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<TITLE>Mark Haskell Smith in the LA Times</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Hi all,<BR>
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Mark Haskell Smith, part of the core faculty of the low residency, has a great essay in this week's Off The Shelf feature in the LA Times online book section (which, if you haven't been following along, publishes an essay each week on some aspect of the writing life...including, uh, me playing Dungeons & Dragons recently) on how he is frequently inspired by the places he goes physically, as well as mentally. You can read it here:<BR>
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<A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-caw-off-the-shelf-archive,1,5176570.storygallery">http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-caw-off-the-shelf-archive,1,5176570.storygallery</A><BR>
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But for the purposes of teasing the reader, here's a great segment:<BR>
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People always ask, "How did you come up with that idea?" It's different for everyone. The drink that inspires me might cause projectile vomiting in someone else. But I think there's something about traveling, about getting outside your comfort zone, that can make a writer's antennae pop up. Removed from familiar surroundings and common language, you become more observant than usual, open to new experiences and new people. At the same time, you're detached, isolated, self-contained and self-aware. It is a similar state of mind to that of writing. As Christopher Isherwood famously said: "I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking."<BR>
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Tod<BR>
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