Are you wondering what the heck these Afternoon Delights even are?

Last fall, I was easing back into work after brain surgery to remove a (benign!) skull tumor. Contemplation, creativity and community were balms that helped heal me, and I wanted to share the love.

“What if I host a monthly get-together that combines all three?” I thought. We could ponder and write, share, be seen, be heard, and delight in an exploration, together.

Now, here we are, months later!

The gatherings are intimate. Engaged. Often poignant. Always enriching.

I look forward to every single one and relish in the glow afterward.

Participants have said I’m great at bringing lovely, kind, generous people together and the creative prompts allow them to write and express themselves in a way they haven’t in years, or maybe ever.

Read on for musings on this month’s theme and the link to attend!

Ah, summer...

Light. That's what I love most about this season. The longer days. The warmer quality, in all senses. The life-giving force.

The sense of delight feels so much more present, prolific.

For me, summer light and delight mean morning coffee on my back deck. The cat stretched belly out on dew-soaked grass to watch the chipmunks, eyes darting, paws twitching, captivated.

It's the pop of deep purple, orange, rust and yellow blooms spilling over the top of an old milk can that draws my eye.

It's three flavors of gelato in a cup: tart raspberry, dark-dark chocolate with cherry, and nearly neon pistachio. Each little plastic spoonful a burst of magic on my tongue.

It's a book of poems in the morning. Mary Oliver's Devotions for reflections on the complexity and simplicity of nature and life. Gillian Sze’s Quiet Night Think for contemplations on language, the shaping of thoughts and existence.

A novel in the evening. Fabio Morábito’s Home Reading Service, with its irony and oddities. (And an upcoming podcast episode with translator Curtis Bauer!) Mira Jacob’s The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing, with its Suriani family dynamics.

Long spells of each in the shade any time I can.

I would live in eternal early summer if I could.

What does summer light offer you? What delights?

Join me to connect, to share what lights each of us up, and play with the written word, this Sunday, June 19 at 3 pm ET for our Afternoon Delight!

Note: It'll be the last live edition until fall, so I extra hope you can join me!

For July and August, I'll send a contemplation and a creative prompt for you to explore as part of your summer fun, and you can always connect with me here! The plan is to then resume our live gatherings in September.

Click to join via Zoom

Sunday, June 19 at 3 pm ET
Meeting ID: 892 5282 6610
Passcode: 778007
Confirm your local time here!

Reminder:
There's no cost. No RSVP required. Simply click the link above to attend.
Come exactly as you are, with an open heart, curious mind, paper and pen(cil).

~Lisa

Lisa Carter is Founder and Creative Director of Intralingo, helping authors and translators write and readers explore stories. Lisa brings two decades of professional literary experience, including nine books and multiple other pieces published in translation, and nearly as many years of contemplative and compassion practices to her work. Her inclusive, engaged, caring presence inspires people to share their stories, create new ones and feel truly heard.

Thank you to ECW Press for the review copy of Quiet Night Think, by Gillian Sze!

We often receive free books from publishers, authors and/or translators, and will always identify when that is the case. Recommendations are never paid. They are offered only when we genuinely want to share a book with you. Any links to the Intralingo store on Bookshop.org are affiliate links and may earn us a small commission on your purchase, at no extra cost to you. Bookshop is currently only available to US customers.

Are you wondering what the heck these Afternoon Delights even are?

Last fall, I was easing back into work after brain surgery to remove a (benign!) skull tumor. Contemplation, creativity and community were balms that helped heal me, and I wanted to share the love.

“What if I host a monthly get-together that combines all three?” I thought. We could ponder and write, share, be seen, be heard, and delight in an exploration, together.

Now, here we are, six months later!

The gatherings are intimate. Engaged. Often poignant. Always enriching.

I look forward to every single one and relish in the glow of connection afterward.

Participants have said I’m great at bringing lovely, kind, generous people together and the creative prompts allow them to write and express themselves in a way they haven’t in years, or maybe ever.

Read on for musings on this month’s theme and the link to attend!

Hello, BookLoves.

When I sat down to choose the themes for this year’s Afternoon Delights, I looked at the UN calendar of observances and chose the ones that were most resonant. Every single one has been fitting, to my mood and even world circumstances, when the date comes.

This month is no different. On Friday, we’ll be exploring peace, for the International Day of Living Together in Peace:

"United in differences and diversity

“Living together in peace is all about accepting differences and having the ability to listen to, recognize, respect and appreciate others, as well as living in a peaceful and united way."

Honestly, this encapsulates the ultimate hope for my work here at Intralingo. By embracing our diversity and recognizing our shared humanity, through personal stories and the ones inside of books, we become more tolerant of others and contribute to a more harmonious world.

At this point in human history, it may seem like living together in peace is an impossibility. Futile to even try.

Yet peace, like everything else, starts from the tiniest seed, one that may seem contradictory or even selfish: it starts by cultivating it inside of ourselves.

When we embody peace, we positively influence those around us.

For real.

Mirror neurons in the brain are believed to fire when we observe another’s emotions and actions, and their experience is simulated in us. You ever see someone cry and burst out crying yourself? Mirror neurons.

We can literally, physically feel another’s pain. Joy. Peace.

So, when we cultivate our own sense of peace, and actively engage from that place with others, it ripples out.

But how do we find, nurture, embrace peace in this awfully challenging world?

I think there as many answers to that as there are readers…

To me, I don’t necessarily think of it as capital letter Peace. It’s simpler than that.

I find peace outdoors, sitting on my back deck or at the end of a dock, gazing at cedar trees and lake water.

I find it in tai chi, and all the components of my training in those arts.

I find peace in words, beautifully expressed, from the heart.

I find it in purring cat cuddles every morning.

Mostly, it’s fleeting.

But, having noticed it, having recognized the feeling of peace, I can pause and call it up or let other emotions morph into it when need be.

It’s a practice.

So, in this week's Afternoon Delight (Friday, May 13 at noon ET), let's unite around our differences and diversity, explore how we each perceive and cultivate peace to contribute to a world that lives together in peace.

As part of the fun, we'll read a Mary Oliver poem, try a little brain exercise, and play with some presence writing.

Can't come? Share your thoughts and feelings, poems and practices around peace right here in a comment!

Leave a comment

Can come? Wonderful, I’ll see you there!

Join Afternoon Delight

Friday, May 13, 12:00 to 1:30 pm ET
Meeting ID: 892 5282 6610
Passcode: 778007
Confirm your local time here!

Reminder:
There's no cost. No RSVP required. Simply click the link above to attend.
Come exactly as you are, with an open heart, curious mind, paper and pen(cil).

~Lisa

Lisa Carter is Founder and Creative Director of Intralingo, helping authors and translators write and readers explore stories. Lisa brings two decades of professional literary experience, including nine books and multiple other pieces published in translation, and nearly as many years of contemplative and compassion practices to her work. Her inclusive, engaged, caring presence inspires people to share their stories, create new ones and feel truly heard.

The next Afternoon Delight is Sunday, June 19, 3:00 to 4:30 pm ET, on the theme of Light.

*July to November dates will be published soon.

Did you know you can choose which posts you get by email? If you’re not interested in Afternoon Delights, click on the “Unsubscribe” button below, then turn off the emails you prefer not to get. (I hope you don’t unsubscribe from all, but that is always an option!)

Oopsy daisy! My apologies if you received two Afternoon Delight posts this week. Human error. My most human error. I'm sorry if I cluttered your inbox!

I had meant to send this letter, so hope you'll read on...

(The Zoom links are the same; click on either one to attend.)

It's time for our monthly gathering, and this time the topic is creativity.

It's a word that can inspire trepidation, if not downright fear. (Or maybe that's just me? Hmm. I doubt it.)

Recently, I've been playing with the idea of creativity, trying to soften it, not put expectations on it, expand the idea of it. I set an intention to be mindful of opportunities to be creative, in unexpected ways, in all ways, all of the time.

One day, as I was writing a letter of support for a friend’s grant application, I was looking at her art, had just been listening to a podcast about self-care and care for others, and my pencil was pulled to write a poem. In the end, it can be read as two separate poems or one interconnected one, read in at least three ways. That was creative!

On Easter weekend, we had decided not to attend large family gatherings, so I wanted something different, simple, bright, enjoyable to lift my spirits. I cooked or baked something new each day. That was creative. And delicious! :)

Another day, I saw a really beautiful piece of art behind someone on a Zoom call. I attempted something similar using the watercolors I bought last year to play with when recovering from surgery. My attempt was pathetic —no really, I'm not just saying that— but gosh I had fun swirling the brush on the palette and page! That was creative.

The more I explored, the more I was reminded that creativity, to me, is a life force, a channel, a flow that's open to me at all times. But I have to open to it. I have to be light with it, not restrictive or controlling. And it will play in a myriad of ways.

I might also say that, to me, creativity is the yin to balance the chaos of life that is yang.

What is creativity for you? And how does it play out?

Maybe you sew. Or bake. Paint. Pile rocks on the beach. Stack wood. Dance. Sing. Arrange and decorate your home. See solutions to problems in your mind's eye. Take photographs. Arrange flowers. Garden. The expressions are limitless!

The call to be creative with others, to join forces, to play and explore is what led me to start these Afternoon Delights. (And I dream of much more...)

Writing is my thing, so that's mostly the sandbox we play in. We'll take a prompt, each explore it in our way and share, both the creation and what we discover through the act of creation.

Most often, it's a case of creating "alone together."

Israeli writer Etgar Keret says, "Writers can't jam."

Alphabet Soup

Writers Can’t Jam

There are so many good things to say about writing. No one can dispute that we writers are lucky bastards, but just because you have things good doesn’t mean you can’t be envious. As a writer, I’ve always envied musicians for their natural ability to collaborate with each other. I like to picture myself sitting in a poorly lit bar with a handful of tale…

Read more

4 years ago · 9 likes · 2 comments · Etgar Keret

It might not be quite like a musician can jam, but as a writer, Keret jams with others regularly! In the piece above, he and an illustrator joined forces.

In fact, he does that regularly with an another illustrator:

Alphabet Soup

Streets of Rage

Twenty-seven years ago, a soldier named Asaf Hanuka contacted me and said he was drawing a comic strip for the Israeli army’s official weekly magazine, and he wanted to adapt one of my short stories. Having recently finished my own compulsory military service, and still carrying a lot of unpleasant memories from my time as an inadequate soldier, I was s…

Read more

4 years ago · 19 likes · 8 comments · Etgar Keret

Keret also jams with readers, who can submit ideas, situations, opening lines, photos or drawings, and he'll attempt to write a story. How fabulous is that?!

And translation is absolutely a writing jam! Sondra Silverston and Jessica Cohen translate most of Keret's posts, and books.

The expressions of creativity are limitless!

Now, with all of this, are your creative juices flowing? Can you let them run (a little) free(r)?

Share some words or a photo of your creative expression in a comment? I would love that so very much.

And please do come this Saturday, April 23 at 1 pm ET to riff on the theme of creativity, share your thoughts, tell us about the path of your creative river, where it desires to flow. And yup, we'll play with a little collaborative creation in words.

Join the Afternoon Delight

Meeting ID: 892 5282 6610
Passcode: 778007
Confirm your local time here!

Reminder:
There's no cost. No RSVP required. Simply click the link above to attend.
Come exactly as you are, with an open heart, curious mind, paper and pen(cil).

~Lisa

Lisa Carter is Founder and Creative Director of Intralingo, helping authors and translators write and readers explore stories. Lisa brings two decades of professional literary experience, including nine books and multiple other pieces published in translation, and nearly as many years of contemplative and compassion practices to her work. Her inclusive, engaged, caring presence inspires people to share their stories, create new ones and feel truly heard.

Schedule of Afternoon Delights

Friday, May 13 - 12:00 to 1:30 pm - Peace
Sunday, June 19 - 3:00 to 4:30 pm - Light

Pencil them in your calendar!
(All times Eastern. Confirm your local time here. Email reminder with the link will be sent a day or two ahead.)

Did you know you can choose which posts you get by email? If you’re not interested in Afternoon Delights, click on the “Unsubscribe” button below, then turn off the emails you prefer not to get. The creative choice is yours! (I hope you don’t unsubscribe from all, but that choice is yours too, of course. :)

Our next Afternoon Delight is coming up this SUNDAY, MAR 20 at 4 pm ET, on the theme of HAPPINESS.

Image source photo by Mona Eendra on Unsplash

It might feel hard to embrace happiness right now, given the state of the world.

That’s certainly something I’ve been pondering.

And yet happy moments continue to exist, and they make dealing with everything else just a little more possible.

Some of the things we might contemplate together this weekend…

What is happiness or what does it mean to you?
Can we be happy in a complex, intense, heartbreaking time?
How?
And how/who does that serve?

I’ll share a short piece of prose or poem on the topic and of course we'll explore further with a creative prompt at the end.

Click to join the Zoom room!

Meeting ID: 892 5282 6610
Passcode: 778007
Confirm your local time here!
(Note: Here on Eastern Time, I turned my clock forward one hour on March 13th...)

Reminder:
There's no cost. No RSVP required. Simply click the link above to attend.
Come exactly as you are, with an open heart, curious mind, paper and pen(cil).

~Lisa

P.S. If you’re not able to come, but still want to ponder happiness, do share your thoughts in a comment or hit reply. I’d LOVE to know.

Lisa Carter is Founder and Creative Director of Intralingo, helping authors and translators write and readers explore stories. Lisa brings two decades of professional literary experience, including nine books and multiple other pieces published in translation, and nearly as many years of contemplative and compassion practices to her work. Her inclusive, engaged, caring presence inspires people to share their stories, create new ones and feel truly heard.

Schedule of Afternoon Delights

Saturday, April 23 - 1:00 to 2:30 pm - Creativity
Friday, May 13 - 12:00 to 1:30 pm - Peace
Sunday, June 19 - 3:00 to 4:30 pm - Light

Pencil them in your calendar!
(All times Eastern. Confirm your local time here. Email reminder with the link will be sent a day or two ahead.)

Schedule
Friday, February 18 - 4:00 to 5:30 pm - Kindness
Sunday, March 20 - 4:00 to 5:30 pm - Happiness
Saturday, April 23 - 1:00 to 2:30 pm - Creativity
Friday, May 13 - 12:00 to 1:30 pm - Peace
Sunday, June 19 - 3:00 to 4:30 pm - Light

Pencil these in your calendar and stay tuned for more!
(All times Eastern. Confirm your local time here.)

There is no cost to attend. No RSVP required.

Come exactly as you are, with an open heart, curious mind, paper and pen(cil).

The link to attend is sent here, via the BookLove Letter. I really hope to see you at the next Afternoon Delight!