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

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The Will to Mull

Dear ,Sometimes, in the creative process, "beginning" doesn't look like what you think it's going to look like.There's an essay in my book called "The Big Bad Wolf." I had the idea for it sometime in the late summer of 2014. I know the date because I mentioned it in a blog post called The Unloved Pet in October. If people asked me what I was working on, I likely offered that piece up as one answer. It suggested I was behaving in a legitimate, writerly way. It gave the impression of pen to paper. Of fingers on keys.The fact is I never wrote a word of The Big Bad Wolf until nearly a year later: June 4th, 2015. I know this by the create date of the file on my computer. By the time I actually started writing the piece, it had been knocking around in my subconscious for about ten months. Once I began assembling the words, though, it only took me two days to write, and required relatively little editing. The piece is now the central piece in my book. Looking back, the question is this: Did the piece take me two days to write, or ten months? Would it have been the same piece if I wrote it in August 2014 instead of June 2015? Am I a dreadfully lazy procrastinator or highly energetic incubator? Sometimes beginning is waiting. Sometimes beginning is publishing a blog post about a song you like or a documentary you saw. Sometimes beginning is just mulling. If I've learned anything in my 40-some years it's that mulling is a significant part of the creative process. And one thing I've gotten better at is letting myself mull. Mulling is okay. Let us all have the will to mull. Maybe this week's Weekly Atticus will help you do just that.We're glad you're here.

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWNBy Adam GustavsonDON

psychoanaLITical: The Unattainable Love ObjectBoo Trundle 

Elizabeth (Boo) Trundle discusses a book, with a healthy dose of introspection, philosophy, and psychology mixed in. Today’s book: Quartet by Jean Rhys. Topics include repetition compulsion, cat fights, Jean Rhys, and, of course, women who love men who hate women. Seduction, sex & saddle shoes. (the three S's). Hope you enjoy!READ MORE

BOOK REVIEW: LADY BE GOODBy Rachel Wooley."This cinematic collection of poetry examines the many facets of being a woman of a certain era. Its lens focuses on various women playing their roles – sometimes literally, on stage or screen; sometimes just in appearances or public spaces. In other poems, the collection gives voice to the woman, particularly the glamorous, the idealized, the unapproachable."READ MORE

FICTION: THE WILD KINDBy Taylor Kobran"When we roved the streets of our town one summer, we ferreted for something into which to burrow our fangs. We wore old sneakers that were too tight. Our bodies at six years old were already shape-shifting into the unreliable shells we’d be trying to cast off for the remainder of our lives. The hard plastic tips of our shoelaces made cracking noises against the pavement that sounded like gunshots."READ MORE

POETRY: THE FIRST CATCALLBy Katherine HoerthYou were the goddess of your neighborhood,the streets where you grew up -- the queen of asphalt,destroyer of all silence with your giggling,savior of drowning bugs in puddles, bringerof spring, the season riding on your shoulderssunflowers popping open with your smile.READ MORE

THEATER REVIEW: ARTHUR MILLER'S THE PRICEBy Rachel E. Diken"In an effort not to give too much away, let it be said that only a choice few angles of the play’s relevance are mentioned here. "The Price" is laden with parallels to modern sociological conundrums, from Solomon attempting to re-context facts as “relative,†to the recurrence of patriarchal tyrants stepping in to take advantage of others’ cycles of victimization. "READ MORE

MUSIC REVIEW: RETRO SOUL: A REVIEW OF FREEDOM IS FREEBy Nathan Leslie"Overall Freedom is Free is one of the best albums of 2017 thus far. Not only is the album timely and seamless (without any major clunkers—a rarity these days), but the sound that Chicano Batman develops on this album feels timeless and has massive cross-over appeal. This album will be a hit for them for sure, and one which will mark them as one of the top retro-soul bands currently going. They deserve it."READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE INTERNET

Have you listened to the S-Town podcast? It seems to me, whether your preference is fiction or nonfiction, you would like it. It’s just good storytelling. But if you are interested in nonfiction, and the ethical dilemmas a writer can be confronted with when taking on real life and real people as subjects, you might be particularly interested in listening to S-Town...FULL POST

Helen Fisher is an anthropologist who studies love and sex and their effects on the brain. Here are some thoughts from her on the changing dynamics of our family relationships. This is from an exchange between her and Krista Tippett on the On Being podcast…FULL POST