The Weekly Atticus (02/24/2018)

Always Be Creating | The Weekly Atticus

A recap of the week at Atticus Review, along with some extras.

Dear ,

E.M. Forster claimed in his diary in 1922 that he was happiest when busy. But he followed that statement with this one: “How fatuous!...Always working, never creating.” First, “fatuous” is a delightful, robust word that needs to be revived in our everyday language. Second, almost every writer I know can identify with “always working, never creating.” Forster was at the time publishing his journalism widely while yearning to finish the stalled novel that would become A Passage to India. He hadn’t published a novel since Howard’s End in 1910. Forster understood that reporting was not creating, just as we all know that “busy” is not necessarily productive or creative. When I think of “busy” people, I think of energy frittered away on tasks that most anyone could do. Restlessness. Mindlessness. One’s life as an occupied territory with all the generals shouting their conflicting orders at once. I don’t think ‘happy.’ I don’t think ‘creative.’I am guilty of being busy. When one of my co-workers recently described me as a good citizen, my first response was to puff with pride as though it were an award or compliment. It’s neither. Good citizens don’t make waves. They play a perpetual supporting role, work tirelessly behind the scenes for someone else’s vision, uphold the status quo. That’s not creating.I’m not against citizenship. Organizations are replete with members who fail to contribute their share, and we couldn’t function without those “good citizens” who pick up the slack. Someone has to do the invisible labor, the unsexy but necessary work, and we should all thank those people publicly and often. But do you need to be one of those people? That is, do you know the boundary between your share of the work and everyone else’s? And can you enforce that boundary?Is your particular expertise required to review policies and procedures? Will the work place suffer if you don’t head the social committee? Is the word “no” in your vocabulary? If not, how fatuous! Revive your no’s or, if you can’t quite insist on that, remember what you’re meant to say yes to: the life you want and intend to live.I can’t tell you what you should value. If your calling is to collect funds for birthday cards and sympathy bouquets, treat it like any calling and fulfill the role consciously and with joy. But I suspect that if you’re reading this, you also hear the call to create. I know I do. And I spend too many hours on committees, boards, and organizations that are fulfilling someone else’s life mission and not my own. I am too busy, an overly good citizen, and not proud of that.E.M. Forster is the only person who could have written A Passage to India. He finally abandoned journalism to finish that novel. The world is richer for it, and he reported feeling again like the writer he believed he was meant to be. You are the only person who can share your unique vision of the world through your poems, stories, essays, and other creations. Let this serve as your reminder and your invitation to be always creating, never too busy.Thanks for reading. As always, we’re glad you’re here.

Chauna CraigNonfiction Editor

ATTICUS NEWS

We're very excited to announce that our first ever Atticus Review Print Annual is

!  The issue will be available to purchase at

in Tampa, Table 340.

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWN by Adam Gustavson

BOOK REVIEW: SMILING THROUGH CLENCHED TEETHA review of AS LIE IS TO GRIN by Simeon MarsalisReview by Elliott Turner"Simeon Marsalis’ debut novel is a brief but powerful look at a young black man in New York who keenly feels the weight of history and yearns for more both from himself and society. I highly recommend it."READ ON

FICTION: THE WEIGH STATION IS CLOSEDBy John Jodzio"When she throws the wrapper into his garbage can she sees there’s part of a burrito there. When she looks closer at the burrito she sees frosted lipstick smeared on the tortilla."READ ON

FEATURED POET: CLAY MATTHEWS"...an ear for sound and an eye for craft, Matthews has the chops to be one of the top poets in Academia." - Michael Meyerhofer, Poetry EditorREAD ON

CNF: ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT A LOVED ONE'S DRINKING? 23 QUESTIONS.by Kristin Barendsen"The first bottle, I found under the passenger seat of our car later that night. A fifth of Absolut."READ ON

MIXED MEDIA: MARE NUBIUMA video poem by Laura Frare and Mary Kathryn Jablonski.READ ON

Congratulations to these Atticus Authors on their recent successes!READ ON

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