Stories and Amateur Pasty-Crafting
Because my car up and died shortly after moving to the Pacific Northwest, I'd ride my bike to and from work, which generally meant a commute home around one o'clock in the morning. On the ride, Berman's musical vehicle, The Silver Jews, would keep me company in my headphones.
Stålenhag is a Swedish visual artist, writer, musician, and tabletop RPG designer, and it seems as though he's been churning out his creative projects for a number of years. As with much of the cool art that's out there*, I'm only learning about it now, hence the whole "late to dinner" phrase in the title.
In the preface to his essay collection, Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury writes "And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right. We must earn life once it has be awarded us. Life asks for rewards back because it has favored us with animation" (xii).
I like to think about writing while I walk, and it's while thinking about writing that I try to get my writing done. In fact, it's where most of my writing's getting done these days.
Barstow and Grand, the Chippewa Valley's premier literary journal, is currently accepting submissions for its third issue. What kind of stuff is B & G looking for? Poetry, creative non-fiction, fiction, and even hybrids of the genres.
from New York Public Library "If no one is expecting much, it’s not hard to exceed their expectations." " ‘Don’t try to be an author,’ she said as we stood outside a lecture hall in the bitter cold. ‘You cannot control that. Instead, try to be a writer. And to do that, you must write. … Continue reading From Alison Smith’s “Her Left Hand, The Darkness”
I like a good heist flick (Logan Lucky is a recent top-notch addition to the genre), but Den of Thieves missed the mark for me in a couple spots, and it's important to figure out/talk about why.
Despite my best efforts to build and reinforce bulwarks against the season's various illnesses perpetually floating about, I managed to get sick this weekend. I'm hoping whatever this is--fingers crossed that its just a common cold--runs its course quickly. I'm doing my damnedest to show it the door with a steady combination of water, echninacea, … Continue reading Down with the Sickness: In Which I Succumb to the Various Illnesses Circulating Throughout My Home and Workplace for the Last Month
Basement Missive From the Frozen North: I estimated that I need at least 17,000 words in the month of January to get somewhere near the end of this draft of the novel, though based on where the story's moving this week, it will probably be slightly higher. To reach this goal, I determined I need … Continue reading Weekly Writing Goals
Last night, before turning in, I watched "Teacher of the Year," on Netflix (as a high school English teacher, I'm a sucker for teacher movies). I don't recall the main actor, but the flick did feature Key (from Key & Peele) as the high school principal and the Sklar brothers as inept guidance counsellors. The … Continue reading Weepy
Purdy Good 