voice | voice
Aug.15.2012
Who am I today? I am not the image that states back; I am not even my own voice.
I am a culmination of experience and interactions; I am constantly evolving.
Today, I am in fourth grade—Mrs. Reed’s class. I have dodged the oral book report for as long as I can. Mother reads the note, irritated with...
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Jul.04.2012
At last count I've accumulated about 2,900 rejection slips, both email and hard mail, dating back at least 24 years. We writers agonize over just about every word in these little snippets of rejection death, attempting to decipher some type of meaningful logic out of these one or two-line...
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May.26.2012
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer – The General Prologue
image via cathedral-enterprises.co.uk
I’ve probably grown overly ambitious, but I’ve decided to read the Canterbury Tales and to post on them piecemeal here. Mine is the Penguin Classics version, and it’s written in...
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May.09.2012
One of my favorite methods of creating characters is the use of voice--how a particular character speaks or thinks. Before I begin writing, I try to hear the character in my head. If I'm lucky, I'll come up with a memorable sentence right away (even if ultimately that doesn't appear in the...
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Apr.10.2012
I was at an education fair for an elementary and middle school at a Barnes & Noble store last week. The atmosphere was galvanized with hunger for story and words. Parents, kids, and teachers didn’t stroll or loll to look at books. The children ran throughout the store and the parents were...
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Apr.05.2012
Identity: Passport To Success by Stedman Graham aligns with my ideal that knowing your purpose and reinventing yourself on a regular basis is the key to life.
The voices of women are so important in this day and age. But Stedman Graham hits the proverbial nail on the head, when he...
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Apr.04.2012
One widely read litmag from the South is a publication of Georgia State University, New South - - Georgia State University's Journal of Arts and Literature. After reading the winter 2012 issue, I'm heartened somewhat by the quality of writing coming from the creative writing mills of the U.S...
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Mar.30.2012
In the last couple of weeks, among the books I’ve been reading have been two that combine remarkable risk-taking in subject matter with deep, rich research and gorgeous structures: Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red, which I’ve been rereading as part of my winter teaching, and my friend Melissa Pritchard...
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Mar.10.2012
March 10
VOLUNTARY MUTE
I have learned I don’t have to answer just because someone asks. I have learned to change subjects. I have learned it is better to say nothing. Repeating the phrase, ‘it’s just my opinion,’ followed with, ‘I could be wrong...
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Mar.02.2012
Sad to hear Rush Limbaugh call Sandra Flukes, let's see -- a slut and a prostitute -- because she wanted to testify about the costs and problems women encounter acquiring prostitution. Calling her such names added nothing to the vigorous discourse so why did he do it? Is that what his shows and...
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