Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
How language evolves, or, Cartoon Girl watches the second presidential debate
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Fan mail!
Dear Cartoon Girl,
Do you make up the questions, or do people really ask them?
– A fan in the fog
Dear Fan,
You're the first to sign yourself a fan, and for that I will hold you in my cartoon heart forever.
In answer to your question: my creator primed me with a few letters to get me started (sounds profound, huh?), but now my letters come from real people like you. I love getting letters, even if the questions sometimes make my head hurt. Thanks for not sending one of those.
I gather from your postmark that the fog you refer to is one that rolls in off the Pacific. I spent the last week in the fog of a North Carolina mountaintop, at writing camp. (Recognize my WILD hiking boots? Bestsellers!) We were called to meals by a clanging iron bell, and I made new friends and ran two pens out of ink.
Love,
Cartoon Girl
Do you make up the questions, or do people really ask them?
– A fan in the fog
Dear Fan,
You're the first to sign yourself a fan, and for that I will hold you in my cartoon heart forever.
In answer to your question: my creator primed me with a few letters to get me started (sounds profound, huh?), but now my letters come from real people like you. I love getting letters, even if the questions sometimes make my head hurt. Thanks for not sending one of those.
I gather from your postmark that the fog you refer to is one that rolls in off the Pacific. I spent the last week in the fog of a North Carolina mountaintop, at writing camp. (Recognize my WILD hiking boots? Bestsellers!) We were called to meals by a clanging iron bell, and I made new friends and ran two pens out of ink.
Love,
Cartoon Girl
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Drowning
You might not think so, but Cartoon Girl actually works for a living. This week she is drowning in work and has no time to answer letters. Poor Cartoon Girl . . . all that wisdom, all those bon mots accumulating in her big cartoon head -- which, fortunately, can be used as a flotation device.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Starting
Dear Cartoon Girl,
Writing – where do I start?
– Cold feet, cold fingers
Dear Cold,
Surprise! You just did!
You start by writing a letter. It can be to anybody about anything. Write about your day, what you’ve done so far, what you mean to do. Write about something that’s caught your eye. Write a childhood memory. Write as much or as little as you like, it doesn’t matter, because you aren’t going to mail the letter. Not yet. You’re going to sign it and put it away.
Next day, write a letter to someone else. Don’t send that one either.
Let the letters sit in a drawer for a week, then take them out and see what you might like to change or add, and do that. Then mail them if you like, keeping copies for yourself. Or don’t mail them but keep them as material for stories.
Ta-da, Cold, you’re writing!
If letters seem daunting, try postcards.
Your letter to me is perfect: succinct and evocative. I can picture you at your kitchen table, chilly, bundled up, preparing to Write. Are you wearing those fingerless gloves? Your composition book open, your pencil at the ready, your head full of ideas, so many, all barking at each other like dogs. Like dogs trying to scare the mailman! You try to shush them. Finally you do. They stop all at once. The roar in your head turns to silence. You wait for another thought to come. You roll your pencil between your fingers. You start to feel a tiny bit desperate. What do you do?
You write me a letter.
Love,
Cartoon Girl
Writing – where do I start?
– Cold feet, cold fingers
Dear Cold,
Surprise! You just did!
You start by writing a letter. It can be to anybody about anything. Write about your day, what you’ve done so far, what you mean to do. Write about something that’s caught your eye. Write a childhood memory. Write as much or as little as you like, it doesn’t matter, because you aren’t going to mail the letter. Not yet. You’re going to sign it and put it away.
Next day, write a letter to someone else. Don’t send that one either.
Let the letters sit in a drawer for a week, then take them out and see what you might like to change or add, and do that. Then mail them if you like, keeping copies for yourself. Or don’t mail them but keep them as material for stories.
Ta-da, Cold, you’re writing!
If letters seem daunting, try postcards.
Your letter to me is perfect: succinct and evocative. I can picture you at your kitchen table, chilly, bundled up, preparing to Write. Are you wearing those fingerless gloves? Your composition book open, your pencil at the ready, your head full of ideas, so many, all barking at each other like dogs. Like dogs trying to scare the mailman! You try to shush them. Finally you do. They stop all at once. The roar in your head turns to silence. You wait for another thought to come. You roll your pencil between your fingers. You start to feel a tiny bit desperate. What do you do?
You write me a letter.
Love,
Cartoon Girl
Saturday, September 1, 2012
September 1: moving day
Dear Readers,
I've just moved all my old advice columns from my creator's blog to this one, which is why there are so many letters with today's date on them. I'm sorry if your comments got lost in the move.
Keep in touch.
Love,
Cartoon Girl
I've just moved all my old advice columns from my creator's blog to this one, which is why there are so many letters with today's date on them. I'm sorry if your comments got lost in the move.
Keep in touch.
Love,
Cartoon Girl
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