Odds & Ends

Blogtalk: Living with Regret

December 2, 2011

Do you regret wrong decisions you’ve made? What does it really mean to feel regret? And is life better without it? In the following TED talk, Kathryn Schulz makes a strong case for accepting regret as a positive and reasonable emotional response to bad decisions and mistakes. “We should feel pain when things go wrong,” [...]

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Author Interview: Nicole Johns-Purge: Rehab Diaries

November 16, 2011

Today I’m excited and pleased to post my recent interview with Nicole Johns, author of Purge: Rehab Diaries. Nicole Johns lives in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, where she teaches English. She earned her MFA from the University of Minnesota and a BA in English from Penn State University. The summer after starting the MFA [...]

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Blogtalk: Compassionate Criticism and Avoiding Distraction

November 4, 2011

Compassionate Criticism – Sharon Lippincott just posted one of the best lists of constructive feedback rules for writers I’ve seen. It’s similar to the list of guidelines I give all my students, but I think Sharon’s is better articulated. (I think I’ll have to steal it. Okay with you, Sharon?) I think one of my [...]

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Into the Fire: What Happened Was…

October 24, 2011

This weekend I attended The Sun magazine’s annual writers’ workshop, “Into the Fire” at Esalen in Big Sur. Having been to one of these workshops four years ago, I anticipated the weekend as eagerly as a child anticipates an Oreo cookie–imagining twisting it apart, licking out the luscious filling, then biting into the crisp chocolate [...]

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Blogtalk: Characterizing Yourself, NaNoWriMo, Free Memoir Writing Conference, and Creating Inspiration

October 14, 2011

With all the possibilities journaling offers, from simply writing on lined notebook paper to beautiful and complex art journals, I found Quinn Creative’s recent post, Journaling with Words, humorous and enjoyable. Plus, she offers a great journaling exercise to help you identify and acknowledge the creative aspects of your personality. When I saw the exercise, [...]

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A Week’s Worth of Journaling Prompts: Our Worst Habits

September 26, 2011

Everyone has habits. Some of these habits we think of as “good” and some as “bad.” If we’ve labeled a habit as bad, it’s probably because we consider it to be unhealthy in some way, such as smoking or drinking too much. Or perhaps you think it’s a bad habit because it annoys someone you [...]

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Blogtalk: How Books and Media Reflect Our Social Conscience

September 23, 2011

Last week, I viewed a fascinating TED video with Lauren Zlaznick. Through the results of a study conducted of popular television shows over the last five decades, Slaznick demonstrates how media reflects the attitudes, concerns, and beliefs of our culture. I wondered, as I watched it, if the same was true of books. Then, lo [...]

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