Elaine Schmitz, author of Recipes & Recollections of My Greek-American Family, organizes a reading group that I joined this month. The six people in the group take turns recommending a book for everyone to read and then they meet once a month to discuss the chosen book. Elaine’s choice for January was The Best American […]
Laura Fraser of Shebooks
Laura Fraser is the co-founder and editorial director of Shebooks.net, a new digital storytelling platform by and for women. She helps women share their stories to inspire, educate, entertain, and empower each other. She spoke at the Women’s National Book Association–San Francisco Chapter meeting on Saturday. Shebooks is a curated collection of short e-books that […]
British Revolutions: Kings, Queens, and Knaves
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Berkeley, California, offers a great course on “British Revolutions: Kings, Queens, and Knaves” taught by Bruce Elliott. The link below shows a video of Elliott speaking about the class that’s held on Tuesdays from January 27th to March 3rd. In this session, he will be covering the periods from Renaissance […]
Henry David Thoreau Quotes
“”What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” ~Henry David Thoreau “How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” ― Henry David Thoreau “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” […]
Haiku Samples
Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry. It is comprised of 3 phrases. Traditional haiku form is a total of 17 syllables with the first line having 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the last line has 5. The one on the far left by Earle J. Stone follows the traditional pattern. […]
Music Inspires My Writing
Do you listen to music as you write? Read this post by Jordan Bernal, author of The Keepers of Eire, to see whose music inspires her. I don’t usually listen to music when I write, but if I do, it’s by Patrick Von Wiegandt. https://www.patrickvon.com
Story Ideas Come and Could Go
Katherine Mansfield, a prominent modernist writer of short fiction, wrote, “It’s always a kind of race to get in as much as one can before it disappears.” She was referring to a story idea that arrives and needs to be written down. It’s best not to think about it too much. Writing allows things to […]