Thoughts about writing, and the universe.
Since coming home from the ski trip with students, I've had some time on my own. Students have been taking part in a Red Cross first aid course, followed by a Model United Nations simulation. I'm alone at home too because my husband is traveling, and so I've had a different kind of week--away from... Continue Reading →
A tension has been on my mind for a while, between the stories we tell in fiction and the question of meaning. It was on my mind in September 2020, then again two years later, December 2022. It seems that perhaps every year in autumn I find myself thinking about this theme. Here I am... Continue Reading →
My husband is not a reader. While I wade up to my eyes through stories, he stays dry. We are different people, and that is fine, but I have wondered for years precisely why he doesn't love to read--to me it seems so natural. To me, it is necessary. He has told me sometimes, that... Continue Reading →
My sister is, as far as I can tell, a financial genius. I might, with a knowing air, explain what "bonds" are to a class when teaching The Great Gatsby, but in a conversation with my sister, I realize quickly that I speak really with the self-contentment of naiveté. I might know my "bull" and... Continue Reading →
In this third season of Star Trek Discovery, there is a lot to enjoy. A reimagined, post-Federation galaxy, the ever-imaginative CGI work, characters who are growing on me in this third adventure through space and time, and most importantly, Star Trek's beautifully hopeful, human, redemptive storytelling in an age when so many shows seem fixated... Continue Reading →
This week's post forms part of the monthly Author Toolbox Blog Hop, in which writers at all stages of their careers come together to share knowledge. It's a good group. Check out the posts of others here. In this second week of school this year, our student creative writing group commenced. Two budding student leaders... Continue Reading →
In the huge range of texts we write, distinguishing among them helps us know what we are writing, helps readers know what to expect, and helps us connect our pieces to readers who will enjoy them. Today we'll discuss three central ways texts are distinguished from one another: mode, genre, and form. These tools help... Continue Reading →
A paradox of fiction writing (and perhaps too of reading) is the power of the storytelling to make us more aware of our real worlds. As the painter studies a subject and seeks to understand each detail of light, color, and shape, so we, when we write, are looking into things' hearts and seeking the... Continue Reading →
This month of school has galvanized my awareness of global heating like nothing before. It began with a presentation by an Australian member of staff about the bushfires still blazing, an impassioned plea that this is the world we are in. Changes are happening now, and not in a distant future. Changes are necessary and... Continue Reading →
This post is part two of two in a series on worldbuilding. To read part one, click here. Last week, we explored how to plan and develop a speculative world, how we must situate ourselves along a continuum between the real and the absurd, how we can tie into existing cultural concepts while still making... Continue Reading →
Words like trees 