“We live in a world where joy and empathy and pleasure are all around us, there for the noticing.”
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“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.”
― When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
― When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
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“These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.”
― The Essential Rumi
― The Essential Rumi
¡ POETRY !
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— last activity Feb 16, 2026 08:36PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read ...more
Varsha’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Varsha’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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Art, Biography, Chick-lit, Children's, Classics, Comics, Contemporary, Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic novels, Historical fiction, History, Horror, Humor and Comedy, Manga, Memoir, Music, Mystery, Non-fiction, Paranormal, Philosophy, Poetry, Psychology, Romance, Science, Science fiction, Self help, Suspense, Spirituality, Thriller, Travel, and Young-adult
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