I figured since I’ve been teaching writing, maybe on my writing project site I ought to have some blogs for teachers, too. Especially elementary ed teachers, those generalists who have to teach just about everything, even writing, even if they feel they don’t understand or do it well. So look for more entries on teaching...
Read more »

I have to admit it. Despite some initial skepticism, I had a pleasant experience using a Sony Reader to read Slaughterhouse Five. I plan to blog about the e-reader soon. Here’s a pic in the meantime.
Read more »

Writers, it’s worth considering that the invisible narrator is getting tiresome in fiction and an intrusive voice might be just the thing to reinvigorate the fiction reading experience. The convention of the proper third person narrator in contemporary fiction is this: “Don’t call attention to it.” This contemporary third person approach is just like...
Read more »

Even though each meeting follows a familiar, effective format of meet ‘n eat, craft discussion, and professional workshop, with up to 10 lively authors in a room (plus me), each meeting will have its own tone and theme. For example, tonight’s meeting dispensed with a craft lecture in favor of a discussion of writing questions...
Read more »

New! Create in style with a WWP logo notebook WWP logo notebook I always wanted to create some writer’s merchandise – I know you’ll enjoy these. Sturdy 5×7 quality notebook – great size for writing  hard cover, hard back Black cover and back with shiny silver WWP logo Black ballpoint pen in pen holder included! 100 pages, ruled Spiral bound – opens flat Take...
Read more »

In English, we don’t actually use the present tense to talk about the present. For instance, if someone asked you what you did yesterday, you might say, “I met my friends for dinner.” But if a friend called your cell phone and asked what you were doing right now, you wouldn’t say: “I meet my friends...
Read more »

Thought I’d share a draft from one of the creativity exercises for tonight. This one was “Associative Poetry” – after reading Charles Simic “In the Library” to the group, I joined them in writing a poem that began with an ordinary occurrence and ended with something surprising. I guess I had the idea of...
Read more »

Here are some pics from the “Mountain-lovin’, Tree-huggin’ Coffee Hour (and-a-half) Dec 13, cosponsored by the WWP and New Southerner Magazine. I hope to have podcasts up in a few weeks. Audience at the "Mountain-lovin' show" Michael Jackman, host, moments before the show Leigh Ann Yost and Jonathan Shippey wow the audience Mary Love, of Kentuckians for...
Read more »

Our “capital-I” is one of those bizarre inconsistencies of English orthography so taken for granted it’s all but unnoticed until someone points it out. I made the discovery thanks to Maxine Hong Kingston’s essay, “The Language of Silence.” In a quick aside Kingston notes, ” ‘I’ is capital and ‘you’ is lower-case.” And suddenly I, too,...
Read more »

I don’t know if I’d ever go so far as to recommend writers study linguistics, but it sure can’t hurt, and learning about the strange history and structure of English could help one become a better writer. So it’s worth a shot. Here’s a loose collection of thoughts on linguistics, ending with why writers should...
Read more »