Thursday, June 28, 2007

Problem solving

A colleague at work sent a link to an interview with Ze Frank, part of the Cecil Vortex series of Conversations about Creativity.

I took special note of this section:

"There are times when I feel like I'm craving what I call unsolvable problems, and I have the kind of energy you need to move forward into uncharted territory and brave that side of things. And then there are other times when that seems like the most difficult chore in the world. So I've also gotten pretty comfortable knowing when I need to pick up solvable problems."

For me, new poems and new work sometimes feel like unsolvable problems (irony: I can solve them, or I can try), while sending poems out feels like a solvable problem (even though I have absolutely no control over the outcome). It's a process I'm familiar with, at least.

Originally, I planned to avoid sending work out over the summer—the mostly nonreading time. Now, I'm feeling like I want solvable problems.

Last summer, I sent around a list of publications that read June-August. This year, I'm not so prepared. Any recommendations?

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