Now that I’ve turned in my short story for the Wordstock Short Fiction Contest, I’ve got two choices: 1) Obsess about it daily until I find out if I am a finalist or not. 2) Move on to the next thing. I’m consciously opting for #2. Writing this short piece has really gotten my creative…
Read moreFirst draft done
At 3600 words. The word limit is 3000. I’m not sure why, but it felt like a monumental task to write a first draft. It wasn’t. The hardest part is editing, but with a first draft you have to allow yourself to write it all out and cut down in subsequent drafts. DH is the…
Read moreThe Broken Bridge
I love discovering new books. A recent one is The Broken Bridge by Phillip Pullman. It’s about a mixed race teenager living in Wales with her white father. It is a book for young adults, but since I am a bookaholic, I do not discriminate by reading level. I enjoyed it. Bridge, The Girl Who…
Read moreBook Discussion Pt. 2: The Neverending Story
During the first half of The Neverending Story, the reader is given a peek into Bastian’s life as his thoughts sometime wander while reading or he takes breaks. We find out that his mother died not long ago and his father emotionally neglects him. Teasing is a constant, not only by his peers, but some…
Read moreBook Discussion: The Neverending Story
The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende, is one of my favorite children’s books. But when people usually think about The Neverending Story, they remember the 1984 movie that has garnered a pop culture following. Both the book and the movie is about a ten-year-old boy named Bastian who gets magically transported into the book he…
Read moreBook Review: Push by Sapphire (SPOILERS)
I now realize that just because everyone says a book or a movie is good, doesn’t make it so. There was so much hoopla over Precious, the movie about a black, abused, illiterate teenage girl living in 1980s Harlem, this past winter. Earlier this month, the move also received four Oscar nominations. While I didn’t…
Read moreThe Elements of Style
This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White (author of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little). There are probably millions of books out there on writing, but very few actually offer solid advice. Elements is one of the solid ones. The main idea of the book…
Read moreKing disses Meyer
I am beginning to realize that being published and popular doesn’t say much about your writing abilities. I point you to Stephen King’s total dissing of Stephanie Meyer, author of the popular Twilight series. King attempts a save by giving the books some redeeming quality, but overall Meyer’s writing sucks in his opinion. This re-awakened…
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