Author: dianathormoto

What You Are

/ dianathormoto

Happy first day of July! I can hardly believe that we are already into July. Second half of the year. Wow. I feel like I need to take a break to catch my breath and figure out what I’ve done with the first half of the year and what I want to do with the second half of the year. How has your year been going? I hope well.

This quote I had hanging on my door a week ago is something I sometimes have a hard time remembering, but I think is very important for everyone to remember, especially on those hard days when it seems like everything is going wrong and everything you say is getting misinterpreted.

"It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are." Anonymous

“It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are.” Anonymous

I’ve been spending the morning writing and catching up reading all the articles I’ve marked coming over my RSS feeds as I’m going into work late today (working a late shift tonight). Many of the feeds I marked were about finding your authentic self, your true goals, and what matters to you in life. So this quote seemed especially appropriate to share today.

What matters is who we are and how we manifest ourselves in the world. Someone is always going to disagree with us, or think our dreams are silly, or our goals impossible, or our work irrelevant.  But that doesn’t really matter. It can hurt, but it’s more about them than us. Or, on the flip side, people might sometimes praise us excessively or decide our work is now hip and cool. Then we get hooked on the praise and can feel like we need it to survive. But neither the dismissal or the praise is what matters. Keeping true to our core values matters. And hopefully, we are wonderful, kind, flawed, dreaming, striving, helping, caring, human beings creating projects and things in the world that make it better through whatever gifts and talents and skills we have to share.

So let’s try not to let others’ opinions or thoughts about us matter so much and let’s just get busy creating the work and lives and world we want to see. Have a wonderful start to your July! 🙂

Doing Things

/ dianathormoto

I hope your week is going well and you get some time to enjoy a bit of summer relaxation. It is hard to believe we are already over half-way through June and even if it isn’t technically summer yet, it is sure feeling like summer to me. Hot weather makes me want to nap and not do much, but the more relaxed state of mind in summer also allows me to think & plan what I want to accomplish, thus this week’s quote.

"You've got your whole life to do something, and that's not very long." Ani Difranco

“You’ve got your whole life to do something, and that’s not very long.” Ani Difranco

This quote makes me take stock of what I’m doing and try to figure out if I’m moving forward in the right direction. (I know the spacing is a bit off between the first and second lines, but that’s what I get for freehanding it at work. I really need to bring in my T-Square and fountain calligraphy pens for when I do calligraphy on my break, but anyway…) Sometimes it seems like a year is so long and other times it seems like a year is hardly any time at all to create anything.

So I think about Ani Difranco’s thought that we don’t have a very long to do what we want on this planet, in this life. I hope that you are working towards what you feel is important with people who are important to you. Life’s about what we do and who we do it with, I think, and that’s true whether it is in the heat of summer or the cold of winter.

But remember, having a purpose and doing something don’t preclude us from having some summer fun and relaxation as well. Have a great one. 🙂

What’s Does This Stack of Books Say? (Part II)

/ dianathormoto

It’s getting to be summertime and summer always makes me want to just take a pile of books, a big glass of lemonade (or cup of tea, depending on the weather), and read all day long. Unfortunately, life seems to intrude so I can’t always do that, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a stack of books always hanging around for just such an occasion. So I thought I’d share what’s been in my stack of books lately.

Photograph of books on my nightstand to read in May and June 2015

Books, May/June 2015

First up is Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. I’ve read Takaki’s work in the past and picked up this volume at my local bookstore a few weeks ago. I wanted to have it at home for reference for a short story I’m currently writing. Takaki is a great historian and writer.

I just picked up Housewitch by Katie Schickel mainly because the cover was intriguing. Yes, sometimes I do judge a book by its cover. I’m only a chapter in, but am intrigued. I also thought it would be a good read because it is outside of my usual genres of reading. I was also interested in reading a book whose flap specifically labeled it as “women’s fiction” as I want to see if I can see the distinction between it and any other book I’ve read with female protagonists. Genre labels are fascinating to me.

I also picked up The Mourning Bells at the library because the cover art was amazing and I love the typography. It is part of a series and not the first, so I’m thinking that may be the reason I just couldn’t find my way into the story. I’m thinking about reading the first to give the series another go, but if nothing else the designer of the series’ covers is super-talented.

Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History was a purchase from my local bookstore (they are awesome at special orders) since I wanted to see the types of stories that made the cut for this anthology. I’m always interested in reading stories that have diverse protagonists and interesting takes on weaving historical events or people into their narratives. Also, I’m still trying to wrap my head around writing short stories so reading more always seems like a good idea.

I checked out The Kraken Project by Douglas Preston for the second time from the library since the first time I didn’t have time to finish it before it was due. Fast-paced, fun read that leaves you thinking about AI for a long time afterwards.

Queen of the Dark Things is C. Robert Cargill’s sequel to Dreams and Shadows. Both are lovely books. The first took me a few chapters to really get lost in the story, but then I enjoyed both very much. I look forward to reading his next book, whenever it comes out.

What books are on your nightstand or e-reader that are waiting to be read? Any suggested summer reading?

I hope you have a lovely rest of your week and a wonderful, magical story to get lost in when you have some time to read. 🙂

Responsible Greatness

/ dianathormoto

I’ve been reading through a book of quotes I purchased years ago and came across a number of quotes from Churchill, so I thought sharing this one that I had on my door last week made sense.

"The price of greatness is responsibility" Winston Churchill

“The price of greatness is responsibility” Winston Churchill

This quote is a reminder to me about taking responsibility in all areas of my life. I like the idea of responsible greatness. That if we achieve greatness, we then have a greater responsibility to use are greatness to help. There are many ways to be great, but if we don’t help each other, acknowledge one another’s humanity, and strive always for generosity then we are not really, truly great. I think of this a lot when I’m teaching, not because I think I’ve achieved greatness (I always have more to learn when it comes to teaching), but because I have a great responsibility to the students I teach. It is a responsibility I take very seriously. I have the responsibility to provide a space for them to expand their knowledge, to facilitate their learning, and to demonstrate that failure happens and it is what we do after we fail that shows us what we can be in our lives.

So I leave you with Churchill reminding us of our responsibility, no matter where we fall on the path to greatness. It is especially important for those who are in positions of power to remember their responsibilities and not let the love of power cloud their work.

I’ll be posting again soon about some more books I’m reading and looking forward to read as we head through this sixth month of the year during our race around the sun. 🙂

Preferring Reading

/ dianathormoto

Happy Friday! As promised, to make up for not posting last week, here is my second calligraphy post for the week.

"People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading." Logan Pearsall Smith

“People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” Logan Pearsall Smith

I like this quote because it seems a little bit cheeky to me and it also sums up how I’m feeling at the end of this week. It’s been a short week (yay for 3-day weekend!), but a long week with all the work that needed to get done. So I’m a bit drained and feel like curling up with a good book, a cup of tea, and my cat would be a pretty fine way of spending the weekend.

In other “not day job news,” I finished my latest round of revisions on a draft manuscript and I’m sending it out to beta readers now (thank goodness for awesome friends and my patient husband). I think that a reward of reading a new book sounds like just the thing as I also dive into finishing up a short story I want to send off for an upcoming anthology call. (Nothing like writing more and sending out more stories to stack up those rejection letters. What doesn’t kill us when sharing our writing (or calligraphy) makes us more determined, right? At least that’s how I’m going with it, along with a good book to read while waiting for the letters. 🙂 )

So I think it’s going to be a reading weekend. I’ll probably do another “What does this stack of books say?” post soon, too. Until then, I hope you have a fabulous weekend full of reading if you, like me, find that reading is sometimes life, too. 🙂

Stars Above Gutters

/ dianathormoto

Happy Wednesday! Last week was quite tiring, not exactly sure why. But the result was that I didn’t post my weekly calligraphy example. So this week I need to post two. Today is the first post and it is another one of my favorite quotes, this time via Oscar Wilde.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Oscar Wilde

I love this quote because it reminds me that we all have a shared experience of knowing, feeling, and experiencing that sometimes life is just not fair, not pretty, and not fun. Life is hard. It might be hard in different ways for different people but it is still hard.

But, if that was all the quote was about that would just be depressing and disheartening and there is no way I’d post that on my door to see every day. But it ends with hope, which I think all stories and all lives should end with, because hope gets us through the hardness, the unfairness, and the pain that can make up our gutters in life. There are still stars, which let us know there is more to life and to the world than our current situation in the gutter.

And where there are stars, there is an opportunity to work and to reach them. And if that isn’t hopeful, I don’t know what is.

I hope you have a great day and I’ll be back to post my second calligraphy example later this week. 🙂

Having it All Together (or Not)

/ dianathormoto

Do we ever have it all together? What does that even mean? The last quote I wrote for my door is another one of my favorites, this time from Marilyn Grey, and talks about the very notion of having it all together.

"No one ever has it all together. That's like trying to eat once and for all." Marilyn Grey

“No one ever has it all together. That’s like trying to eat once and for all.” Marilyn Grey

I think it is really important to remember that no one has it all together, all the time. It is especially important to remember this in our era of constant sharing on social media, where everything is curated and it seems like everyone is leading a way more glamorous life than mine. Images are just that, an image of a moment, and not the full story of a life.

So while I try to keep organized and make sure I’m not letting anything slide, I have to remember to not beat myself up if I feel like I don’t have it all together. No one else does either and that is a comforting thought. We’re all just trying to do the best we can, with what we have, here and now. So each day I do my best, but if it takes a few extra days for the floors to get mopped, or the stack of books to be sorted, it’s okay. I’m okay and life, in all its messy glory, will keep on going.

I hope you are having a lovely week. I’m working on lots of revisions and writing now and have my *fingers crossed* still that one of my stories will get published this year and I’ll be able to share that good news here. 🙂

Normal Masquerades

/ dianathormoto

Hello, again. I hope your week is going well. I can hardly believe that we are already almost a week into May. The time is truly flying by, so much so that I have to make a concerted effort to find time to pause and reflect. Today I wanted to share the latest quote that I did for my door.

"Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting." Anonymous

“Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting.” Anonymous

I love this quote and some people that stopped by to read my door also seemed to enjoy it. I love it because it reminds me that trying to be something that I’m not is exhausting. It also reminds to question what I think is a “normal person” so I stop trying to define what I do with whether it is normal or not. It also makes me think about the many masks we may use, depending on the social situation, to fit in, be accepted, or get by.

This quote, to me, doesn’t suggest that we let it “all hang out” or not be kind and empathetic or try to help. But it does suggest to me that the pursuit of whatever the heck “The Joneses” are doing is exhausting and unrewarding. Figuring out who I am and what I want to do, even if it isn’t “normal” is a far better use of my time.

So here’s to being who you are, whether anyone thinks it’s normal or not, and doing/creating/being what you are meant to do/create/be on this earth. 🙂

Still Learning

/ dianathormoto

So how is your week going? I’m having a busy and productive week. Happily it is a week that is less stressful than the last few and I’ve been able to go home (mostly) on time from work. I can’t complain and I wanted to share the latest quote I made for my door.

"I am still learning." Michelangelo

“I am still learning.” Michelangelo

I love this quote because it reminds me that no matter who we are and how far along our journey we’ve come, we should still be learning. As someone who teaches, it is important to remember that I should always be learning, too. I find it inspiring and not frustrating to still be learning. Sometimes the path is difficult and frustrating, but when I can tell I’m learning, I’m progressing, then it is all worthwhile. Life is learning, always.

So I hope that you’ve been able to learn something new this week and have shared what you’ve learned with someone else. I’m learning more each day about writing and reading. I’m in the process of revising some short stories to submit, again, so keep your fingers crossed. I am still learning, too.

Have a wonderful day full of many good things and I’ll write again soon. Thanks so much for stopping by.

 

What Does This Stack of Books Say?

/ dianathormoto

So what books do you have on your nightstand? Do you have books on your nightstand? I suppose you could have them on the digital device of your choosing on your nightstand. But as for me, I have books, stacks of books around the house and I thought I’d do something different and share some of what I’m reading lately. So this is a stack that has been lately on my nightstand.

photograph of books in April 2015

Books, April 2015

Yeah, I like books a lot. I just read Show Your Work by Austin Kleon a couple of weeks ago and he suggests that people share not just their finished works, but also their inspiration and processes. So I thought I’d share this stack of books and why they inspire me or I hope to be inspired by them. So we’ll go bottom to top on this stack, just because that’s how I’m thinking of them.

On the bottom of the stack, not really a book (yet) is my notebook and part of a draft of my writing that I’m revising. I did NaNoWriMo last year and am in my second major round of revision. I’m going to finish it up in the next month and send it out to some friends to read, so that’s what I’m working on now.

My husband had a copy of Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, and I’ve never read it so I started to read it. I’m liking it so far, though I have gotten swept away by reading some other library books. I’m going to come back to this next month and finish it up. I can see parts where I’d expect Stephen King got inspired for Revival, so it is kind of weird to have read that first and now read Bradbury’s work. But a carnival/circus, who could resist?

I picked up The Devil’s Details at our local bookstore, the Hayward Bookshop, a few weeks ago. What can I say? I’m a geek and a book about footnotes sounded fun and interesting so I picked it up. There are footnotes throughout. I’ve not started it yet, but I think it will be going in my bag soon to read while waiting for meetings to start and shuttles to arrive.

I recently finished The Bookseller and it made me cry. It was good and had an interesting twist and I couldn’t resist a pair of friends running a bookshop. I like reading books that are structured in different ways to see what works and what doesn’t, at least for me as a reader and perhaps as a writer.

I’m re-reading a number of books to learn more about plotting, so that’s where Neverwhere comes in. I love this book. It is wonderful and has such a great twist that I didn’t see coming. Neil Gaiman’s writing is so lovely and his characters are unique and memorable. I love the idea of a London Below. It also makes me want to visit London, again, and soon.

I don’t read a lot of young adult novels. I’m not drawn to them, but I do love a lot of the ones I’ve read that I’ve been given by friends or read on the recommendation of other friends. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was a fun read that I re-read early this year, again, for breaking down plot. Also, as someone who is fond of photography and photographic archives, I loved the inclusion of found photos in the book and how they supported the text.

One of my friends, the wonderful romance novel reviewer and librarian emerita, Kris Ramsdell, introduced me to the writing of Sarah Addison Allen a couple of months ago when were were discussing books to read over lunch. I immediately devoured all of her books and bought a copy of The Peach Keeper to re-read as I love her blend of magic, family, and mystery. I agree with one of the women at the Hayward Bookshop who said that sometimes it’s just nice to read a sweet story.

Also, for fun reading and because I think he is a master of storytelling and creating realistic characters, I recently re-read Stephen King’s The Wind Through the Keyhole. I loved the Dark Tower series and this book is such a wonderful addition. The weaving of three stories together is amazing and they fit together so organically that I got to the end and wished it just kept going, but again was happy and satisfied that it all ended so well. It’s one of my favorites that I’m hoping I can get my husband to read soon.

The top of the stack has another one of my notebooks. This is the one where I’ve been keeping notes on places to send short stories, bits of dialog that come into my head, quotes from books that inspire me, and other such stuff. I like it because it fits easily in a small bag and my fountain pen inks don’t bleed through the pages.

So that’s what’s been hanging around for reading materials for me and providing some inspiration as I write and write (calligraphy) and revise and think and dream. What books inspire you? What’s on your reading list now?