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While attending the 2019 Associated Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Portland, Oregon in March, I noticed the theme ‘fake it until you make it’ can be a powerful motivator. After all, if You don’t believe in what you’re doing, how can anyone else be expected to believe it? More than 12,000 writers attended AWP this year at the Oregon Convention Center. Author panels and on- and off-site readings included Pam Houston (Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, Cowboys Are My Weakness, Sight Hound, Contents May Have Shifted), Stephanie Land (Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive), Terese Marie Mailhot (Heart Berries: A Memoir), Ariel Levy (The Rules Do Not Apply, Female Chauvinist Pigs), Cheryl Strayed (Wild, Torch), and from the Cuba Writers Program, authors Alden Jones (The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler’s Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia, Unaccompanied Minors), Dariel Juarez (A Kind of Solitude), and Tim Weed (A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing, Will Poole’s Island). I wouldn’t say that anyone at AWP was ‘faking it’ but I will say that it takes tons of guts to put ourselves out there, to be seen and heard through our work, and in such a personal way. Sometimes, we have to fake it just a little (talk ourselves out of those self-defeating narratives) in order to get started, to create something meaningful.

Posts tagged Animal rescue

The Art of Animal Rescue

Coakley is an independent animal rescuer. But she affectionately says that she doesn’t find lost animals; lost animals find her.

Lisa Bess KramerOctober 15, 2019Cleveland Edits & Cleveland Literary AgencyAnimal rescue, dogs, Cleveland HeightsComment

July 2017 Feature #2: The Art of Love in Rescue...

Joy Karuna and her husband, Tom, live on a no-frills budget. They reside in a two-bedroom, one-bath home; eat inexpensive, home-cooked meals; and buy clothing at thrift stores.

Theirs is not an easy, silver-platter life. But Joy’s demeanor mirrors the geniality and optimism of her first name. Recently, in a Facebook post expressing unease about the state of the world, Tom reached out for people’s thoughts on potential pathways to social justice and lasting peace. Joy posted a response consisting of five words of reassurance:

“Cows. Cows are the solution.”

Lisa Bess KramerJuly 22, 2017Cleveland EditsAnimal rescue, Animal sancuary, farm animal rescue, Jefferson Ohio, Lasa Sanctuary

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