If you want to contribute to our Watch/Listen/Read, please do not hesitate to reach out! Adam Writes: I got to read children’s stories to my nephew this week. The author is a favorite from when I was a kid: James Stevenson’s Grandpa and Wainey series. I remember being delighted by these books some thirty years…
Category: A Piece of Our Minds
Rejection Letters
Part of the Process… is Rejection I want to share something about receiving rejection letters. I am coming to the conclusion of the revision process on a few stories I’ve been writing, thanks in part to the editorial eye of Lev Raphael. One of the things I’ve been doing lately is reviewing my Submittable profile…
Writer’s Notebook
Defeating Writer’s Block by Writing about it I’d been thinking a lot about what I wanted to write for today. I’d made a few attempts at things to write, but as I’ve faced many times in the last few months, and written about a few times, I’ve had trouble coming up with ideas. And trouble…
It’s Caturday and We Have Questions
There are a lot of reasons for us to think about our heros and those who inspire us right now. The felines have been lionizing Jorts lately, and want to remind all creatures to lend a hand and not be cat-butterers. Frob tells us that he admires Hobbes–his beautiful orange coat and his bravery make…
Watch/Listen/Read
Welcome to the latest episode of Watch/Listen/Read brought to you by the 2 Rules of Writing team. This column is our chance to relax a little, share what we’ve been diving into this week, and to get your recommendations, too. Erika writes: Art for the Exhausted I’ve had one of those weeks where I cannot…
Exposition versus Emotion: A Writer Chooses
The other day I was talking to a friend about a piece she was writing. Ray tends to write in a personal style, but is starting to include more academic sources. Considering my own traumatic brush with academia, I’m ambivalent about this. One thing she said bothered me, because of what it represents. She said:…
Where the Sidewalk Ends, Life Begins
Learning To Read I loved books even before I could read. Before I could read, I would demand that my mother read the same book over and over until I’d memorized it. She got so frustrated that she bought me a tape recorder and began recording the books I loved so that I could just…
Watch/Listen/Read
Erika Writes: Goodbye Sidney Poitier I’m writing this with the movie To Sir With Love playing in the background. It’s one of my favorite Sidney Poitier films, and always good for a good cry–fitting it seems, upon hearing of the passing of Sidney Poitier. It’s hard to choose a favorite film–the first one I ever…
New Year’s Writing Resolutions: Avoiding Burnout
I managed to convince myself to take a week off from posting to the website, as a means of avoiding burnout. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. As much as I want to post every week, every day, even, to keep up consistent site traffic, I recognized that my energy is not unlimited. I…
Unlaced
i learned how to tie my shoes when i was five and i washuddled in my best friend’s bedroom, two houses down and across the street from my house,each of us knew how to do half the job.we didn’t plan it that way, it just happened when they were trying to teach us the whole…