Conversations with Calliope- Twenty Reasons

(Portuguese Street Tile)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Ready to share your ten reasons project?.
JOE: Actually there are twenty. Ten for and ten against reading our book.
CALLIOPE: Lets start with the pros.
JOE: Okay, here goes:

Ten Reasons to Read Conversations with Calliope: A Year with My Muse

1. Find out where writers get their ideas.

2. Hear what a writer does all day.

3. Listen to what writers say about being a writer.

4. How can a muse be more helpful?

5. See how to get unstuck when you write.

6. Learn how to talk with a muse.

7. Explore what else writers need to know besides how to write.

8. Discover what keeps a writer going page after page.

9. Determine who supports a writer’s efforts.

10. Unearth the sources of writers’ inspiration.

CALLIOPE: Pretty good. How about the cons?
JOE: Okay.

Ten Reasons Not to Read Conversations with Calliope: A Year with My Muse

1. Who needs a muse? Writing is the writer’s responsibility.

2. I don’t care how things get written. I just want to enjoy what I read.

3. I can write a book if I want to. Maybe some day I will, but I’ll do it my way.

4. There’s nothing magic about writing. It’s just hard work.

5. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write anything good.

6. Writing’s old fashioned. Everybody watches TV these days.

7. I don’t have time to read, much less write.

8. Most writers are just crusty alcoholics.

9. Writers are like teachers. They can't do anything useful so they just talk about it.

10. I’d never want someone to tell me what to write.

CALLIOPE: Are you trying to talk people out of reading the book?
JOE: No but I want to address possible reservations before readers think them up.
CALLIOPE: Anything else?
JOE: Yes. If people really believe the cons, I don't want them wasting their time reading our book.
CALLIOPE: But?
JOE: But maybe they will rethink their objections and have a look anyway.
CALLIOPE: Good thought. Let's see what happens.
JOE: Nothing to lose as far as I can see. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Quite well thank you.
CALLIOPE: What brings on your good fortune?
JOE: My cold finally seems to be receding with prompting from my new neti pot routine. I was also quite productive yesterday.
CALLIOPE: What did you produce?
JOE: My priority was my workshop Writing for the Heart which debuts today at Genesee County Mental Health Association.
CALLIOPE: What does it consist of?
JOE: I plan to talk about why we write, for whom we write, what we write and how we write. I will also bring examples of various type of writings I have done including this blog, a novel, short story, newspaper column, journal entry and memoir.
CALLIOPE: Sounds pretty comprehensive. How about poetry?
JOE: That's the one type of writing which eludes me. I think I might bring along a poem but I don't write poetry. I'm not quite sure why, but I just don't.
CALLIOPE: Do you think it doesn't fit your disposition?
JOE: Possibly. I see poetry as "word painting" which is very precise. I can appreciate good poetry but don't seem to have the patience to hone my writing to the point that good poets do.
CALLIOPE: Well at least you accept this limitation.
JOE: I do. I think I will stick with the kinds of writing I like and am better at. See you tomorrow.

(Dome- Gugenheim Museum- New York)