SILVERSMITH WRITING|EDITING

I’m going through a George Harrison phase. Lately I’ve been binge-reading books and watching movies about his life, his spirituality, and his music. George was always my favorite Beatle, but I never knew much about him that didn't come from teen magazines and bubblegum cards. Now I’m consuming all the George material I can get my hands on. Wonderful Tonight, Pattie Boyd’s memoir of her life with George Harrison (and, after he stole her away from her husband, with Eric Clapton

I remember the first time I encountered a Palomino Blackwing pencil. I went stupid with love. Someone had handed out pencils to members of my church choir for marking our music. I looked down at the slim, black pencil in my hand and was instantly smitten with its esthetic. The matte finish gleamed voluptuously. The oblong white eraser, held in place by a tiny metal grip above the gold ferrule, was pristine and ethereal. I was captivated by the words, Palomino Blackwing, stamp

If you’re going to write an epic poem, you have to begin with an invocation to the Muse. Homer, the first known Muse petitioner, was great at this. Calling on these goddesses of creative inspiration to assist him in writing his best material, he ended up with The Iliad and The Odyssey. But it works with lesser endeavors, too. When I was raising three small children, the only writing I could manage was the occasional journal entry. Often I would begin by mentioning how long it

Years ago, I belonged to a writer’s group. We had come together after a writing workshop based on the book “Writing Without Teachers,” by Peter Elbow. The book became my go-to inspiration for many years, with its process exercises, writer’s block solutions—and most of all, its respect for all writers. Part of the workshop involved giving feedback to passages of original writing. The leader handed out a list of questions that we were to use for eliciting feedback. The writer w