Jill Jepson's Blog
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Aug.23.2012
One of the most challenging (and the most fun) things writers do is create characters. If you’re a fiction writer, this means imagining an entire personality, a network of relationships, a web of memories, a whole life, from scratch. It’s an act of sheer audacity to create this person that...
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Aug.22.2012
When I was in Venice with my sister and her husband, we stopped at an outdoor café for lunch. The wait staff, all women, were Chinese. I don’t know if they were having trouble with the language or were just inexperienced, but they were struggling — getting orders wrong, forgetting to...
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Aug.22.2012
When I was growing up, I was taught never to boast, act like I knew stuff, or defend myself against criticism. A lot of girls were raised that way back then. In our household, it was called "being ladylike." It was long before the whole self-esteem movement. I don't think I heard the phrase "self-...
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Aug.20.2012
Friday evening, I put the latest issue of The Whirlwind Review online.
Editing The Whirlwind Review—an online literary journal focusing on the connections between writing and spirituality—is one of the most fulfilling things I do. It is also one of the most nerve-wracking. It is...
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Aug.17.2012
Stand at the edge of a cliff, jump off, and build your wings on the way down.
—Ray Bradbury.
This week has been all about recharging my writing life, getting out of a slump—well, not exactly a slump; more of a grump—and reconnecting with the pleasure, the joy, the fun of writing. ...
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Aug.17.2012
My friend Lynette is a talented writer with a crystal-clear style and a charming novel out—Nature Lessons. But these days, she’s taken a step back from writing fiction to work as a free-lance ghost writer. She loves it. It’s challenging and fun—and there’s the added benefit of being on the...
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Aug.15.2012
Above all, let there be pleasure.” — Writer and musician Laura Davis
Have you thought about this lately? About the sheer pleasure of writing? I don’t mean joy, that more sublime emotion. I mean something much more basic, physical, and down-to-earth: something sensual.
I have to admit, I haven’t...
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Aug.14.2012
This post is about connecting with the joy of writing. It comes out of my own sense of frustration about my writing. I am not usually a frustrated writer. I love writing, and I’ve had enough successes mixed in with the disappointments to feel validated as a writer. Actually, I’ve been...
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Aug.13.2012
Welcome to Week 16 of my writing pilgrimage.
Before I left for my month in Italy, I was writing like a steam locomotive, chugging along that track to the end of my young-adult fantasy novel.
My plan was not to look at the thing while I was overseas. I needed a break from it, some...
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Aug.10.2012
This has been “The Power of Words”week at the Writing as a Sacred Path Blog, so on this Great Stuff for Writers Friday, I’m recommending a few works about language. Not grammar texts or style guides, but books, essays, and blogs about all aspects of this intriguing tapestry of meaning...
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Aug.09.2012
Grammar can be a surprisingly controversial topic. I’ve seen people get into some pretty heated arguments over such vital issues as when to use “dreamed” and when to use “dreamt” and whether the past tense of “dive” is “dived” or “dove.” Even in this age of celebrating diversity, most people just...
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Aug.08.2012
I am a fan of Stephen King. I know the usual criticisms of his writing and even agree with some of them, but I love his imagination, the delicious creepiness he evokes, the goose bumps his books give me. But this post isn’t a book review—or a defense of my taste in fiction. It’s about a single...
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Aug.07.2012
This week in my writing pilgrimage, I’m focusing on language. In my last post, I debunked a couple common misconceptions about so-called “good” grammar. Today, I’m going to discuss one more linguistic myth.
The myth: Some dialects are better (richer, clearer, more organized, more precise) than...
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Aug.07.2012
Considering that we start learning it at birth, master it almost completely by four, and use it every day of our lives, it’s surprising how little people know about language. Even among writers, who should know better, misconceptions abound. When I’m not being a writer, I’m an...
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Aug.05.2012
I know what you're thinking. First she writes a book called Writing as a Sacred Path. Now she's saying the same thing about travel. This woman thinks everything is a sacred path. Well, you're right: That's exactly what I think. And having just returned from a month in Italy,...
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About Jill
I have spent a lifetime exploring spiritual traditions throughout the world--from Siberia to Afghanistan, Syria to Japan. I have also spent a lifetime writing. In my work, I weave together those two threads, combining the spiritual and the artistic,...
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Causes Jill Jepson Supports
Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife, Interational Society for the Protection of Burros and Mustangs, National Wildlife Federation,...