The (non-physical) Benefits of Running
I remember the dread that filled me on the way to school. Every year in middle school, these terrible physical tests in PE reared their heads and one of those fearsome monsters was the mile run. I never did well, hated every moment of it, and was embarrassed by...
Growing All The Time
After living in an oasis for three years, where even the greenery is often covered in sand and a dull yellowish color suffuses everything, the green of Penang was overwhelming when we first moved here. This jungle paradise is rich with plant-life, birds, insects, larger animals, streams, mountains and...
Our Doubts are Traitors
“All novels are fantasies. Some are more honest about it.” Gene Wolfe The study room off the third floor lounge in our dorm was small, fluorescently lighted, and had a big table in it. In fact, it wasn’t even my floor; my room was one floor down. My friend...
Teaching AP Literature
An English teacher’s dream: a class size of 11, a group of students that love reading, critical thinkers that analyze and write well, unstructured discussions that delve below the literal level of a text. The students did the reading, came to class prepared, were positive about the workload, and...
Octavia Butler
Little did I know all that would change when my friend handed me a book and said, “You need to read this.” The book was Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. Over the next 12 years, I slowly made the acquaintance of the African American lady who wrote fiction of...
Who Needs Shakespeare?
“Who needs Shakespeare? I’ve gotten along just fine until now without him, and suddenly, at 18, I’m supposed to care about some English guy who wrote about a Scottish guy who wants to be king?” Of course I’d heard of William Shakespeare before then, but somehow I’d escaped having...
For #authors: #launch your #book with #socialmedia~ #DYI part 1
If you are like me you have a fair idea of how to write a book but nearly no clue on how to market it but there is a time when you have to hitch up your big girl or boy pants to do it. But what to do?...
Thank You, Awesome Teachers
What a blessing it is to have an awesome teacher. My schooling was riddled with fantastic teachers that I enjoyed and appreciated at the time, but it isn’t until many years later, now myself a teacher, that I truly recognize the impact they had on me. Let’s be honest,...
Read What You Disagree With
A number of years ago, I ran across an article that confirmed a few unformed ideas that had been floating around in my mind. “Why You Should Read Books You Hate” by Pamela Paul solidified a concept that I’d loosely held for some time. I should not simply read...
The Craft of #Writing: Beware the Adverb Nazis.
Pro-Writing Aid, an online program that analyzes your writing and gives you recommendations to improve it.As I was looking at a report on a piece it gave the number of adverbs and recommended that I remove three. I must have missed this before but I do tend to use...