BOOKS OF THE DAY!
Dear Ones —
Last night the winner of the Wellcome Prize (for excellence in medical writing) was announced…and it was Andrew Solomon, for his masterwork FAR FROM THE TREE. Some of you may have remembered me writing about about that book on this page already…it's brilliant!
I was just lucky to be on the shortlist with such a lineup….and I wanted to suggest humbly that you read ALL these books. They are wonderful.
Man, I had fun in London!
Heart,
LG
via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall
CALLING ALL ONCE AND FUTURE WRITERS!
Take a moment to read this marvelously written essay by Karen Gillespie, about Chick Lit vs Serious literature…and the dangers of MFA programs…and the importance of staying true to your own voice.
I think this is just freaking great. Made me want to stand up and cheer.
https://nyti.ms/1kbtv90
Don't let anyone push you around, writers!
LG
A Master’s in Chick Lit
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com
‘Muscular prose’? I’ll take shirtless men instead.
via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall
THANK YOU, EVERYONE!
You're blowing my mind, dear ones. My new TED talk was released only a few days ago, and already almost a half a million people have watched it!
This is truly amazing to me because I was nervous and insecure about this speech. I really can't believe the response.
Anyhow, when something goes viral with me, I know who to credit: All of you good souls who hang out with me on this page every single day.
Thank you for watching, thank you for sharing, thank you for all your loving feedback.
You are very good to me.
Sono grata…I am grateful.
https://bit.ly/1k1jnRu
Heart,
LG
Success, failure and the drive to keep creating
www.ted.com
Elizabeth Gilbert was once an "unpublished diner waitress," devastated by rejection letters. And yet, in the wake of the success of 'Eat, Pray, Love,' she found herself identifying strongly with her former self. With beautiful insight, Gilbert reflects on why success can be as disorienting as failur…
via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall
IS THIS OUR ALMA WHITTAKER?
Yesterday at my event in London, I received the most beautiful gift from a reader named Lily. She handed me a beautifully wrapped small package of postcards, illustrated with this image, which she herself had drawn and designed. She thought the woman looked like Alma, and I do, too…
Such a sweet gift!
Thank you, dear Lily, wherever you are!
And now I must send everyone to your Etsy page, because ALL your work is so lovely:
https://etsy.me/1h4nXfD
Heart,
LG
via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall
ARE YOU FEELING MORE AFRAID THAN YOU NEED TO FEEL?
Does this photo help?
It helps and inspires me.
I'm in London right now, and last night at dinner I sat next to a historian, and we got talking about the London Blitz — the 57 straight nights of German bombing raids that terrorized English citizens, destroyed great swaths of London, and left thousands dead.
As for how the English decided to comport themselves during the terror? Well, this photo tells the story:
Sit in the rubble of what was once your home and have a cup of tea.
You've heard of KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. You've seen that classic British wartime poster replicated a million times, in a millions forms, till the message has nearly become forgotten. But it's worth remembering, in earnest.
I think the modern western world has become way, way too afraid. We have been so safe and so prosperous and so comfortable for so long that we have become hyper-sensitive to even the faintest brushes of fear. Real and imagined terrors haunt us, and we magnify those terrors mightily. The news scares us, our food scares us, unwashed hands scare us, letting our children walk outside alone scares us, strangers scare us, traffic scares us, the weather scares us, change of any kind scares us, air travel scares us, not wearing sunscreen scares us, our shadows scare us…
We are far, far more afraid than we need to be. I say this not because the world is without risk, but only because we have deep, latent capacities for endurance and survival which most of us have forgotten about. Whatever the danger or the upheaval — real or imagined, emotional or material — we can work it through. Really, we can. People always have. Above all, we have the capacity to cultivate a willful dignity in the face of our fears. Look at this photo every once in a while, for an example of the horrors people have managed to handle calmly.
You have that in you, too — somewhere. Trust me on this.
And if all else fails, just sit for a moment, have a cup of tea, and reflect upon this calming truth: Whatever the chaos around you (real or imagined): You're still here.
Heart,
LG
via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall
