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christina rivera (cogswell) // at the confluence of motherhood & oceans

Posts tagged the alchemist

on pilgrimage q & a transitions & home travel philosophy October 19, 2008

re-defining home

(The following question was posed to me by the editor of TravelBlogs.com) What does home mean to you after traveling for so long? When I first left the country, I was an angry girl; ashamed…

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in case that wasn’t clear

in case that wasn’t clear

This book began as a poem I couldn’t finish. I w

This book began as a poem I couldn’t finish. I wrote the first lines in the back of a classroom at my first #writing craft talk seven years ago. I couldn’t finish the poem, because I couldn’t stop choking on my tears. I have, since, written seventy thousand words into that unfinished poem. It still chokes me—over and over and over. But that unfinished poem was a portal (thank you @lidiamiles) to a #book of #essays that will now have a real cover (wings!) and land on #bookshelves in March of 2025. I have felt so cradled by this literary and extended digital family of extra soft hearts: thank you for holding and supporting me on this path. Cheers to everything born of wet pages and the doors we find in the middle of poems we can’t finish and special gratitude to my agent @juliestevensonpfarr & editor @marisaemily who both saw through me and my work and declared (with the confidence I would later find myself): “No, you don’t need to make this book narrative. This IS an essay collection.” 😍😍 As I’ve written in the introduction, this book was never a “collection” of things scattered, but always a “book of essays”; “each piece born under the same moon. Fragments, yes. Because womanhood is fragmented, and motherhood is fragmented, and my understanding of my place in nature is as of one of billions of faceted fragments, and it was only through my fragmentation that the distinction between Earth’s womb and my own receded.”

Special hugs of gratitude to the mentors who helped me find my voice (@bklorenbooks, @kate_moses_writes), the magazines who first published essays from this collection (@orion_magazine @terrain_org @kenyonreview @catapult, @batcityreview @atticusreview), all those in my cherished residencies (@millayarts and @craigardan) and DIY-MFA writing communities (@lighthousewriters, @catapult *RIP*, @corporealwriting, @grubstreet), and to my pod of family and besties who have held me through all the twists and tears of this writerly-path especially @slade.o @parkecogs @caitlin @courtneyzen @k.homes @jade.mariposa @emily_braucher. Your names are my mantra of gratitude!

#bookdeal #bookstagram #myoceans

My #bookcover concepts/ideas are due to my publish

My #bookcover concepts/ideas are due to my publisher in 149 days and I’m now on Day 2. Yep. Going to WRING this process of every drop of joy. Cause I’m surrounded by designers and artists (@slade.o , @k.homes , @970_design ) and also have a sneaking feeling that the best part of birthing a #book into the world IS devising an image to wholly represent its world of words? Like picking through baby names? Anyway, today I’m sharing 10 BOOKS I’D BUY JUST FOR THE COVER (but also for the sentences inside). These covers all made my heart skip with crush-at-first-sight. ❤️ (Authors tagged in the images where possible) Ps. If there’s a book cover that’s made you stutter & swoon, please share…

#bookstagram #bookcoverdesign #bookcoverlove

“Explaining” this would be like explaining poe

“Explaining” this would be like explaining poetry. So the images will have to stand! ❤️ Happy 30th Birthday @wheretherebedragons

I did not know you could drive THROUGH a rainbow.

I did not know you could drive THROUGH a rainbow. Which seems as fine a moment as ever to announce: I won a Pushcart Prize?! Question mark for suspended-disbelief. In the meantime, sending my sloppiest gratitude to @terrain_org for nominating me, and to @kenyonreview for publishing the essay, “Two Breaths,” that won the prize (and yes, if you are nominated you are invited to submit up to three pieces published that year; Who knew?) and more sloppy love to all the people who left their marks (including paw & splash) in the margins of any of my writing/life, ever. When I got the news, I sat in the woods, cried, splashed my face in a spring creek, and recited your names like the mantra you all are.

#pushcartprize

Instagram post 18077604904350759

Instagram post 18077604904350759

Gobsmacked by this fun news! Thank you @johnburrou

Gobsmacked by this fun news! Thank you @johnburroughsassociation for the recognition & award. Deep gratitude to my friends @terrain_org for the publication & nomination. And big hug and love to all the beautiful people who contributed to bringing this essay to existence @bklorenbooks @salish_sea_selkie @kate_moses_writes and my writing groups & literary besties! ❤️ ps. inadvertently dropped some early news in that press release link (in bio) 😉.

#natureessay #johnburroughs #literaryaward

Nothing more magical than a 7-year old girl holdin

Nothing more magical than a 7-year old girl holding a portal (and gifting it to her mother for her writing desk). ❤️

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Traveler. Writer. Mother. Blogger. Experiential Educator. Photographer. Activist. Feminist. Environmentalist. Sometimes a good wife. Often tired & grumpy. Dancing on her best days. Fierce, loyal, and loving girlfriend of girlfriends. more

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