Gather 'round…
A Book Review I have never enjoyed reading grammar rules before, so this week, Writers' Postbox gets a little Goodreads book review: Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty My rating: 5 of 5 stars For years I have frequented Grammar Girl's website when confronted with grammatical confusions of all... Continue Reading →
Natalie Goldberg - the same Natalie Goldberg that challenged me to attack the why of my writing life - is nothing, if not full of challenges. If you haven't picked up Writing Down the Bones yet, you should. For a bit I used each 1-2 page essay as a writing prompt, but sometimes I just needed to keep... Continue Reading →
We're home. Oh, man, are we home. It was a rollercoaster of a trip, really, from an underwhelming rowhouse rental in DC, to glorious visit with beautiful friends all along the East Coast. From a transmission that thought it might want to drop out on us, to operational AC for the entire trip (Woot! Woot!). From... Continue Reading →
I set aside fiction for Lent this year, intent upon digesting more spiritual reading in it's place. It's not such a great sacrifice, really; I wasn't in the fiction mood before Lent anyway. But you know when putting forth any measure of spiritual effort, even the most inane fiction on the shelves is suddenly very tempting.... Continue Reading →
Language. It is intrinsically valuable and, used correctly, purely beautiful. Words have the power to break and the power to heal. My tongue, as James says, ... is a fire... [it] sets on fire the course of history. ~ James 3:6-10 How much more powerful is the written word? Easier to tame, yes, but just... Continue Reading →
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman My rating: 5 of 5 stars Ugh. 4 stars? 5 stars? I just couldn't decide. I went with 5 because my only reason for leaning 4 was comfort. This was not really my kind of book, so it took me a while to get into. Possibly my own roller-coaster of... Continue Reading →
Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life by Douglas Wilson My rating: 5 of 5 stars You know it's a good one when you abstain from reading just to make it last longer. I'm not saying that Wordsmithy was one of those intense keep-you-up-at-night page-turners, or that I had to exercise any superhuman feats of... Continue Reading →
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz My rating: 5 of 5 stars Hi-Larious. Truly. I am a sucker for a book that can have me snorting in the lawn chair, drawing the attention of confused passers-by. Make me cry with laughter and you've really got me. The Spellman files had me. I'm a slow reader.... Continue Reading →
New experiment: Book Reviews via Goodreads. While I've been using Goodreads intermittently for a while, I've been trying recently to be more faithful (and accurate) at logging my reading fits and frenzies. And they have this neat little app that allows my book reviews to post automatically to my blog. Woah. Sweet. Let's try it!... Continue Reading →
OK, I'm a bit behind schedule. Summer and all that. Let's get through the Hero's Journey a little faster. I'd like to finish it up before my next writers' group meeting, so it looks like roller-coaster ride ahead. Buckle up! First off, did you do your homework? You're not allowed to read on until you... Continue Reading →
We are a fickle creation. Capable of such amazing feats of love and mercy, yet so often stuck in judgment and vice. We may stand in awe of God's majesty when we are hit in the head with it - when it comes to us as lightening to the scalp - but so often anything... Continue Reading →
To begin, we’ll take a broad look at the Story Engineering model Larry Brooks puts forth. Four parts, brilliantly named (wait for it…) Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four (you may applaud now), will form the main chunks of our story framework, The Four-Part Story Structure (yes, I’ll wait…). Once we’re seated... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Nexus 