Lisa Young

I always thought it was ironic to combine a night of drunkenness and indulgence with making new goals/resolutions. How many times have I resolved to have a healthier lifestyle in the new year, only to wake up on the first day of that new year, hung over, exhausted and regretting all of the rich, albeit, delicious food that went along with the celebrations. New Year’s Eve is not the night to get creative and start making fancy cocktails…and yet every year I do. Because New Year’s Eve = party. And I just end up answering that call – to celebrate! I don’t even like champagne, but come New Year’s, I suddenly MUST have some. A couple of years ago, I realized that many of my friends don’t even believe in making resolutions because they never stick. I was floored by that opinion, because, of course, I realized that for the most part, they are right. But what does that say about us? Can’t we change? And if we want to make some changes, why not make them at the beginning of a n

Well, I’m working on a poetry manuscript. It’s going along well. Just about finished the first round of editing. (I still don't have a title for the collection yet.)   You have to be very Zen when you’re editing, because there’s no rushing through the process. If something’s not working, you just have to keep searching. Sometimes it seems like I’m on a goose chase trying to track down the right word or words. And if it’s a fairly big change, you have to let it sit for a few days – to see if it’s still working when you pick it back up again. I’m not sure you can ever be 100% objective about your own work, but you can be more or less objective. What else is new? I’m all set to be a first-reader for one of my friend’s novellas – looking forward to that. Just have to print out all the pages and put aside an evening for it. There are tons of literary events going on right now: I’m excited about the Quattro Books launch on October 24. An old friend that I haven’t seen in ag

“We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world. The lives that you admire, the attitudes that seem noble to you, have not been shaped by a paterfamilias or a schoolmaster, they have sprung from very different beginnings, having been influenced by evil or commonplace that prevailed round them. They represent a struggle and a victory.” –Marcel Proust For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had nomadic tendencies: whether it was related to work, academics, or pleasure, I’ve always felt an overwhelming need for a constant change of scenery. This craving for travel has now been termed as Wanderlust. Like many others I’m sure, I’ve wanted to visit new places, experience things out of the ordinary, and learn about subject matter far out of my interests. And as of late I’ve realized that

The launch is not too far away for my LyricalMyrical chapbook, This Cabin . Read what two fabulous poets have to say about it: This Cabin , by Lisa young, is a collection of spare and striking poems that jump right in, investigating the tension between being in the moment, and being in the mind. As the title implies, the poems are rich with specificity, detail, and the struggles between getting away and coming home. In a Rumi-esque manner, the narrator "welcomes whatever comes," be it encountering the personalities of caterpillars, or washing a small pot; be it rushing with a "mad-hatter to do list" or "seeing the sunrise / for the first time in a year." Young keeps the reader searching as well, punctuating images of the mundane with spontaneous questions, "How do you fall in step ... Without forcing something?" The reader is invited to pause with the narrator and ask, "How do I live enough ... Without scraping my knees." Young

A June launch for my chapbook is nothing short of fortuitous. Getaways are what summer is all about, and This Cabin definitely pays homage to the great escape. Some of the poems were written over last summer and fall, when I had the chance to soak up some sun and gear way down. There are some winter poems in there too. You can’t forget winter. It’s no good launching alone. It’s no fun. Happily, Pat Connors and Brenda Clews will also be launching Lyricalmyrical chapbooks on the same night. I’m in the process of experiencing some serious anticipation of the event. Luciano Iacobelli, who’s the publisher at Lyricalmyrical, will be hosting the evening at Q Space. Q Space is not only home to many reading series in the city, it’s also home to Quattro Books. Yes, their office is in the back. Yes, Q Space is a café, a bookstore and (depending on the night) also a bar. I couldn’t ask for a better place to launch a chapbook. Lyricalmyrical chapbooks are all handmade

Well, I'm loving it. I've found a writer that I'm totally in love with and he's helping me out - a lot. Raymond Carver. You're left to fill in some blanks. It's like a make your own adventure story, but much more satisfying. Right now, I'm barrelling through another Carver collection. Often times, I come to the end of one of his stories, and think, Is this really the ending? For example, in the story, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," the end [spoiler alert!] has everyone sitting around in the dark, in the quiet - and you can hear their hearts beating. And I'm thinking, What an unusual ending. And then I'm thinking, I just love this. He finds a way to tell something as truthfully as possible and that's so deeply wonderful. For example, in another story, Carver has one of his characters, the husband, being kicked out of his wife's house. It ends with the husband saying, "I just want to say one more thing.&quo

Those who say that there's no such thing as writer's block are just trying to cheer us up. It's real all right.  When you're putting off writing, sometimes all you need is a different approach. Here are some ways to fall in love with writing again... 1. Try a different genre. Read all different kinds of writing. Maybe one particular genre will strike you in a new way and you'll finally realize what you're meant to be writing. Sometimes if you're blocked, it's because the ideas that you want to explore need a different form. 2. Brainstorm.  Whatever form of writing you decide to do, brainstorming is always a great next step. Make a list of ideas and pick the most promising one and give it a try. Looking to write a novel? Brainstorm story ideas and then write loglines for each story. It's a bit like a scavenger hunt. But when you hit on the right idea, I'd like to see if you can stop yourself from writing.  3. Set some wr

It's the New Year and it seems the appropriate time to start reassessing goals and aiming for that ever-elusive thing called a balanced life. I used to think that if I was going to survive as a writer, I'd need to cut out everything that didn't have to do with writing. Cooking? Errands? Grocery shopping? What a waste. I could be writing with that time. Going for a walk? How boring. Banking? Budgeting? Ditto. Better to save all that energy for writing. Oh yes and regular sweeping and mopping and things like doing the laundry went out the window too. But the problem with narrowing one's life to focus on writing is that it doesn't really work. Balance, in all things, works. But for some of us, life has a way of shifting from one extreme to another. Now I walk regularly, have a clean house, budget, do the banking and even cook. So where's the writing gone during these ever-productive holidays? It's dragging behind me complaining about how I don't pay