What are you reading--for your writing, for your resilience?
Pick up a book, smell the paper pages, feel them dampen in the steam of the bath or crisp in the air by the hot fire…but not for long.
Soon you’ll feel the sand under your feet, the lull of waves from other shores. You’ll be off on someone else’s adventure.
Yes, reading is an escape…
But it’s an escape that reminds you what it’s like to be a human on this planet.
An escape that leaves you more compassionate, wiser…more resilient.
These are challenging times. All of us in our tiny community have faced struggles and loss. We are all staring down uncertainty.
And?
Here we are creating anyway.
Whether it’s picking up a pen to empty your mind on the page, writing a one-line poem, capturing your moments in doodles or words…or meeting up to write side by side.
Sometimes, resilience is a stack of books…
I don’t know about you, but this year, my stack of books feels something like a life raft…the bits of buoyant material that will carry me over these uncertain seas, through the storm, and out the other side—into new horizons.
And the books in the mail…they are hope in a paper wrapper. (And the Book Depository will include a beautiful…or nerdy bookmark with each book…)
Two of our delicious book club picks for 2021…
Our book club picks for the first part of 2021…
These are the stories that will get us through. The places we’ll find shelter (and inspiration).
For those of us in the Tip of the Iceberg Creative Community, they’ll be the inspiration for our journaling and creative writing prompts…
And if you’re subscribed to the newsletter, you can join us for one free book chat each year.
Pick up a book and become a part of something larger than yourself…
These are the stories we’ve chosen at Tip of the Iceberg to bring us into the New Year.
They are escapes, they are flights of fancy, they are a chance to remember everything that makes us strong even when life is not easy.
They are windows into a new reality that will remind you that, no, it’s not just about you…and there is no better lesson for a writer—or a human being in a time of struggle.
And they will also remind you that you are not alone.
January 2021: Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
February 2021: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
March 2021: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
April 2021: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Join us for any or all of these books. They are certain to carry you off to another world and bring you back with new wisdom and new inspiration.
What books are fueling your resilience? What reading for writers can you recommend?
I’d love to hear about the reading that gets you through…or the books in your stack of hope.
Tell me all about it in the comments.
A Community of Creative Multilingual Readers and Writers…
So often, we read and write alone, but we do it to connect with others.
And it’s a lot of fun to share drafts, tiny creative victories, inspiration, frustration and to write alongside fellow creatives.
If this sounds like home to you…come on in.