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Here’s the deal with The Last King of Scotland: If you haven’t seen it yet, ignore the “based on a true story” hype. It’s baloney, and if you waste too much brain power trying to figure out which parts are true and which aren’t you’ll miss half the movie. Yes, Idi Amin’s reign of terror [...]
Filed under: movies | 2 Comments »
Just a little pat on the back for myself. This is the third day in a row that I’ve worked on a story. I finished a quick rough draft of a story yesterday, and today I’m working a tiny bit on an old story that I couldn’t get finished. It gets easier as I go. [...]
Filed under: 2007 resolutions, writing | 1 Comment »
So simple to understand, so hard to let happen. More from John Dufresne: The problem is, it’s not that we want to write; it’s that we want to write well, right now! And that is to misunderstand the writing process. A good first draft is a poor first draft. You haven’t explored, discovered, taken risks, [...]
Filed under: writing | 6 Comments »
Yesterday I wrote about 900 words on a new story. I plan to glue my bottom to my chair and pound out the rest of a very rough draft in the day or so. The story idea itself has been kicking around in my head for about six months now, but I’d never found the [...]
Filed under: 2007 resolutions, books, writing | 4 Comments »
Got a toddler? Looking to kickstart your creativity? I don’t have a toddler (though I could use tips for dealing creatively with teens) but after reading this essay by Lockie Hunter, I almost wish I did: As I search for answers, my characters become deeper, the stakes are raised. Each nuance carries meaning …. I [...]
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I requested this book from the library and then took it back again after reading the first few pages. I hated the narrator with all his fashionable quirks, thought the style was precious, and the story was just too far out. Not my kind of thing, I thought. Then a friend loaned me a proof [...]
Filed under: books, reading, writing | 4 Comments »
Create your own caption (click for larger image): Photo by Gary Glass.
Filed under: photography, writing | 4 Comments »
Excellent Women is one of many “female extreme adventure tales” reviewed by Maureen Corrigan in Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading. The adventures of its heroine, Mildred Lathbury, may not seem extreme by our modern standards, but her life as a 30-something single woman in a small London parish entails plenty of self-sacrifice and self-abnegation in [...]
Filed under: books, reading | 1 Comment »
I don’t know where FMUOnline got this list or how they determine this is the top ten, but it’s a good start: Here is a list of the top 10 online research databases for general research: Academic Search Elite (EBSCO) ABI/INFORM Complete (ProQuest) CQ Researcher Gale Virtual Reference Library Oxford Reference Online Premium LexisNexis Academic [...]
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From the National Post: Following the rule that there has to be a magazine for everything, there’s now a magazine, based in California, that publishes nothing but rejected manuscripts. It carries an odd name, Rejected Quarterly (odd because it appears only twice a year). It prints “quality offbeat fiction” you can’t read in other magazines [...]
Filed under: markets, writing | 2 Comments »
MJ Rose’s Buzz, Balls & Hype blog carries a regular Friday feature called “The Doctor is In,” in which Dr. Susan O’Doherty, a practicing psychologist and a writer, answers questions from writers. I scanned today’s column and at first thought the question didn’t really apply to me: And when people I know socially ask me, [...]
Filed under: writing | 4 Comments »
I bet the corresponding list for Yanks tracks pretty closely, with perhaps the addition of some Faulkner or Steinbeck: Top ten books we lie about reading 1. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R Tolkien 2. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy 3. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 4. Men are from Mars, Women are [...]
Filed under: books, reading | 4 Comments »
Now that I’ve finished Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading, I have nothing to listen to in the car. Oh, sure, I have a case of CDs, and there’s always the radio (praise be to Radio IQ), but nothing passes commuting time and gives one a sense of self-righteous efficiency like a good audiobook. I have [...]
Filed under: books, reading | 1 Comment »
