I think any work of art, no matter how pedestrian its purpose, builds glory if it is done with an eye single etc etc.

(Incidentally, I do wonder how the next generation is going to decide which of Joyce Carol Oates books they will remember. Won’t be easy.)

And thanks for the tip. Consider them added to the list.

And I like your daily archery metaphor. Although perhaps I find it comforting for the wrong reasons instead of the right ones.

I’ve found that any writing I do increases my ability to write, gives me experience and is for my good (including the notes I make of sacrament meeting talks). In the mid-70s, before Tao-Jones decided it was a money loser and stopped publishing The National Observer, I read an article about Capra Press, a publisher of chapbooks (I prize my copy of Henry Miller’s On Turning 80–he followed it up with On Turning 90, but I don’t have a copy of that) I went to the BYU library and looked up some books by Capra and found Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury. He says writing is like Zen archery. The Zen archer becomes a master by shooting arrows over and over and over over a long period. Bradbury says a great quantity thus produces quality.

He later added some essays and published them as Zen in the Art of Writing, also with Capra Press. Leslie Norris found it on the remainder table in the BYU Bookstore, and read our class part of the title essay.

So you might consider blogging and ward newsletters and bulletins and other stuff your daily archery.

As far as other creative couples, I’ve done a couple of profiles of Steven Kapp Perry and Johanne Frechette Perry. Steve said Johanne gave up a Broadway career to marry him so he wrote her a one-woman show, Polly, about one of her ancestors.

Polly has some wonderful songs, including one called “Salt Lake City,” which includes lyrics something like,
Forget about the great bald eagle,
Our state bird’s a regurgitating seagull

and

Don’t believe them when they tell you
You could lose your life.
Uh-uh, at most you’d lose your wife.

Johanne is a bit more modest about her talents, says she hadn’t started a Broadway career, was just inclined that way.

Invited by church groups they’ve taken the show all over the country, including Alaska, but they fly in sometime before the show and fly out right after so they never get to see much scenery except the satellite dish at the stake center.

I’ve added them to my list, thanks.

I’ve actually had a couple emails giving me suggestions, but hey, people — feel free to leave some here as well.

I don’t know if they’d be up for it, but Kristen and Guy Randle would make for an interesting interview. Certainly, the idea that both a husband and wife (and parents) could work out of their home and make a living from creative endeavors (although I’m sure it wasn’t always is) had a huge impact on my thinking as a teenager.

The current situation in the Morris home is fairly traditional, but I could see that changing in the years ahead.