Inspiration & Perspiration:
Danielle Trussoni’s Newsletter

June 27th, 2020

“Genius is 1 Percent Inspiration and 99 Percent Perspiration.”
– Thomas Edison

 It has been a busy and productive week in my writing cave. I began my week with the students of The Newport MFA, Salve Regina’s Low Residency MFA program, where I am a member of the faculty. It is a wonderful program with talented writers. In normal times, we would meet twice a year in person in Newport, Rhode Island, then students go away to write and send in work each month for their mentors to read. I have enjoyed working with students writing fiction, and although we met via Zoom this week, it was still a blast!

If you’re interested in learning more about The Newport MFA, check it out here.

As I have been in the writing cave all week, I cut a bunch of hydrangeas for my desk.

Something as simple as flowers from the garden reminds me of how lucky I am to be able to work from home, to have a hydrangea bush in the backyard, and to be able to find inspiration from nature.

If you missed last week’s writers hang out, there is another one coming tomorrow evening! In fact, I’m holding these weekly, so make sure you let me know if you’d like to join, and I will add you to my list.

I was looking though my Facebook feed the other day and a photo popped up from 8 years ago. Here I am, in Cannes, with the big, moody Mediterranean behind me. It all seems pretty glamorous, n’est pas? I love the photo, and love that part of the world, and also love that Hadrien is standing outside of the shot, waiting for me.

Hadrien and I have not gone out at all since the beginning of March, but outdoor seating at restaurants opened up here in New York State this week, so Hadrien and I went out to celebrate. We had a triumphant glass of wine and a platter of oysters to celebrate the fact that we’ve made it this far.

I hope you are weathering the lockdown and finding small things to keep you sane, keep you optimistic and to inspire you. If all else fails, grab a book. As always, I’m reading a big stack of new novels for my book column, which I will share with you soon.

I ask this all the time, but if you have read my book and have a moment to review or recommend it on Amazon or Goodreads, I would be very grateful!

Thank you for sharing the week with me and thank you for being part of this community.

Yours,
Danielle Trussoni