Just another writer
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Writerly Resolutions: August Status
I’m realizing that my priorities have been shifting and focusing as the year proceeds. I’m spending less time on short stories (tending towards no time) and more time on the novel. Even so, I think my goal of getting a complete draft of the novel by year’s end might not be reachable. August saw me completing…
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Beautiful Sentences: Tom McAllister
Where do people get stories? Do they go out in the world looking for interesting anecdotes? When they get home, do they write these things down and rehearse them? Tom McAllister, How to Be Safe.
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Dewey Decimal Project: 599.884 WAA Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape
I first learned f bonobos about the time that this book was originally published. I remember reading an article about these not-chimpanzees in the Chicago Tribune. I found it fascinating that the two ape species closest in relation to humans have bifurcated into “R-rated” species with one specializing in violence (chimpanzees) and the other sex (bonobos).…
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Beautiful Sentences: Idra Novey
When she drifted from the kitchen to the living room, he followed, his hope rising like dough inside him. Idra Novey, Those Who Knew.
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Dewey Decimal Project: 583.22 MOO Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit
When I was younger, my father took the family to Paw Paw Woods in the southwest suburbs of Chicago in search of pawpaws. We found a paw paw tree, but it had no fruit. I don’t know whether we had come at the wrong time of year or if the fruit had already been collected…
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Beautiful Sentences: Tom McAllister
The deepest miseries come from our capacity for remembering; if everything can be wiped away with a single swipe, then nothing has to hurt. Tom McAllister, How to Be Safe.
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Beautiful Sentences: Idra Novey
Her unease with her body had made his mouth dry, breaking down whatever it was in a man’s mind that kept his longings separate from his regrets. Idra Novey, Those Who Knew.
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Writerly resolutions: July Status
I made good progress on the novel this month. The net word gain was 4,400 words, but I made good progress writing and rewriting chapter 13 as the diagram on this page shows. I think part of the progress’s secret was that with the exception of just one day, I managed to do some work on…
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Beautiful Sentences: Tom McAllister
Middle-aged men saw news of the shooting and thought: The world needs me now. They put on their capes and swooped in to the rescue, but when they got there, they found out they had no superpowers. They were just sad men in capes. So they got angry and looked for a woman to blame.…