Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the
charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
–Marcel Proust
Featuring the voices of thinkers, artists, writers & poets is another aim of this sunny, creative space for kindred spirits. Each of my guests brings something special to this space, offering unique insights and talents. It’s my pleasure to provide an opportunity for them to share their thoughts here. A warm thank you to all of them!
Browse 33 guest posts in SunnyRoomStudio
- Spiritual Affinities by Richard Gilbert
- A New Earth struck me as a masterpiece, and I’ve read it repeatedly since Mom’s illness and death. Tolle writes of the “pain-body” each human carries—baggage: familial, racial, sexual, national—and how inability to let go of it cripples one’s ability to live fully in the present. He also answers the question of what, in you, is irked by the malodorous egos of others: your ego. He defines the ego simply, as that in human nature which “wants and fears.”
Richard is an author, blogs about writing @ Narrative, and teaches
writing at Otterbein University in Ohio.
“Haiku are very contemplative; they can seem ephemeral, but in fact capture an elusive ‘A-ha!’ moment of insight.”
Juliet is a writer, a poet, an environmentalist living in the U.K.
“With simple yoga practices, you can alter brain waves from frantic to calm, induce a creative frame of mind and open up the imagination and the body to make the stepping stones into writing less jarring and more natural.”
Jacqueline is the author of 4 books; most recently, Picture This.
“I grew up in Southern California, but Dickinson and the surrounding towns and landscape got under my skin. Maybe it’s my genetic coding.”
Lynne is the author of Dakota Blues, her first novel.
“In keeping with my twisted sensibility and on target taste treats, I decided to pick some mint and conjure up a tropical inspired cocktail.”
Warren is an editor, author, inspired mixologist, photojournalist
living in New Jersey.
“Once a person forgives, a tremendous personal transformation occurs. I refer to this process as inner alchemy; a wonderful jumping off point for spiritual awareness and understanding that we’re an extension of source energy.”
Laurie is a holistic health practitioner, writer and blogger.
“Writing became my method of healing. It allowed me to put my pain on the page.”
Madeline Sharples is an author and poet living in California.
“I think the secret to great writing is being able to strike a balance between being attentive to detail, yet writing lean. In addition, it’s important to have characters who are deep and psychologically nuanced — the hero can’t be perfect and the villain shouldn’t be all bad.”
John DeDakis is with the CNN writing team &
the author of three mysteries.
“Now, as I write, I think of my younger self as a character with the nick name ‘Rosy Cheeks.’ I am interested in peeling back the layers of her formation to what she sensed but did not know.”
Shirley Showalter, memoir expert, writes from Brooklyn.
“Whatever your usual mode of creative expression, memoir writing is an incredible way to trace the hidden power lines in your work.”
Kate Lord Brown is an author and blogger.
“Perhaps understanding there are no definitive answers is what keeps us hopeful. If we let go of negative emotions and focus on what is positive in our lives it creates a wonderful dynamic to live by. You no longer fall into despair because you are actively looking for the affirmative.”
Barbara is an artist, author, and blogger living in Philadelphia.
“But a true story, a true piece of writing in any form, is not created from a desire to be good but a desire to understand. Remembering that will keep us going.”
Jen is an author and creative writing instructor in San Antonio.
“So, in the end, maybe the artist’s tinted glasses, just like the salmon and coral skies that cast new light into the desert, add excitement and momentum, add a bit of beauty in the moment … even if, the next day, the colors aren’t so bright.”
Melissa is a writer, blogger, photographer living in Arizona.
“Good advice, but it loses sight of the fact that reviews are opinions: they are subjective. Opinions – unlike facts – cannot claim to be ‘right’, we can only agree or disagree with them. To do this, we need to know something of the reviewer’s motivation.”
Trish is an author and photographer
living in New Zealand.
“I was so relieved to find authors such as Anne Lamott, who talked about their relationship with success, and how problematic they found it. Lamott is especially encouraging, as she is uncompromisingly candid about her human frailties.”
Fiona is a novelist, creativity coach & blogger
living in Malvern, Worcestershire (UK).
“That which makes our hearts beat, enables us to see, to touch, to think, to love – that’s no small, fleeting thing. And neither are we.”
Jennifer is an artist and author living in Seattle.
“My mother has been gone for almost 20 years, and she was lost to me for almost a decade more during her decline into dementia. But I still occasionally hear her voice. And her words – many of them so simple – have become ever more important as time passes.”
Laura is an award winning playwright and
author living in Massachusetts.
“Some lucky people can actually see the light that surrounds us, while others can feel it, and still others completely disbelieve.”
Melissa is the founder of The Women’s Nest & an
award-winning author living in Maryland.
“Through their guidance, I began opening up to the Universal Mind, a common thread that seemed to link all religions and great philosophers. I left behind formal “religion” and stepped onto my spiritual path, becoming a seeker.”
Cynthia is a gifted writer living in San Antonio.
“That there are no right answers is what frightens every writer, no matter how experienced, and yet also why every writer, no matter how experienced, chooses to write.”
Bill is the Executive Editor of Author Magazine in Seattle.
“My life, although filled with physical challenges, has become a re-composition full of unique harmony. God faithfully and creatively led me from the voice of a singer to that of an author.”
Holly is an author living in upstate New York.
“Fear and a lack of connection with others are the basis for creative blocks and procrastinations. Developing and sustaining relationships with mirrors, heroes, and twins actually gives us the psychological nourishment—which we take in and make our own—to risk taking the dive.”
Anne is an author and clinical psychologist in Cincinnati.
“As a society we strive to give our children a balanced nutritional diet but, at times, we lose sight of the need for a balanced childhood. We need to feed the souls and imaginations of our children, too.”
Sarah is an artist and blogger living near Indianapolis.
“Writing is a calling. I believe those who are drawn to it have something important to share with the world. It took a long time for me to recognize my own story as something worthy.”
Susan is an author living in Arizona.
“Children seem to get Reiki in a way that skeptical adults often don’t. Young kids haven’t yet learned not to believe in all those things we cannot see or prove.”
Kathy is an author, psychologist, life coach, and
Reiki master living in Colorado.
“Oh, the threats to storytelling have been myriad. The only thing is, storytelling never disappeared. Every step of the way, every new medium needed stories. People wrote and told them. The hunger for stories never abated.”
Cathryn is a professional storyteller, consultant, and
blogger from British Columbia.
“I’m a very visual person and see the scenes in my books completely set up in my mind. Imagination in both art and writing is an essential quality.”
Monti is an award-winning author & artist from Virginia.
“Lock me in a cave with a candle and I’ll decorate the place. A creative block for me is when I have too many ideas to choose what to do next. Having too many other tasks to accomplish can be considered a ‘block,’ as well. I’m always thinking ahead to my next painting, even when I’m asleep.”
Paul is an artist and author living in Columbia, Missouri.
“Perhaps for as long as humans can remember, every day the earth turns and the sun comes up. Why then does it attract me so? To see the first light is to witness a miracle. No two mornings are exactly the same. Each day has its own precious beginning.”
Terrill is an artist, photographer, writer living in British Columbia.
“I get excited when I can write a story in which the differences (age, ethnicity, class) between people fade and they recognize their universal connection, their humanity. I have a great fondness for poetic justice, so I’m hoping a character will arrive one day that cries out for a story about that.”
C. Lee is a YA author living in California.
“We all grow up taking names for granted; our own names and the names of places around us. But they are rarely arbitrary. Rarely is a name in a novel just a label. They carry the soul of the story’s world, like a soundtrack does in a movie. Again, thank you for hosting me and making me so welcome on your blog.”
Roz is an author, a writing consultant, living in London.
“There is no substitute for the broadening of our horizons which time naturally brings. Life itself is a metamorphosis and all people and all things are in a constant state of becoming.”
“It is my belief that art is the lucid tongue of the creative spirit, and artists in all cultures should be valued as high ambassadors of our civilization.”
Keith is a writer living in Maine.
“My memoir tells the story of love lost and found, but what I want explore in this guest essay is where the writing comes from and why it had lain in wait.”
Mary is an author living in Washington D.C.
• • • • • •
Again, my gratitude to all of you for sharing your
creative talents here in SunnyRoomStudio.
By logic and reason we die hourly. By imagination we live.
–William Butler Yeats
poet (1865-1939)
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
–Michelangelo Buonarroti
sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (1475-1564)