The Devil is in the Details.

"Slight not what's near through aiming at what's far."

Euripides

Cracked Magazine Punctuation Cheat Sheet

An insightful look at how the Internet has changed punctuation for the better!?! (Is that sarcasm or enthusiasm?)


Please discuss.

10th Annual Writer's Digest Short Story Competition

The 10th Annual Writer's Digest Short Story Competition is accepting entries! Send them fiction that's bold, brilliant… but brief at 1,500 words or less. But don't be too long about it—the deadline has been extended to December 10, 2009.

Beware of Some Writing Contests!

In my quest to find writing contests for you to enter, I was searching the Web and came across a lot of fake contests. Mostly they were the kind where you send them money and never hear from them again. That is, of course, bad enough. Some, however, I find much more crushing to the soul of a writer. These are the ones where contest really appears legit with its massive Web site and 100s of poems written by many different authors. Some poems are terrible, but others are downright beautiful. As you read it, you wonder if this author would be the next Emily Dickenson.

About eight years ago, when I first started writing poems, I entered a poetry contest like that. I was told that my poems were wonderful, and they were posted immediately. What I found out pretty soon was that it was a poetry mill, where they churn out products to make you spend a lot of money buying your poem in book form or on a nice piece of framed paper so that you can show family and friends how legitimate you are now that you are published. I’m sure the Web site even hopes your family and friends will want to spend large quantities of money buying your poem in a leather-bound anthology with a thousand other suckers’ poems in there.

Please check over writing contests’ Web sites carefully before you submit. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if it is legitimate, especially when you are so excited about your writing and perhaps new to the game. Sometimes if you Google the name of the site, you’ll come up with blogs and other sites complaining about them. Look over the complaints to see if this really is a contest, you want to enter.

As for myself, I’ll continue to look for legitimate writing contests for you to enter, but please remember I’m human too!

Dialogue

I hear you call my name
I cannot bear this night
I must have my dialogue
to know where I continue
where future meets past
I have a spark
tell me you see it.

The stars reach down
and speak
diamonds and rubies.


Linda Suddarth

Discuss.

I Must Sing

Why do I live?

Because of the rings around Saturn.
Because the Welsh must sing.
Because of Fragonard and
the lady perpetually on a swing.
Because Mozart, existed I exist;
he is the color of violets in the spring.
Live because of the eternal
nature of the sweet ring
of familiarity. I know you darling
angel light unashamed—bring
your joy to crack and melt
the dusty veil I held thin
around my soul. Mozart changed
the world and now I must sing.
How can I do otherwise honestly?
Through trials, journeys, despair, war
little birds and Mozart still sing
and I hear them better than before.

Linda Suddarth


Please Discuss.

"The quickest way to a man's heart is through his chest cavity with a sharp knife."

Jamie Miller

True Friends

"True friends stab you in the front."

Oscar Wilde

Did the Bard work alone?

This is a hotly debated subject in the scholarly world, in part, because we never like to think anyone as wonderful as William Shakespeare might not have created everything we think he did. A new computer software program at the University of London, which was designed to catch plagiarizing students (this should even more upsetting to Shakespeare purists!), purports to prove that at least one of Shakespeare’s plays, The Reign of King Edward III, was written in collaboration. The majority of the play appears to be playwright Thomas Kyd’s creation.

Discuss!

Reference: The Huffington Post, 10-13-09, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/13/william-shakespeare-compu_n_318589.html.

A Good One

The last time somebody said, "I find I can write much better with a word processor. " I replied, "They used to say the same thing about drugs."

Roy Blunt Jr. (American Writer and Humorist)

Writing Contest

The 10th Annual Writer's Digest Short Story Competition is accepting entries! They are looking for fiction that's bold, brilliant ... but brief. Send them your best in 1,500 words or less. The deadline is December 1, 2009. The grand-prize winner will receive $3,000 (that's $2—or more—per word).

Scared and Alone

Scared and alone.

I cry out,

But the night

Swallows me

From within.

It is stronger

Than me.

I become

One with it.

Accepting the night

Frees me

To look at my soul.

Please discuss.

Trap Door

If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door.


Paul Beatty (American Poet)

A Rose from my Garden

Copyright, Catherine Wiese 2007

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

William Shakespeare, 1594

Inure

Inure means to make accustomed or used to something painful, difficult, or inconvenient.

How does one become inured to unpredictable moments of helplessness?

Stephen Kuusisto, Planet of the Blind

Please comment with your own sentence.

What is a Minority?

What is a minority? The chosen heroes of this Earth have been in a minority. There is not a social, political, or religious privilege that you enjoy today that was not brought to you by the blood and tears and patient suffering of the minority. It is the minority that have stood in the van of every moral conflict and achieved all that is noble in the history of the world.

John Bartholomew Gough (1817-1886)

Do you agree?

Ask the Experts at Oxford University

What a thrill to find the Oxford University's "Ask the Experts," while poking around on the Internet. If you are a major English dork like me, you'll love this site. In addition to FAQs, there are sections broken into everything from word origin to usage. If you can't find your answer in FAQs, there's a link to send your query to Oxford University. There's also a section on better writing, which contains subgroups such as letter writing and useful phrases. You can even play crosswords and hangman, just don't get sucked into it at work! The site is available at http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/?view=uk.

Houseboy

If you are interested in colonialism in Africa and the deeply layered tragic effects on the sub-continent's residents, then Ferdinand Oyono's Houseboy is a must-read. Houseboy is a novel in the form of a diary written in French in 1956 and translated into English in 1966.

Toundi, the young African male who pens the journal, finds life in his village difficult and longs to become more European. He goes to work for a missionary and becomes a Christian with a new Christian name, Joseph. As he comes to idolize the priest he works for, he begins to look down on his own people more and more, but he is not accepted by the Europeans either.

When the priest dies, Joseph is sent to live with a commandant and his wife, where he realizes that whites are not as wonderful as he thought. But by now it's too late. The commandant's wife has an affair and when it becomes apparent that Joseph knew, he is severely beaten and tortured. He escapes but is too hurt to survive and his diary is read after his death.

Even though he is told repeatedly by those around him, Joseph lacked the sense of survival needed to make it as an African in colonial Africa. He doesn't understand the imbalance between the Europeans and the Africans or the lack of power and as a consequence he suffers and dies.

Please discuss.

The Angry Mob

Oh angry mob, is there any problem your wisdom and torches can't solve?

Jon Stewart (10/7/08)

A Poet

A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away.

Ivan Turgenev (Russian writer)

Unutterable

New words are so much fun. I have my Google home page set up to give me a couple of different “Word of the Days.” Today, one of the words was unutterable. What a great word! It means defying expression or description.

I luxuriated in the unutterable beauty of my child’s love for me.



Please comment with a sentence using the word.

Get inspiration from others locally.

How to meet other writers in your area.

I’m very lucky to live in the beautiful small Southern town of Charlottesville, Virginia, where Rita Dove, John Grisham, and Rita Mae Brown walk around town.

William Faulkner served as writer-in-residence at Charlottesville’s University of Virginia from 1957 until his death. In addition, Edgar Allen Poe was a student at the University of Virginia, which was founded by Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.

Inspiration is everywhere here in central Virginia from the Charlottesville Festival of the Book (where national authors come to promote their books; in 2009, Rita Dove did a reading with another local, Boyd Tinsley from The Dave Matthews Band ) to Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia (with its nationally known MFA program) to the local writers reading their poetry at poetry slams and during open mic events. It’s easy to find people with whom to write and read your work.

Some of you may not be so lucky. I’ve lived in many places where the creative world seems stagnant. Blue-collar workers struggle just to get by, there’s no time or energy left for creativity.

Here are a few ideas for meeting other creative people like you.

· Put an ad on the community page on Craigslist. Just be safe and smart about it. Meet with others in a public place.
· If you live in or near a college town (and most of the U.S. is pretty close to even a small school), try advertising on the school’s bulletin boards, especially in the English or Drama departments.
· Try networking. You’d be surprised how many people at least know a writer with whom they can connect you. Talk to co-workers, friends, and neighbors.
· Create a blog like I did.
· Post ads at the local library and check their Web site for groups you can join. Sometimes you can find writers in book groups.
· Google your town and the surrounding areas to find writers and groups.

Another Hero Fallen

Reportedly…

In writers’ news, Nobel laureate Sir William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, has revealed in his private journal that he tried to rape a 15-year-old girl when he was 18. It also turns out that he was an alcoholic trying to sooth his demons, perhaps because as a schoolteacher, he set up groups of boys to fight in a scary precursor to Lord of the Flies.

So many writers have demons, is it necessary for the creative mind?


Sources: The Huffington Post, Guardian News and Media.

The Struggle between Harley and Yuppie

The Struggle between Harley and Yuppie

Who am I?
I want both but I am neither.
Why can’t I choose?
Each provides some security and some fear
The money I spend to be a yuppie. I know I’m not. I falter as I play the role.
It feels false to me. Does it feel that way to others?
The Harley in me comes from my love of my father.
But I’m uncomfortable there too.
So I walk the tightrope between the two with no real identity
As I listen to opera and Kid Rock.
I have a tattoo and French-manicured nails.
I wear 6-inch stiletto Harley heels with Anne Taylor tank tops.
I drive a Jaguar and long for a Harley.

Please discuss.

Review of 2009 National Poetry Slam

In an article from The Huffington Post on the top performers at the 2009 National Poetry Slam in West Palm Beach, Florida, I found the glorious slam called "Werewolf " by Sierra DeMulder. I wonder how she managed to come up on stage with such an intense personal experience and rock the stage. You can feel the agony and bravery behind her words and actions. Brava!

Summer Reading

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

I just finished reading “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” by Rebecca Wells. This is one of my favorite books of all time. Some of you may remember the 2002 movie that starred Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, James Garner, and Ashley Judd. Usually, I read the book first and then see the movie. In this case, I saw the movie first and adored it, so I read the book. The characters in the movie were so real that when I read the book Sandra Bullock’s image and voice popped into my head whenever Siddalee Walker spoke. As the movie’s characters were such a great adaptation to the book’s characters, I can easily go between the book and the movie and enjoy both as an extension of each other—something that almost never happens for me.

Siddalee Walker struggles with life and love, because of the damage that she suffered as a child through the unhappy marriage of her narcissistic alcoholic mother and somewhat-absent father. She calls off her engagement to Connor McGill and goes off to a cabin to figure out what she should do. Her mother’s best friends, the Ya-Yas, have been there her mother’s whole life and through her mother’s scrapbook, stories, and their genuine love of each other and Sidda try to explain the tragedies that shaped her mother, Vivi Walker, into the complex creature that Sidda alternatively loves and hates.

The intricate relationships between the Ya-Yas, their husbands, their children, and the Louisiana social life are so thrilling and real. What I like so much about it is that despite the hardships, they stick up for each other without question. The relationship between the women may be crazy and dysfunctional at times, but in the end it is what sustains them through their lives.

Have you read a book that you love and want to discuss? Please comment.

The New House

The New House

What a deal. A foreclosure,
But what price have the previous owners paid
To be free from the burden of debt.
I see their pain in the big, childishly painted wooden letters
On my daughter’s bedroom walls.
How did Ally feel leaving her room?

Please discuss.

Always Do Your Research.

No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.

John Locke (1632-1704)

Research, research, research. I can’t say it enough. No one wants to look stupid in front of his or her audience. I’ve seen brilliant people make very embarrassing mistakes. And nowadays especially never trust one source for your research, especially if you are looking on the Internet. Read multiple sources to gain a well-rounded expertise about whatever you are writing. Never take anything for granted. If you use slang in fiction, make sure the term was used during that period. If you talk about a specific gun (which, of course, you’d better, because you want as much detail as possible) in a cowboy story, make darn sure it was actually used by cowboys then.

Fireworks

Fireworks

Illegal light show in my front yard.
I stand back worried as the shower of
Colored sparks grows higher and higher.
Once my daughter was deaf from it.
Sixteen now, she laughs and throws poppers at my feet.
We wait ‘til dark although even being illegal, the show isn’t very good.
Why did we travel so far for so little?
The grocery store has sparklers,
But they aren’t fun at all.

Please discuss.

A Child's Imagination

Everything you can imagine is real.

Pablo Picasso

I believe that reading and writing are the most important skills a person can have. It's a parent's responsibility to encourage their children to read and write. A child's imagination is an amazing thing. Encourage it through bedtime story reading and story telling, buying books at used bookstores and book fairs, and summer library reading programs.

Writers' Group

A work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line.

Joseph Conrad (1898)

What Conrad means, of course, is to make sure every line is essential. As writers, our egos are largely tied into our writing. We find it difficult to revise our own words, because those words are like our children. We gave birth to them creatively. This is where a writers' group can really help you tighten your piece. Even the most seasoned writer needs an objective eye. Consider that even Pat Conroy or J.K. Rowling are edited (perhaps repeatedly) before being published.

Just finished reading...

For years now, my husband has bothered me to create a blog. I kept refusing for two reasons: (1) I'm not computer-savvy. Computers generally annoy me. (2) Blogs seemed odd to me. I thought, "Why should just anyone be able to give his opinion? What are his qualifications?"

Eventually in surfing the Internet, I discovered the blog The Huffington Post. I started reading it everyday. I became addicted. Now, it's the first thing I read every day. One day recently, I was in the bookstore wandering around and found, "The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging." Available here at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+huffington+post+complete+guide+to+blogging&sprefix=the+huff

I just finished reading it. The fact that I started my blog before I even finished the book should tell you how good the book was and how easy it is to create a blog. The book tells you everything from how to follow traffic to where you can create a free blog to how to decide what to put on your blog.

I'm really excited about my little blog and I hope eventually you all will be too!

Steven Wright

From the truly funny deadpan comedian Steven Wright, "What's another word for thesaurus?"

Shut the Door

I need a quiet place to write. I'm sure most of us do. Most of the offices I've worked in have been loud. It's always difficult to write or edit when your office-mates are loud. While they were fun environments, they made it very hard to think. Now that I work from home, I feel guilty shutting the door. After all, (I think) how loud can a teenager, two dogs, and a husband be? Very, it turns out. The dogs always want to be where I am and preferably on my lap, the sixteen-year old always needs to go somewhere or eat something. The husband needs a lot of attention too. Usually, where is this or that since we just moved. I've decided to dedicate an hour a day to writing. Will it work? I hope so. Writing is cathartic for me. My mind needs time to rest from the craziness of life. I'm overwhelmed. We should all shut the door and take an hour a day. If you need to go outside or in the basement next to the washing machine so be it. Just do it!

Inspiration is Contagious.

I created this blog because I find other people's writing inspiring. As writers, we all need encouragement and sometimes it's hard to find. This is a place where you can comment on works posted by writers and also get information about how to write and publish your own material.

We've all been where you are. Sometimes collaboration can help you over the hump.