I appreciated this. I'm new to blogging and I was ignorant of the etiquette. If you have read my stuff and I haven't responded, please accept my apologies. Thank you for teaching me what is expected in this culture. Maggie
I have an irrational fear of knives. PLease don't laugh. I can cook, chop, slice, dice and otherwise function--sometimes a little white-knuckled. But I get the heebie-jeebies if the kids are in the kitchen with me. I'm afraid I'll turn and not know they're there. Of course my ex-husband (Lord Voldemort) loved to freak me out by licking the butcher knife or pretending to cut himself or me or the kids with the back edge. The weird thing is I really l
I have read books that I have loved with a passion, but they don't all have great first lines. I don't love all of the books listed above with a passion, but I have to say I think the opening lines are very compelling for various reasons. Exactly! <TABLE cellpadding=8 width="95%" align=center b
all I can say is "best wishes!!" and I send prayers too your way Thanks. Yes, please pray for us. I think I will stay put for now Don't blam
Thanks for this. I don't know who said it but, biology is the least that makes a parent.
These are not necessarily from books I liked...some I did, some I didn't, some I didn't even finish. But is is a fun exercise to go through your book shelf and pull out ten good first sentences. 1. “You see, Pooh,” I said, “a lot of people don’t seem to know what Taoism is…”—Benjamin Hoff. The Tao of Pooh. 2. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a
OK Gang--I am officially homeless. I am writing this from La Quinta Inns and Suites in Colorado Springs. If you have to be homeless, this is the way to do it. Thanks to dear friends who used frequent traveler points to book me a room. I am on my way to sunny Phoenix, Arizona where I have to find a home for me and six of my kids before starting my job
Buddha--I really like your work. This piece was especially moving to me becasue my daughter is in a "mixed marriage". She is LDS and he is Pentecostal. However, they worship together as a family (or at least they will when he returns from Iraq). The fact that my son-in-law supports my daughter and prefers family unity to religious debate is one of the things that I love most about his character. If you and I don't meet in this life, let's get
All right you two... I will pull this car over! And I'm not kidding!
Buddha and Ted, Thanks for the compliments. Yes, Katie was proud of her welts and bruises. If she broke a finger that was even better. Thanks for reading my stuff and commenting, guys. The feedback helps. Maggie
I found a scrap of a piece four years old and decided to work with it. Fencing There are soccer moms And Little League moms. I am a fencing mom. Fencing is an elegant combination of Ballet and thumb wrestling. Competitors dance up and down The electrified strip. A pantomimed tango— With sharp objects.
a) I've incorporated their influences so seamlessly that you didn't see them, or b) I'm nowhere in their league, or both Or C) I'm not as familiar with their work.
Nothing kills poetry like a poetry text book. Same goes for history. Try Robert Frost The Pasture. Very simple but very intimate. I think your poetry is a lot like Robert Frost's. It is very straight forward but very pithy.
Buddha--I get Writer's Almanac e-mailed to me every day from PBS.org. Garrison Keillor features a poem a day--some traditional, some contemporary. I enjoy reading this every day. It gives me an insight into what published writers are doing. Some days I think I'm way out of my league, I'll never be able to write like that; other days I think I've done better stuff than that... Actually listening to Keillor reading the poems helps finding the emotion
Buddha, This piece was so evocative, I can almost smell her bath powder. I really like your conversational, un-self-conscious style. You just tell it like it is and it takes your reader to exactly where you are. Nicely done. My grandma preferred Tom Jones. Maggie
OK call me slow, but who is directing "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"?
Learn how to dance! I mean actual ballroom dance. I was just showing the documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom" to my music students. It's a fun film about New York City kids learning ballroom dance as part of their music and PE curriculum. They go on to participate in city-wide competition. Seeing the kids turn from being jaded street wise and at-risk into gracef
"Narrow-casted radio." When my students say, "Why do we have to learn about this???" I tell them, "Half the radio stations are owned by Clear Channel, the other half are owned by Time Warner. So in all the history of music from 400AD to now from all over the world, you have 2 old guys in suits deciding which 40 songs you can listen to." Middle schoolers need music. For some of them it is the only way they are going to find their niche
"what're you gunna do now?" (What is with the quote button?) I have accepted a job teaching middle school choir in Phoenix. I'll be moving my family from Wisconsin where it can't decide which season it is--82 one day, 42 the next--to Arizona where your climate choices are hot, beastly hot, and al dente.
[Standing in my office, at my desk, applauding you] Thank You! It's been a long time coming. I started out a 35 year old married mother of 8. My baby was still nursing. I'm graduating as a divorced 40 year old with 6 kids at home 2 married kids and (almost) 2 grand babies. And (if I may be permitt
[Standing in my office, at my desk, applauding you] Thank You! It's been a long time coming. I started out a 35 year old married mother of 8. My baby was still nursing. I'm graduating as a divorced 40 year old with 6 kids at home 2 married kids and (almost) 2 grand babies. And (if I may be permitt
some of us write life stories AS FICTION. Protect the innocent, camouflage the guilty, avoid being sued and protect myself from memories that are a little too raw.
I learned an interesting thing tutoring international students. "Intellectual property" is an American idea. I would be seriously livid if someone had plagiarized my work. An Asian scholar might be intensely flattered that a reader "got it". I also had a friend in high school who had music running through his head. He stayed up all night getting it onto staff paper. He played it for his parents (both music teachers)they looked at him and said,
"trust me" Nice.
This piece has a great rhythm and cadence. Great for reading out loud. Take this one to an open mic night! Maggie
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