a slightly different emphasis – a more holistic emphasis. I never expected This Is It to dance a path through my own creative process, but it reminded me of just how genius and greatness are attained: through vision, courage, plenty of skills and tools, but most of all, hard work that results in an expression of near-perfection.

That is our constant goal as writers: to imagine, envision, observe, write, then polish until every word resonates with the precise reflection of what moves through us, what scene or dialogue we first pictured. Then we put together the whole story, the whole performance, and our subject matter or characters carry out the telling.

On his final day of life, eight days before he was to open the show in London, Michael Jackson gathered the entire This Is It ensemble into a circle. They held hands. He said to them, “Show the audiences talent they’ve never seen before. Show them your greatness.”

You have your opinions of MJ’s choices in life, and I have mine. But there is no disputing the wisdom of this advice when it comes to our writing.

To order The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

During the past 30-plus years of professional writing, I have tried many approaches to writing – just like every other writer. Some have worked for periods of time; others lay discarded on a back trail of earlier development, or sitting inside my trunk full of journals.

Through the years, I have found 20 approaches to writing to be particularly successful. These get the job done for me, expand creativity, and keep writers excited and eager to write something new every day (see Tip #19). I originally presented 12 of these in September during my keynote speech at the Write Time Teens ‘n Twenties Conference.

I’d like to share my list of 20 tips for successful writing, and invite your comments and tips, which I will guest publish in a future blog – with a credit to you and link to your email address or website.

1) Make Every Sentence Your Best Sentence.

2) Write What You Know.

3) Write What You Feel

4) Write What You Think

5) Write What You Love. Deeply.

6) Expand Your Writing Muscles – Daily. New observations. New experiments. New dialogue. Experiment with what you don’t know, or are learning, until you know it. Then master it and write it.

7) Be a Voyeur. Hang Out At Parks, Gatherings, Clubs and Coffee Shops. Listen.

Cross-Read. Read three to five books simultaneously – preferably in different genres, with both male and female authors. Develop the cross-connections that create magical metaphors and similes.

9) Be Comfortably Uncomfortable. Read out of your genre. Write out of your genre. To paraphrase former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, give yourself permission to write the things you would never say out loud.

10) Let No One Define You

11) Silence Your Inner Censor – Forever!

12) Explore. Experience. Emote.

13) Drive into Your Heart & Soul – Then Up to the Heights of Ecstasy. Live in the middle, but be willing to venture to your emotional and intellectual extremes to write the sentence that changes your reader’s world – and yours.

14) Center Everywhere, Circumference Nowhere. Write with you, the narrator, subject or character in the middle of every observation, movement and feeling. Take this statement from wise Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore into your work.

15) Write Sense-ually. Employ the five senses – and a few others, such as the senses of movement, balance, temperature, thought, ego/other, life/well-being, and speech/language.

16) Enliven Places. Make your settings and locations living, breathing participants of your stories, essays and poems,

17) Hide Nothing. As poet/warrior Robert Bly said, “stand before your audience naked.”

18) Read Your Writing Out Loud. Always.

19) Finish HOT. Leave a juicy paragraph open and exposed until the next day – then run with it.

20) Finish What You Start (whenever possible). It is very easy to start a work, but if you do not get to “The End,” the finish line will appear further away with your next writing project.

See how these tips work for you. For me, they condense more than 30 years of trying to find the right approach. I swear by them.

To order The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

I’m trying something new with today’s blog – posting the agenda for a workshop I’m teaching tonight on Sense of Place: Bring Your Settings to Life.

Think of place as nothing less than the stage on which your subjects or characters enter, take the spotlight, enact their part in the plot or story, and exit. Place and setting are the most important background components of any narrative, poem or essay – fiction or non-fiction. Sometimes, place becomes the foreground through its relationship to a character or subject. Countless great books have centered on specific places or groups of places; many others have created descriptions of location that are unforgettable. If reading is partially a matter of disconnecting from the world around us and entering another world (real or imagined), then place/setting in a book is nothing less than that other world into which were entering. How we perceive that other world is up to the author’s descriptions and characterizations.

How important is place and setting to a writer’s overall approach? In my book The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life, I devote more than 75 exercises to different approaches to writing place and setting, in part or whole.

All of which makes writing good settings, landscapes and locations – with a mixture of character, color and precise detail – extremely important.

I’m going to write more extensively about each of the sections below in the next few blog posts, so wanted to show the overall workshop presentation as it will be delivered to attendees this evening:

IMPORTANCE OF PLACE AND SETTING: Establishes location/stage of story; creates color and texture for your narrative background; reflects pace of narrative; reflects traits and preferences of characters

HOW PLACE WORKS INTO WRITING: Often becomes a character or central figure in itself; gauges or dictates mood or tone; interrelates with characters; works hand-in-hand with plot; becomes the center of the universe into which you’re taking readers

EXERCISE: Think of a favorite location or place that you frequent regularly. Could be home property. Identify two or three characteristics that make the place so special. Write about those characteristics and how you interact with them. Write essay or narrative.

ATMOSPHERICS: Writing the outer limits and inner breath of your story’s world. Discovering and integrating specific elements of a place or setting that connect to your characters’ senses and sensibilities. In non-fiction, the aspects of place or setting that feed into the event or person on which you’re focusing.

ATMOSPHERIC EXERCISE:
1) Identify your geographic feature (river, lake, ocean, etc.)
2) Write as many synonyms for feature as you can
3) Why do you connect so completely with this feature? How does it make you feel? How does your mood, perception, vision change?
4) Write about a direct interaction between you (or character) and this feature

THE BREATH OF LANDSCAPE: Understanding the sensual relationship between yourself, subject or character, and place – and converting it to living, breathing narrative
1) Personifying the landscape – imagery, simile, metaphor, alliteration
2) Use of extended metaphors to blend character and landscape/setting
3) Use of very specific nouns and verbs to drive specific images
4) Merging movements of a place with the character’s movements

WRITING PLACE INTO INNER WORLD OF CHARACTER OR SUBJECT
1) The anchor of fiction and narrative non-fiction
2) Understanding of subject’s relationship to place – and how place defines the subject
3) Working with senses
4) Connecting outer observations to inner perceptions

EXERCISE:
Write an essay, poem or vignette in which a subject/character has a direct experience with a place or setting. Describe how the place/setting affects the character, both internally and externally. Note colors, moods, contours, time of day, landmarks, that relate to the character’s relationship with both the experience and the place.

WRITING PLACE EVERY DAY: Putting yourself in the center and writing outward.

To order The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life
As an author, one of my favorite activities is to present my works at book fairs, writer’s conferences and book expos. We’ve got a good one coming up Saturday in Evansville, IN, sponsored by the Midwest Writers Guild and hosted by Barnes & Noble.

I’ll be there to sign and promote The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life. I’ll also bring along my other six books and some promotional literature about the many services Word Journeys provides new and established authors.

Book fairs are wonderful. Authors from many states gather to talk about and sell their works, and to commiserate with each other. I thoroughly enjoy these conversations, because we can compare stories about getting published, promoting our works, researching our subjects, the creative process and so much more. While best-selling authors are always present at book fairs, I always seek out the regional authors, because their works keep the spirits, histories and personalities of their areas alive, and commit them to the printed word. Plus, they are very, very dedicated writers, artisans hard at work with their craft.

As a book fair attendee, I would suggest making it a point to seek out and talk with as many authors as you can. This is a rare opportunity to see the faces behind the voices and words, to pick their brains for their sources of motivation and inspiration – and, likely, to pick up a side story or two about how a certain character or plot line came into being.

For those who live in the Midwest and Upper South, the Evansville Book Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. The Barnes & Noble store is located on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Green River Road.

We’ll certainly have plenty of stories from the book fair next week on this blog … and an interview with an author or two. Stay tuned.

To buy The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

The Big Read: Robinson Jeffers and the Ecologies of Poetry.

The description: “The Deer Lay Down Their Bones:” Poems by and in the spirit of Robinson Jeffers. California poets will read Jeffers’ poetry and their own responses. Led by Suzanne Lummis of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and featuring Charles Harper Webb, Cecilia Woloch, actress Dale Raoul (True Blood) read the poetry of Robinson Jeffers, and special guest poet Jamie Asae FitzGerald. Presented by the Historical Society of Southern California.

While the Big (Group) Read happened last week (more on the installation at the end of this blog), it brought back wonderful memories of reading authors’ works in their exact settings. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I used to assist Central California poet-professor Ingrid Reti in leading literary excursions to Big Sur – where Robinson Jeffers wrote his most commanding nature and ecology poems. We would stop along the wild, majestic coastline in a tour bus, and take turns reading from the works of Big Sur pioneer-authors while also discussing their relationship to the rugged land. We would stop at locations that either inspired or served as the settings for pieces of writing. We’d also make the obligatory stops to the Henry Miller Library and Nepenthe.

The eclectic cast of Big Sur authors included the literary and artistic powerhouse Henry Miller, Lillian Bos Ross, Jaime de Angulo, Jeffers, and John Steinbeck, who wrote several of his books while lodged in a clifftop cabin that still exists in Lucia. One of our staples was Miller’s great book Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch, which contains priceless descriptions of walking down from Partington Ridge to the pools at Slate Hot Springs – now the mineral baths of the Esalen Institute. A few years later, I wrote a magazine cover story that interwove these Big Sur literary adventures with the experiences of a heart alive with new love. One day, I’ll retype it and lodge it on my website.

This experience began a new passion for me: Reading works in the locations where they were written. When I read a Robert Frost poem while sitting in the snow in Franconia Notch, NH, every word and image springs to (frosty) life. When I sit on the point at Sirmione, Italy, and read the open-hearted works of Roman poet Catullus while perched in the ruins of his football field-sized villa atop Lake Garda, I can feel how the lake gave his tortured soul solace. While standing in my garden, or writing in the woods behind my house, I am immediately called to any combination of essays, poems and phrases by Kentucky’s great literary treasure, Wendell Berry. I can’t even count how many times I’ve gone up the San Juan Ridge in the Sierra foothills to seclude and meditate at the Ananda Meditation Retreat, then walked across the manzanita-lined road to read the poems of Gary Snyder while sitting next to Kitkitdizze – the great poet/essayist’s home for the past 40 years. Travel down the Grand Canal in Venice, and a potpourri of authors and their works spring to mind – and give further depth and insight into the experience. Hit the beaches of Venice, CA, and it’s easy for me to fall into the lyrical rhythms of two of my favorite musician-poets, Jim Morrison of the Doors and Exene Cervenka of the great L.A. punk/rockabilly band X.

While so much of writing is what we create and shape in our minds, place and setting are an equally large part of the picture. As both working writers and readers, we can draw great wisdom and technique as writers by reading works in their root locations. First, it gives us direct insight into what the author observed in that moment. We can only speculate as to why he or she chose certain words or phrases, but that speculation is certainly enhanced by training our eyes and senses on the same or similar subjects. Furthermore, we can grasp a sense of what created meaning in the author’s life. If Robinson Jeffers wrote countless great poems of nature and ecology while sitting amongst the redwoods, cliffs and raw beaches of Big Sur, then clearly, Big Sur fed his heart, soul and mind. Any time an author spends any length of time in one place, a relationship with that place is formed. Their writing will reflect the relationship with the landscape, ecology, history and people of that locale.

As writers, we can learn how to weave ourselves into our essays, or our characters into their settings, by simply taking literary excursions – and writing about our perceptions, observations and feelings, then creating a new work that integrates place. Visit the home of a noted local author. Go to a place where a favorite author or poet composed a work. Walk the same steps your favorite travel writer took. Sit down, become very quiet, and soak in the energy the author felt and conveyed.

By the way … The Big Read: Robinson Jeffers and the Ecologies of Poetry will remain installed at the Occidental College Library in Southern California through November 7. Hope to see you there!

To Order The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

During the live conversation on Abstract lllusions Radio with host Jennifer Hillman last week, we discussed writing in different genres – a favorite subject of mine.

Genres mix all the time in the creative arts – and often, into everyday expressions. For instance, the presence of lyrically strong music in TV advertisements networks three different genres: music, poetry and advertising. Ditto for a good memoir, which brings together elements of fiction, travelogue and non-fiction in a confessional setting. In L.A., performance artist Norton Wisdom will paint to either the music or poetry, with musicians and readers accompanying him in a very raw, live interpretation of how the genres blend in the mind of the creative.

I find it incredibly strengthening and liberating to write in multiple genres. If we specialize too much, we tend to become boxed into our ideas and limitations of a particular form or genre. The more we can open up to new forms of writing, first as readers and then as writers, the more tools we have at our disposal to express the stories, vignettes, poems or melodies that roll through us.

As I mentioned on the radio show, we’re living in an era now where hybridization is actually part of our evolution as writers and artists. It seems all of the genres have been discovered, explored and expressed (as I say this, someone will come up with a new one!). However, any good alchemist or Ayurvedic doctor will tell you what can happen when you blend the right elements – something very new, enthralling and potentially transforming can emerge.

We’ve seen music lyrics in novels for years; two great examples are Tolkien’s Hobbit songs in Lord of the Rings, and the nonsensical wizardry of Lewis Carroll in the Alice in Wonderland series. The New Journalists (Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson, primarily) integrated fiction and characterization into non-fiction pieces in a way that changed journalism forever. Essayist/novelists like Joan Didion routinely blurred the line between genres; great musicians like Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Balin always mixed poetry, lyric, journaling or essay, and visual art in their work. Now, close-to-the-heart authors like Sarahbeth Purcell bring poetry, vignette, essay and fiction together to convey the most subtle and intense emotions.

Here are a few quick exercises for you to start playing with genres other than one in which you’re accustomed to writing:

1) Try writing your next poem as a vignette, a story in paragraph form.

2) In your next piece of fiction, import some factual details. Describe them from the eyes of your character – but keep the material factual.

3) When describing someone real, imagine what goes on inside their mind, gauging from their facial expressions, eyes and body language. This is a cross-genre technique used in narrative non-fiction.

4) Next time a song plays through your mind, write down the words that come to you with the melody – then write a story about it.

5) If you’re writing memoir, try to describe every setting as though you were painting a landscape or panning the camera to capture every nuance for a film audience.

6) Next time you write about somewhere you traveled, set the scene and take us inside what you felt and sensed … pull us into that world, just as you would if writing a fictional character.

7) Open your journal and start writing, today, in a genre outside your comfort zone.

We’ll have much more on the subject of cross-genre writing on this blog. Until then, let us know how these exercises work for you!

Blog Note: Beginning Monday, October 19, we will begin posting select writing exercises from The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life on our sister blog, 366writing.wordpress.com.

Enjoyed an hour live on Abstract Illusions Radio last night with host Jennifer Hillman, conversing about the wonderful world of writing and some of its most beneficial applications. Jen and I discussed a number of topics that touched upon the many different professional and personal uses of writing and story:

Journaling: A caller discussed her desire to re-start a journal. I carried it from there to note the three biggest reasons why all writers (and everyone, for that matter) should journal daily, if possible:

1) To get thoughts, feelings, observations, perceptions and experiences on paper. You never know what seeds of future stories, poems, essays, books or lessons lie within everyday words.

2) To plumb our life circumstances or situations, for both reflection and inner healing. Journals are safe havens; by writing deeply about what concerns us, we can uncover solutions, release sources of suffering and reclaim pieces of ourselves.

3) To experiment with new forms and types of writing, or to make test-runs of poems, essays and stories.

Writing the Iceberg: I pointed out one of the core challenges of all writers – to not become too cerebral or intellectual in their work, unless they are academic or topical non-fiction authors. Good writing should reflect life – a combination of emotions, deeper feelings, thoughts, sensory perceptions, actions and responses. Remember that the mind encompasses the entire body and all of your cells – and that, by opening to heart and body rhythms, you actually open huge vaults of memories, experiences and feelings that deepen and enrich stories. Think of your mind as an iceberg: The brain is the tip, while the entire body is the 90% that is often “submerged.” Which would you rather have available when you write? As poet Li-Young Lee said, “We have six trillion potential stories inside us – one for each cell.”

Writing Universal Truths: The goal of personal, introspective writing such as memoirs, poetry and personal essays is to utilize our experiences to arrive at deeper truths, common to all. By doing so, we experience personal discovery and, perhaps, transformative moments, while also creating “familiar” moments for the readers. These are the “A-ha!” moments we experience when reading well-crafted novels, memoirs and other works. Always seek to write so deeply that you shed the veneer of your own personality and tap something much more universal, sacred, primal.

With the Heart Comes Voice: What happens when we try to sing if our heart’s not into the song or the performance? Our voices tend to sound jerky, constricted. The same with good writing. Try to write not so much from the mind, but from the heart. By writing with depth and feeling, we can sharpen our authentic voice, that mixture of style, rhythm, resonance and presence that is our unquestionable imprint on the printed page. Drive voice with your heart. Turn your mind into a willing servant, pulling the words and structure you need to craft the piece, but not directing it.

There’s more to come from our conversation…

Final note: My friend, author/editor/photographer and Cherokee language teacher Brian Wilkes, reminded me on Facebook that, in the Cherokee calendar, we are entering a most auspicious year: Noquis’equa, the Year of the Big Star. The Year of Venus. This is a year of rapid reversals and big change. Here’s to creating some big change in all our lives with a year of great writing!

REMINDER: Bob Yehling will appear LIVE tonight on AIR radio, in a one-hour discussion about writing, art and creative inspiration. To listen

It’s never too early or late to write, to get published, to try your hand at a new genre. Or a new activity. But beware: It can become obsessive in all the right ways.

Anyone who has listened to me threaten to quit running knows. I started jogging again 10 years ago, a mile or two here and there, to get back in shape for indoor soccer. I’d not run more than a few miles since high school. Now, three Boston Marathons (soon to be four) and countless age-group victories later, I can’t muster up the strength to quit … but why would I? Running has become an intrinsic part of my life, right down to coaching fantastic high school cross-country and track athletes. I may stop racing soon, but I won’t stop running. I’m hooked. It’s no coincidence that, since I started running, I’ve also managed to write eight books and ghostwrite five others. Before then, I’d only finished two books I started – a small poetry collection, and the requisite “throwaway” novel that sits where no one will ever see it.

Another case in point: my friend Charlie Redner, author of the soon-to-be-published Down But Never Out, the touching story of former world middleweight boxing champion Joey Giardello and his son, Carmen. During a fantastic writer’s conference in Tucson in 2008, Charlie’s friend, Tom Ong, urged him to attend the evening presentation and reading by great performance poet Taylor Mali (who we featured on this blog on Wednesday). Charlie resisted. He didn’t care for poetry, didn’t read it, and certainly didn’t know of the enjoyment in listening to it.

Charlie attended the performance. It ended with a bang – with Taylor receiving one of two standing ovations I’ve ever seen a poet receive from a crowd exceeding 400 people (the other was American Book Award winner Jimmy Santiago Baca).

The next morning, Charlie was a man transformed. And possessed. For the past year, he has become totally infused with the spirit of the poet. He studied more poetry than he had since matriculating a few decades ago. He found his favorites. He began to compose poetry. The result: a new collection on its way, Long-a-Coming.

Charlie also decided to spread the word. He began associating with author Luis Urrea, and the result is a fine literary magazine that Charlie has published, The Hummingbird Review. Its combination of featured poets, interviews, essays and observations, coupled with a fantastic cover portrait rendered by Charlie’s wife, Judith, make this magazine a must-read for anyone interested in fine writing. They even picked up one of my poems, “Paths on a Face,” which is the most popular piece from my most recent collection, The River-Fed Stone.

The Hummingbird Review is presently available as an online magazine, but the first printed issue will soon be released. When you read it, remember the story of its publisher – a man for whom it was never too early, or late, to try something new.

As writers, artists and musicians, that should always be our motto.

There are many ways to make a living as a writer – and many combinations of projects that can be cobbled together to pay the bills. My book The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life is a by-product of the writer’s lifestyle; among other things, the exercises help all writers expand their potential productivity and value in the marketplace.

My daily routine combines original writing of narrative and poetry, book editing, consulting with authors on editorial and marketing matters, collaborating with other authors, developing new projects, setting up workshops to teach, following up on possible leads, writing book proposals, checking emails from writers, editors and agents, and – with all that extra “spare” time – trying to stay up on reading.

That schedule is easy compared to making a living as a poet. Which is why the rest of today’s blog is dedicated to one of my friends, Taylor Mali, one of the top slam poets and spoken word artists in the world.

Taylor left his job as a middle school teacher in New York City to make a living as a poet. Think about that for a second: making a living as a poet? In America? Well, Taylor has pulled it off, and for good reason – he’s a brilliant poet, and a phenomenal live performer. I just saw him three weeks ago at The Ugly Mug in Orange, CA, and he was as hilarious and poignant as ever.

Taylor’s interweaving of the written word, entertainment, the art of teaching (and I mean art – he was and still is a GREAT teacher), humor and intensity make him unforgettable. At any given Mali event, fully one-quarter of the audience consists of teachers. Just 2 weeks ago at The Write Time Teens ‘N Twenties Conference in Bloomington, IN, creative writing teacher and novelist Missy Feller of Bosse High School in Evansville did a brilliant cover performance of Taylor’s famous poem, “What Teachers Make.” It is a hit with educators and poetry fans worldwide. If you have a “hit” as a poet, a poem people always want to hear … again, you stand among the few.

Now Taylor has a new collection out, The Last Time As We Are. It is brilliant, right down to the last poem – one that will leave anyone speechless who has ever experienced an elder family member in failing health.

Recently, I conducted a wide-open conversation with Taylor, entitled “Easy on the Ears: An Interview with Taylor Mali,” for a sharp new literary magazine, The Hummingbird Review. I invite you to read more about this wonderful man, teacher and poet, one who I believe will someday become the Poet Laureate of the United States.

Robert Yehling Appears on AIR ~ Abstract Illusion Radio

Thursday, October 8, 2009, Midnight EDT, 9 p.m. PDT

To listen to the show

I will be appearing as a live guest on Abstract Illusions Radio (AIR) on Thursday, October 8, at Midnight EDT (9 p.m. PDT). I will discuss my newest books, The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life and The River-Fed Stone, along with the adventure and beauty of living in the heart and soul through writing in many different genres. During the 55-minute live program, there will be opportunities for listeners to call in and ask about any aspect of writing, the writing life or spiritual writing.

Now in its third year, AIR explores and exposes the different aspects of expression…through the human experience. The show is about the creativity and healing expressions… through the arts and spirituality in today’s society and the interconnection of inspiration and creative expression of healing. The show’s mission is the statement on the show’s page and closes of each show, With Each Breath of AIR, Gain New Insights and Inspirations.

Robert Yehling joins the list of former guests like:
~Guy Finley, The Secret of Fearless Living and The Secret of Letting Go
~Stuart Wilde, author & metaphysic mystic on his latest book, Grace, Gaia, and the End of Days: An Alternative Way for the Advanced Soul
~Ted Andrews of Animal Speaks and Animal Wisdoms
~Jonathan Ellerby, PhD, Return to The Sacred: Ancient Pathways to Spiritual Awakening
~Lynn Hayes, astrologer from Beliefnet.com’s Astrological Musings
~Scott Blum, author of “Awaiting for Autumn” and co-founder of the Daily Om.
~Philip Sedgwick, an amusing writer and astrologer.
~Dr. Bradley Nelson, The Emotion Code

Creator and Host Jennifer Hillman is a certified Intuitive Life Coach/Psychic, Hypnotherapist/NLP Practitioner, Reiki Master/Teacher, and Published Poet/Writer/Artist . She has other endeavors related to AIR, such as the Abstract Illusions website, which is her vehicle for artist/self expression support and consultation, media (such as AIR!) and volunteerism. Her spiritual consulting, medium, and inner journeying information website is called Angels Intuition, and has a life-coaching class called Find Inner Strength. Her own writings and poetry are available on www.EmbracingSouls.com and her other sites, Amazon, and Lulu. Her personal homepage is www.JenniferHillman.com.