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Anthony Alvarado

Anthony Alvarado

Category Archives: writing

New Book Out This Month! DIY RESISTANCE!

05 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by Alvarado in writing

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DIY Resistance celebrates the power of the people and shows how readers can take inspiration from the actions and words of leaders, activists, and historical heroes; how we can learn to take care of ourselves physically and emotionally in troubled times, and do our part to look after the larger community around us. Our fight is not a new one. It has been going on continuously for thousands of years, as individuals and movements have stood up to despots and demagogues. DIY Resistance recalls the successful actions people’s movements use to defeat tyrants: defend free speech, look after your community, fight racism and misogyny, organize, protest, network, publish. The lessons of successful resistance are rich and they are everywhere around us. Take note, find your inspiration and your strength, and join others around you who share your commitment.

The How & Why of Zines

06 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by Alvarado in creativity, Uncategorized, writing

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art, creativity, distro, Joshua Amberson, Martha Grover, podcast, portland, The Magic Hour, writing, xray, zines

In this episode I talk to Martha Grover and Joshua James Amberson all about zines. Both Martha and Joshua are seasoned veterans of the Portland zine scene. So listen up young whippersnappers! We talk about how to make& distro zines, why to make zines, and also about the good ol’ days of zines (and Portland) and where things are now in the internet age.

http://themagichour.libsyn.com/episode-6-zines

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Martha Grover

Martha Grover is the author of the zine Somnambulist. And the memoir The End of My Career, available from Perfect Day publishing.

joshua

Joshua James Amberson

Joshua James Amberson is the author of Basic Paper Airplane, The Prince Zine, and he writes for The Portland Mercury.

The Writer’s Life exercise #1

22 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by Alvarado in creativity, Uncategorized, writing

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Tags

Daily Writing, motivation, PCC, Picasso, Stephen King, writing, writing exercise, Writing habit, Writing Practice

I’m teaching a creative writing class at PCC right now. I thought I would share my “homework” here, since a lot of readers of this blog don’t live in Portland where the class is offered. I teach the class Thursday nights, so each Friday I will post up the writing exercises we did in class. If you follow along for the next six weeks in a notebook of your own I believe these very simple exercises will help you to get what you want out of your writing practice.

The first three exercises are about how to build a strong writing habit. The last three exercises are about finding ways to get your writing out there and to connect to an audience.

Writing is like anything else, to get good at it you have to practice regularly. If you wanted to become a good chef you would cook a lot, if you want to run a marathon you would run a lot, if you wanted to learn how to play a guitar you practice. Writing is the same way. Don’ think that you can become a good writer by just writing when you feel inspired. You become good at something by doing it on a daily basis. It’s really that simple! To remind me of that truth I have this quote taped above my writing desk.

“Inspiration exists but it has to find us working.”  – Picasso

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If you want some really down to earth advice on how to build a strong daily writing practice you should check out”On Writing” by Stephen King. This guy is a workhorse! You may not want to write Stephen King type books, but his practical advice on how to get down to writing is really meat-and-potatos no nonsense stuff. Even the most abstract and ethereal poet could learn a thing or two from King’s dedication to the craft!

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WRITING EXERCISE #1

Okay, now here is the writing exercise. This should take about 15 minutes. I want you to write three paragraphs (Or you can write three pages the length is your call).

  1. Describe a time in the past when writing was going awesome for you. When you felt creative, inspired, happy with your writing. Maybe it is the time when you got hooked on writing. Describe what it felt like, and try to describe some specifics. What time of day was it? Were you writing in a notebook or on a laptop? Really write a vivid picture.
  2. Imagine yourself in the future having a really great week of writing. Describe everything just like you did on the previous page. Where are you writing, how much are you writing, how does it feel to be at the top of your writing game?
  3. Now imagine that you have kept up with your daily writing practice for a full year. Where are you now? Maybe you finished a book? Maybe you have grown as a writer? Describe what you have achieved and how you feel about it.

That is the exercise! Yes, it is simple.But effective, this exercise is the same visualization that athletes use in training. However it is easier for us writers, because we are already good at the writing part! You can use this exercise as often as you want whenever you feel the need to find inspiration for your writing practice.

The Sorrows & Joys of daydreams

28 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Alvarado in writing

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day jobs, daydreams, dreams, hedonic adaptation, writing

daydreaming-200x300

What does it feel like to get published? I don’t really know. I mean I have been published by small press places before, but I haven’t had a book published by a big boy publishing house. What does it feel like? I’m ’bout to find out in just a month, when D.I.Y. Magic launches on April 7th.

What’s weird is I still, in my mind, self identify as an “aspiring-writer”. I guess when you spend years in one mode it is hard to change. (I had a rich Aunt who had survived the Great Depression, even though she was loaded she hoarded food in her pantry: onions, beans, oats, etc.) For many years I dreamed of writing a book that would land me an agent and a big name publisher. I dreamed of being able to support myself with my writing and quit my day job. But now that has happened it still feels like a dream! It is hard to believe, even though it’s been about a year since I signed my book deal with Penguin Random House.

penguin

!

I haven’t gone to a day job in a year, I’ve just been writing. Sure, it has been fucking amazing. No doubt. But what’s also surprising is how easy it is to get accustomed to this. To just think of it as a job which has it’s struggles, it’s pitfalls, it’s ups and downs. Which is human nature. They say that people who win the lottery experience just a few months of joy and then go right back to their normal baseline of emotions. How sad is that?! No matter how fortunate we might be, we get used to it and take it for granted after a little while. It’s called hedonic adaptation.

I often think about this same thing in the context of life itself. How good it is to be alive, how lucky we are! And how easy it is to forget that feeling, and think the world is boring because you are used to it. When that happens we stop daydreaming because we think we know what to expect. That creates a rut, because you get what you expect. I’ll tell you a secret—you must nourish your daydreams because they are the soil from which the future grows.

I was telling a friend the other day— in my wildest daydreams about the writing life this is about as far as I ever got: quitting my dumb day job and getting a book published. I have no idea what happens next because I have outpaced my wildest dreams. All I know now is: I got to keep dreaming.

Daydreaming_Gentleman

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