Anais Nin

Music is the universal language of mankind,--poetry their universal pastime and delight. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  1833

E.B. White

Writing is both the mask and the unveiling.

E.B. White

Nook Review

This year, I got a Barnes and Noble Nook for Mother’s Day. I had been looking at the various digital reading devices for a while, so I was thrilled to get the Nook. I take many trips each year so it made sense to me to have some kind of portable reading device. One of my grips about traveling is bringing along several very heavy books on every trip. Additionally, I find myself waiting for my daughter for various appointments and pick-ups, where I like to read as I wait for her.
The Nook was easy enough to set up. There was really nothing to do, except plug it in to charge. It came with a computer charger (USB port) and a wall charger. Once plugged in, you can sign in at the Barnes and Noble Web site (www.barnesandnoble.com), get an account through them with your credit card, and start adding ebooks (electronic books). This was easy enough too. I have the 3G wifi one, which makes it really simple to add ebooks. If you are somewhere with a wifi signal as in most airports and some restaurants and coffee shops these days, you can add ebooks while you sit there.

One feature I enjoy is “Free Fridays”. Every Friday, you get a notification telling you which free ebook is available. I have read some interesting things that I never would have chosen otherwise. There is a wide range of free digitized books from Google too. That is the best feature to me. Additionally, you can read anything in your ebook library on your computer, once you download Barnes and Noble’s program.

There are a few things I dislike about the device. The Nook does force you to spend your money in one place. Sometimes the ebook costs more than the paperback. One of the reasons I wanted this device was that ebooks were supposed to be cheaper. The Nook can also be buggy and freeze up. Lastly, there’s no light to read in the dark. That’s pretty annoying but I did go on-line and bought a non-Nook car charger and a reading light.

Overall, I like this device. It’s lightweight, easy to travel with, simple to add ebooks and plenty of other nice features.

Obscurantism

A noun meaning the opposition to the spread of knowledge or being deliberately vague or obscure.

Throughout time, politicians have delighted in the art of obscurantism.


Please comment with a sentence of your own. 

How to Get a Short Story in Writer’s Digest.

Every other month, Writer's Digest presents a creative challenge for fun and prizes. We'll provide a short, open-ended prompt. In turn, you'll submit a short story of 750 words or fewer based on that prompt. You can be funny, poignant, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story. The winner will receive publication in an upcoming issue of Writer's Digest.

For rules, prompts, deadlines, voting and other details about the "Your Story" competition, visit:
http://www.writersdigest.com/yourstory

Source: Writer’s Digest Web site, http://www.writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/, October 10, 2010.

Sunshine

Once the sunshine came.
She knew she’d be all right
She stretched and let it pour over
The face and legs.
The dogs seemed surprised
to be outside in the warmth.
They had forgotten too.

The Winds

The blustery darkness came
With it came cracking soft into hard
And then long, cold silence.
The tall ones begged for it to stop.
There was no reprieve.
Until one day many moons later
When at last the yellow burst
Shone brightly in the cloudless sky
The cat stretched lazily across the driveway.

Grammar Rules to Keep in Mind

Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat)
Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
Be more or less specific.
Remarks in brackets (however relevant) are (usually) (but not always) unnecessary.
Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
No sentence fragments.
Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
One should NEVER generalize.
Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
Don’t use no double negatives.
Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
One-word sentences? Eliminate.
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
The passive voice is to be ignored.
Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
Kill all exclamation points!!!
Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
Puns are for children, not groan readers.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Who needs rhetorical questions?
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.


Source:  Bits and Pieces Web site, http://bitsandpieces.us/, October 10, 2011.

My Long Awaited Return

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.


Albert Einstein

So true...

Rule your mind or it will rule you.

Horace

Keats

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep


A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and
quiet breathing.

John Keats-Endymion

As If You Weren't Sad Already

They play the most depressing hold music when you wait for someone from the unemployment office to answer your call.  Is that wise?

In an interesting role reversal on copyright theft…

A Chinese novelist is suing Google for copyright infringement. I am absolutely the first writer to defend an author’s right to copyright his work. Being in both the publishing and the writing world, I work very hard to ensure that the businesses I work for don’t infringe on anyone’s copyright. I also protect my own pretty fiercely.  Personally, I hope she beats Google.  What I find interesting here is both our governments' takes on copyright infringement involving other countries. 

According to an article at the blog Writers Write,

The Financial Times reports that Google is being sued by a Chinese author whose book was scanned by the search giant as part of its global digitization process. The novelist has sued Google in a Chinese court on the grounds of copyright infringement.

The case, the first brought against Google by a Chinese writer, underlines the risks that remain to Google's plan to build a digital library which could lay the groundwork for an "iTunes of books" and potentially transform the publishing industry.

What I find so interesting about this is that Chinese people have long infringed on American authors’ and movie-makers’ copyrights and we are hard pressed to fight back with any measurable success. The American government, of course, would take her claims much more seriously than the Chinese government takes our infringement complaints.

Nevertheless, I digress. Feel free to digress too.

Gallimaufry

Gallimaufry is a noun meaning a hodgepodge or a jumble.

Sometimes my soul seems a gallimaufry from the past.


Please comment with your own sentence.

The Soul

"My entire soul is a cry, and all my work is a commentary on that cry."

Nikos Kazantzakis (Greek Writer)