It’s that time of year again! Time to make our “top however many of whatever of the year” lists and post them on our blogs. As a writer, I am of course obligated to post my top books of 2015. I read a lot of books this year, but only eight of them really stood out for me.
Category: Uncategorized
School is back in session: Creative Nonfiction
It’s that time of year again, folks. Time to go back to school. I don’t know about you, but I would be perfectly happy not to send my kids back to school. I’m going to have plenty of homework of my own! I just downloaded my syllabus for the creative nonfiction course I’ll be taking this fall, and it looks like I am going to be doing a LOT of writing. That’s a good thing though, right?
I have started reading the “recommended text,” In Fact, which the professor mentioned we might like to look at. I already have a list of ideas for topics that I have been meaning to write about. I am excited to have deadlines in place to force me to put the pen to the paper and get the words out of my head already! I’ll be sharing my work (and probably griping a bit here and there too, if I know me!) throughout the semester. It will be a lot of work, but I am excited to get started! Continue reading “School is back in session: Creative Nonfiction”
When your summer paper-writing requires a trigger warning
This summer, I am taking an online course titled “Family Violence: Cross-Cultural Perspectives” as part of my coursework for a graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies. So far, my homework has consisted of a great deal of reading and responding to questions about the readings. Thus, I haven’t really written anything that could easily be shared here. I have to start working on my final paper though, so that is about to change!
This course is a criminal justice course rather than my usual writing and/or literature courses, so I am trying to wrap my head around APA style again. I haven’t used APA since I finished business school in 2008! Luckily my professor has provided us with a couple of sample papers to help get us started. After reviewing these papers, I think I have a clear picture of where I want to go with my paper. Continue reading “When your summer paper-writing requires a trigger warning”
Mother’s Day Special: Free download of “Loosely Collected”
This weekend only, download the Kindle version of Loosely Collected: A Book of Poems FOR FREE for your favorite mother (including yourself!) This offer is good May 7 – 11, 2015.
Continue reading “Mother’s Day Special: Free download of “Loosely Collected””
How to fall in love with a reader: Part Three
And finally, the third and final part of my how to fall in love with a reader Q&A series: Continue reading “How to fall in love with a reader: Part Three”
How to fall in love with a reader: Part One
The other day, I read this blog post that mentioned a New York Times essay discussing a “36-question interview devised to make strangers fall in love.” The author of the blog post revised the questionnaire with the intent of making specific people – readers – well, if not fall in love, at least “have an interesting conversation about books.” In this post, the first in a three-part series, I will answer that blogger’s questions. Continue reading “How to fall in love with a reader: Part One”
An analysis of Coming of Age in Mississippi and Herculine Barbin
The following is my second course autobiography that I wrote for the course I am taking this semester. I would appreciate your feedback. I am having some difficulty incorporating the required “elements of pedagogy” without making it sound forced.
The Power of a Movement
Coming of Age in Mississippi and Herculine Barbin (Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth Century French Hermaphrodite) tell the stories of two individuals whose lives are greatly impacted by the bodies in which they were born. While Anne Moody’s life is influenced by the color of her skin, Herculine Barbin’s is shaped by the presence of “abnormal” genitalia that make it impossible to determine her “true sex” at birth. One of the elements I would ask students to analyze if I were teaching these two texts is the differences the two authors faced as one of them suffers her trials alone while the other’s story takes place within the context of a greater movement. Continue reading “An analysis of Coming of Age in Mississippi and Herculine Barbin”
Response to “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal”
I’m in the process of editing my “Papers” project that I am planning to publish here in a few weeks, and I keep stumbling across book reviews and other pieces that I think will also make interesting blog posts. This morning, I came across this reader response I wrote for one of my favorite books that I have ever read for school and thought I would share it with you. Here’s a throw-back Thursday review of a book that I read in the spring of 2011.
Response to “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal”
After thousands of years, the mystery of Christ’s whereabouts from the time he was 12 until the age of 30 has been solved. Christopher Moore’s Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, is Biff’s often hysterical account of the life of Christ during this oft-debated period. Throughout this novel, Moore explores such deep theological questions as the divinity of Christ and free will, using modern language sometimes reminiscent of a contemporary television sitcom. Moore manages to integrate a high level of intellectual humor throughout most of the novel. For me, Lamb has earned the cliché, “laugh out loud.” In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that Biff himself had coined the phrase to begin with.
I’m not normally one to cry or laugh out loud when reading any book, but the sarcasm and irreverence used to create humor throughout Lamb definitely had me going. For example, when Joseph asks Biff if he wants to become a stonecutter, Biff replies, Continue reading “Response to “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal””
2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: Day 1
Well, here it is. November 1st. Day One of NaNoWriMo, and Day One of our Trashy Romance Novel Writing Challenge. I know you have a lot of writing to do, so I will get right to the day’s writing assignment: Continue reading “2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: Day 1”
By the way, I’m a huge Blues Traveler fan
I’ve been waiting to see them live since the 1990’s (when I was 3, right?) And I went to this show a couple of weeks ago. That’s it. That is the entire blog post. Well, that and the fact that I never knew the lead singer of Gin Blossoms was that hot. Even after all these years.
Continue reading “By the way, I’m a huge Blues Traveler fan”
Write on the World 