see more Lolcats and funny pictures When you're working to make the world a better place, there are going to be times when you'll feel challenged, discouraged, and even sometimes depressed. To balance out the tough times, you need to have a Laugh List to turn to on a regular basis. Below are some items from My Laugh List. What's on yours? TV The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Modern Family The Office...
These instructions are taken from Anne Lamott's book, Bird by Bird. The book is sub-titled, "Some Instructions On Writing and Life", and it's a classic you should read if you haven't already. Bird By Bird will do more... There's a new article online at In the Hot Spot. Please check it out to get the full story For inspiration and information on achieving your dreams take a moment to revisit...
Mark David Gerson’s Medal-Winning Writing Book Honored in Statewide Competition Mark David Gerson ’s The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write was named a winner in the 2009 edition of New Mexico’s premier literary contest, the New Mexico Book Awards . The top prize in the competition's self-help category was announced at an awards banquet in Albuquerque earlier this evening....
Temple Cone recently agreed to an interview with myself and 32 Poems . And here is what he had to say. How would you introduce yourself to a crowded room eager to hang on your every word? Are you just a poet, what else should people know about you? I love telling people that I’m a poet. Just a poet. Not vaguing it up by saying that I’m a “writer” or qualifying it by adding that...
Learn about Mahtab Narsimhan , and read her blog . How do you psyche yourself up to write and to keep writing? I set a reward before I start writing and will allow myself that reward only if I finish the quota for the day. Normally that entails surfing the Net or writing a nice long e-mail to a friend; stuff that usually makes me feel extremely guilty if I have written nothing on any given day! I’m...
A hilarious and moving memoir in the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron about a woman who returns home to her Mennonite family after a personal crisis. The same week her husband of 15 years ditches her for a guy he met on Gay.com, a partially inebriated teenage driver smacks her VW Beetle head-on. Marriage over, body bruised, life upside-down, Rhoda does what any sensible 43-year-old would do:...
Notre Dame Review - Stephanie Magdalena WhiteMary Karr will be reading from Lit and signing copies at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 12 at BookPeople. Longtime fans of Mary Karr ’s frank, acerbic, and rather beautiful prose may be feeling a bit of shock—maybe even betrayal—by the content of her latest book. Karr’s third in a line of intelligent and delightfully profane memoirs,...
I like this poem. It came into my life just at the right time, as if the universe knew I needed it. Still need to read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. She deals with such things as writer's envy, among other things re: creativity and a creative life. She talks about having had a real crisis of faith after a series of 27 bad reviews. She made a commitment to the characters of a new novel, rather than the...
We have to heart Joan Walsh today, with her "I heart Dede Scozzafava ...I promised to blog from vacation if Bill Owens won NY23; here's my lazy compromise." I semi-promised to blog from vacation if Democrat Bill Owens defeated Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, the right-wing carpetbagger backed by jobless Sarah Palin, in the NY-23 race. I did that because, um, I didn't think Owens...
Grow Wings -- the Journal of Laini Taylor (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009
So, how I said there are a lot of great quotes that are unsuitable for Laini's Ladies? Here are a few. Enjoy! "Is that a bullet-proof vest? See, now, that's so insulting. That's like saying I'm not smart enough to shoot you in the head." - Janet Evanovich "God created war so that Americans would learn geography." - Mark Twain "Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck."...
Unfortunately, I won’t be participating in the Nanowrimo challenge as much as I’d love to. Although I’ve put aside my novel for a month to give it ‘a little space, a little sunshine and fresh air’ , I realised I need the same. A vacation! The writing course is almost over and there’s another course waiting in the wings that I started back in July, abandoned and lost...
In Oprah's eponymous magazine, there's a fun article : "4 Authors on What Makes Them Feel Most Like Themselves. Among the featured authors was Anne Lamott , author of Bird by Bird, Traveling Mercies , and Imperfect Birds. Here's Anne's answers. I look most like myself… in worn jeans and a tight- ish white T-shirt. I act most like myself… at church, overeating after worship. I feel...
Anna Carter Florence, over at The Christian Century, recently listed her 7 essential books for preaching. Her suggestions? Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner The Witness of Preaching, Second Edition by Thomas G. Long Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott A Chorus of Witnesses: Model Sermons for Today’s Preacher edited...
Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen.About the book, from the publisher:A hilarious and moving memoir—in the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron—about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisisNot long after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her world turned upside down. It was...
I need to thank Kit from Kit Courtney Writes for awarding me the pretty Kreativ Blogger Award. Kit has been very encouraging of me since I started blogging more seriously and I have so many reasons to thank her. This award comes with the requirement of the recipient to write seven things about herself/himself that nobody knows. Well, this caught me at a bad moment. I cannot think, as Kit does, of funny...
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