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Crescent Dragonwagon

“My late father, Maurice Zolotow, was a Hollywood biographer, a professional freelance writer and passionate reader. Whenever I went through hard times, personally or professionally, Maurice could be counted on to tell me two things. The first was advice:  ‘Write your way out of it!’ he’d bark, directively.  But then, more thoughtfully, he’d say, ‘It’s all material, Cres. Nothing is wasted on the writer.’

“These are words I’ve lived and written by; they have allowed me to find meaning and purpose in every age, stage, experience adventure and misadventure in life. Here, I do it again, focusing on our lives, mine and yours, as writers. I give some advice; I tell some stories.

"Thanks for the title, Maurice.”

“EXPANDING YOUR LIFE, NOT SHRINKING YOUR BODY”: FINDING MOTIVATION (AGAIN) TO WORK OUT

“EXPANDING YOUR LIFE, NOT SHRINKING YOUR BODY”: FINDING MOTIVATION (AGAIN) TO WORK OUT

By Crescent Dragonwagon

WRITING TAUGHT ME ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO WORK OUT. WORKING OUT TAUGHT ME ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO WRITE. AND IT TURNS OUT YOU WRITE, OR WORK OUT,  IN YOUR MID-SIXTIES, EXACTLY THE SAME WAY YOU ALWAYS DID. AND YOU HAVE TO KEEP LEARNING THIS.  THIS TIME AROUND, A FUNKY SHOULDER, A VERY OLD CAT, AMY TAM, AND A… Read More

Filed Under: Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer Tagged With: Amy Tan, fitness, fitness over 60, working out, workout over 60

DEFIANT JOY, OR YOU HAVEN’T HAD ALL YOUR SURPRISES YET: NEW YEARS EDITION

DEFIANT JOY, OR YOU HAVEN’T HAD ALL YOUR SURPRISES YET: NEW YEARS EDITION

By Crescent Dragonwagon

SOMETIMES YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN. YOU’RE USUALLY WRONG. AND THAT’S PROBABLY NOT A BAD THING. I used to teach in a program called Artists-in-Schools, as did my longtime friend, musician Bill Haymes. I’d come into schools, a visiting writer helping students (sometimes very young, sometimes teenagers) write. Bill did the same, but with music and song-writing…. Read More

Filed Under: Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer Tagged With: bill haymes, Crescent dragonwagon, nuclear button, resilience, resistance, surprises

CHARLOTTE ZOLOTOW’S “SLEEPY BOOK” AWAKENS IN CHINA

CHARLOTTE ZOLOTOW’S “SLEEPY BOOK” AWAKENS IN CHINA

By Crescent Dragonwagon

A PERSON HAS A LIFE, WITH A DEFINITE AND IRREFUTABLE BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END. BUT, WITH A BOOK IT’S NOT SO CLEAR. I spent a recent Sunday, improbably, working on an introduction to the forthcoming Chinese edition of a children’s book entitled Sleepy Book. Written in 1956 or ’57 and published in 1958, its author is Charlotte Zolotow, my late… Read More

Filed Under: Books, Charlotte Zolotow, Fearless Writing, Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer, Writing Courses Tagged With: children's book illustrations, children's books, literary executor, reissues, Sleepy Book

DEAR ROSALEE, ABOUT THAT WHOLE FUTURE QUESTION, & USING OR NOT USING, & SOME STUFF MY WRITER-FATHER (WHO USED TO BE A DRUNK) PASSED ON TO ME …

DEAR ROSALEE, ABOUT THAT WHOLE FUTURE QUESTION, & USING OR NOT USING, & SOME STUFF MY WRITER-FATHER (WHO USED TO BE A DRUNK) PASSED ON TO ME …

By Crescent Dragonwagon

SOMETIMES YOU JUST DON’T KNOW HOW IT’S GOING TO COME OUT. OR EVEN IF IT WILL. BUT IF YOU HANG IN THERE ANYWAY, TRANSFORMATION IS POSSIBLE. IN FACT, IT MIGHT BE ON ITS WAY TO YOU RIGHT NOW, HERE’S WHAT MY EDGY, ALCOHOLIC, WRITER FATHER – WHO LATER SOBERED UP – TAUGHT ME ABOUT THIS. About three years ago, a… Read More

Filed Under: Fearless Writing, Maurice Zolotow, Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer Tagged With: AA, daughter, father, Los Angeles, Maurice Zolotow, sobriety, transformation, writing

HOW TO GET GOOD AT ANYTHING. YES, IT’S THAT SIMPLE. THAT HARD.

HOW TO GET GOOD AT ANYTHING. YES, IT’S THAT SIMPLE. THAT HARD.

By Crescent Dragonwagon

How do people get good at things? Especially, those people who are astoundingly good at what they do — how on earth do they get that way? No matter who your favorite musicians are (or writers, athletes, actors, artists, cooks), , you can bet they do three things. These are things that anyone, who is good at anything, does, regardless of what… Read More

Filed Under: Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer Tagged With: Annie Lamott, building a writing practice, Ernest Hemingway, Fearless Writing, Julia Cameron, performance, practice, practice makes practice, rehearsal, writing, writing practice

HOW I MET HIM, LOVED HIM, LOST HIM: BLUEGRASS, APPLE CRISP, & FEARLESSNESS IN THE FACE OF MYSTERY

HOW I MET HIM, LOVED HIM, LOST HIM: BLUEGRASS, APPLE CRISP, & FEARLESSNESS IN THE FACE OF MYSTERY

By Crescent Dragonwagon

I blame, or credit, Carol Gaddy. She heard me reading poetry between sets of a bluegrass band at a now-defunct nightclub in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. If you are silly enough to attempt such a reading, you will find your poetry greatly improved by the endeavor. The feedback is like no other:  if one single phrase isn’t smacking your audience upside… Read More

Filed Under: #WidowhoodWednesday, Fearless Writing, Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer

RIDING IN THE CARRIAGE WITH MY DADDY

RIDING IN THE CARRIAGE WITH MY DADDY

By Crescent Dragonwagon

“Daddy,” I said admiringly, “You should run for president.” I was six. Sitting on the dirty clothes hamper in the bathroom, my back to the window, watching him shave late one afternoon. He stood, in his white boxers, facing the mirrored white medicine cabinet.  At that time, he was a Broadway critic, and if he was going out to an… Read More

Filed Under: Maurice Zolotow, Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer Tagged With: anniversaries, Central Park carriages, Crescent dragonwagon, fatherhood, fathers, grief, Maurice Zolotow

SAYING YES TO NOVEMBER; THANKFULNESS IN DARK TIMES

SAYING YES TO NOVEMBER; THANKFULNESS IN DARK TIMES

By Crescent Dragonwagon

November, the month that begins with the syllable “No.” And this year,  in 2016, the month when more than half of the Americans who voted woke up to discover the country in which they lived was not the one in which they thought they lived. What is there to say yes to in November, particularly this one? *** On the… Read More

Filed Under: Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer

THE YEAST THAT RAISES AMERICA

THE YEAST THAT RAISES AMERICA

By Crescent Dragonwagon

As the granddaughter of despised immigrants (Russian Jews) who worked their way up from nothing, doing factory leather piece-good work on New York’s Lower East Side, I have always felt that far from taking away jobs or anything else, newcomers energize America. For as long as I’ve understood what they, like most immigrants, endured to get here, I have also understood… Read More

Filed Under: Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer

WHICH MEMOIR DO I WRITE?  WIND ROSE, REBIRTH & RECALL’S CANYON

WHICH MEMOIR DO I WRITE? WIND ROSE, REBIRTH & RECALL’S CANYON

By Crescent Dragonwagon

My long out-of-print children’s book WIND ROSE  just may be re-issued. Unlikely: outest of out chances, longest of long shots. Still, I needed to find a copy to send to the perhaps-publisher. I went to the shelf where I keep copies of books I’ve written in my  (this is unbelievable to me) 47-year career as a professional freelance writer (my first… Read More

Filed Under: Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer Tagged With: aging, Charlotte Zolotow, children's book writing, children's books, Crescent dragonwagon, Maurice Zolotow, memory, Wind Rose

IN HEAVEN AS IT IS ON EARTH

IN HEAVEN AS IT IS ON EARTH

By Crescent Dragonwagon

If there is nothing after this, I thought, right after I said it, this is enough. The “it” I’d heard myself say out loud was one word: “Heaven.” I don’t believe in heaven. I don’t not believe in heaven either, though I’m doubtful. I’d stepped out for a quick stretch-break from my laptop. I had an ostensible, wholly unnecessary task: carry recyclables to… Read More

Filed Under: Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer Tagged With: Dragonwagon, Earth, ecocide, heaven, Vermont, walking

A FOXGLOVE FLOWER FALLING REMINDS ME OF CHARLOTTE, AND WHY

A FOXGLOVE FLOWER FALLING REMINDS ME OF CHARLOTTE, AND WHY

By Crescent Dragonwagon

It’s the softest sound in the world, and one only occasionally hears it: a flower falling. This morning, sitting in the right place, I heard it. A single foxglove blossom dropped from the arrangement I had placed on a table yesterday.   It’s such a small sound, but it stayed with me all day. Until I finally asked myself, ” Why?”… Read More

Filed Under: Nothing Is Wasted on the Writer, Uncategorized Tagged With: aging parents, Charlotte Zolotow, children's book writing, Crescent dragonwagon, flower falling, If You Listen, mothers and daughters

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Read Aloud with Crescent and Mark

NOT A LITTLE MONKEY, by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrted by Michelle Chessaree

"So, the little girl climbed into the big waste-basket and waited." ' Oh no,' said her mother, ' we don't want to throw you away.'"There are many ways to express love and the need for attention. Here, a busy mother and her just-a-bit naughty little girl tease each other affectionately — the little girl making her point without even uttering a word.That's today's story time — read aloud by the author's daughter at Crescent Dragonwagon's Writing, Cooking, & Workshops, with Mark Graff's "text support" and discussion."Just right for two-to-fours, the humor of this true-to-life story of a mischievous little girl who blocks her mother's attempts to clean house will elicit giggles from the lollipop set." Kirkus Reviews

Posted by Crescent Dragonwagon's Writing, Cooking, & Workshops on Thursday, June 4, 2020

Read Aloud with Crescent

Read Aloud with Crescent

The Washington Post on Crescent’s Lentil Soup Recipe

The Washington Post on Crescent’s Lentil Soup Recipe

Greek Lentil Soup with Spinach and Lemon, photograph by Tom McCorkle, Washington Post

Bean By Bean Cookbooks

#DeepFeast Recipes

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Dinner with Dragonwagon

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"... like a warm luminescent blanket at bedtime... softly lulling." -- New York Times


"(With) weary animals, Dragonwagon offers an “alphabet of ways to sleep,” smoothly working in some alliteration..."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)


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read aloud with Crescent Dragonwagon

Until Just Moistened

Until Just Moistened

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