Comments on: Question of the Week: Hope

By: C

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:27:01 +0000

When I feel hopeless its a deep down, to the bottom of the feet feeling of intensity. I have to pull myself up. I look at art or muster some words and just start writing . It’s amazing how much this helps.

By: litpark » LitPark will re-open in September

litpark » LitPark will re-open in September — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:11:14 +0000

[...] * Near-Death Experience * Where? * Mistakes * Writer Communities * Hope * Now What? * Independent Press * Generosity * Nice! * Zodiac * Style * Professional Jealousy * AWP [...]

By: Jason Boog

Jason Boog — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:24:48 +0000

When things are bad, I generally go to my friends. A few good conversations with somebody I love usually sets me straight. When I need hope for writing (or feeling better), I usually read Bruno Schultz. He takes me back to being a kid, and turns the world into this wonderful new place. That usually gives me enough energy to keep going…

By: Susan Henderson

Susan Henderson — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:24:00 +0000

Fascinating to see all these ideas. Aurelio, I think I might try your idea of simply getting up and doing anything next time I feel hopeless because I get womped by a sense of fatigue more than anything else. I like that idea. Beautiful quotes and stories, you guys. I’ll link every one of you tomorrow for the Weekly Wrap.

I’ve been busy with my book deal stuff, but I’m not complaining one bit. God, it feels so great to be past the anxiety and the waiting and the unknown. Busy definitely suits me.

Okay, I’m off. Hey, Antoine and Jim! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you here and it’s a nice treat.

By: Jim Hanas

Jim Hanas — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:14:52 +0000

I think the painter Francis Bacon perfectly summarized the irreducibility of our situation.

“One’s basic nature is totally without hope, and yet one’s nervous system is made out of optimistic stuff.”

By: amy

amy — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 10:40:10 +0000

What gives me hope is remembering all the writers and artists and people I admire, and how many of them had it so much harder than I do now. How some of them even made a virtue out of desperation, using poverty and failure as excuses to live marvelously marginal lives.

Even if I never achieve traditional success, I can at least make my life a work of art.

By: Shelley Marlow

Shelley Marlow — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:31:06 +0000

Yes,Lance, I agree that muteness is roughest. I barely talked for a year as an 11 yr. old.

By: Ric Marion

Ric Marion — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:41:46 +0000

Wow! Obvious apology to Lance. Been there.

By: Gail Siegel

Gail Siegel — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:06:06 +0000

Thanks to Clare for that poem. Wonderful. I am an ignoramus when it comes to poetry, so I really appreciate it.

I’m going through a pretty hopeless time, but I think that visiting Clare’s blog –which I just visited for the first time — could cheer up anyone. It’s lovely.

By: Susan Henderson

Susan Henderson — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 16:53:50 +0000

I’m posting this for Lance (with apologies that his comments didn’t go through):

my writing has never made me feel hopeless. it’s the times when I can’t or don’t write that drop me into despair. a feeling of muteness that makes everything about my life feel just a shell. Yes, I’ve had spells where either I was so muddled that I couldn’t write or I defiantly didn’t want to be just another hopeless writer so I wouldn’t. A self imposed exile of words. Sometimes weeks, months, the longest spell four years. For me those were the hopeless times. Traumatic events make me mute; give me the sense that words have abandoned me; hopeless. But, the simplest of daily journal entries, the genesis of a new story, a irreverent blog, a dozen pages in a moleskine, a note to a friend…even these words and the dialogue they mesh into; always Hope.

for me, hopelessness is wordlessness.

xo-LR

lance reynald
http://lancereynald.com