Some Links I Like: Understanding Anna Karenina, How to Walk Dogs, Writing Advice from Shirley Jackson

-

 Movie versions of Anna Karenina often get it wrong. This writer has taught the novel at Northwestern University for decades. Read what he has to say about this woman, her husband, and her lover.

https://www.commentary.org/articles/gary-morson/moral-urgency-anna-karenina/own 

I am guilty of listening to podcasts, writing prose in my head, and daydreaming while walking my dogs (which I do separately, so it means extra walking). When I do that, one of my dogs might get my attention, and pull my arm painfully, at a rabbit, squirrel, smell, or discarded food.  I need this article.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/02/us/dog-walking-multitasking-danger-wellness-cec/index.html

Shirley Jackson of "The Lottery" fame lets us know her "rules." (By the way, there really aren't that many writing rules if you break them well.)

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-greatest-menace-to-the-writer-is-the-reader-and-other-advice-from-shirley-jackson?utm_source=pocket-newtab


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kallman's Syndrome: The Secret Best Kept

-
I went to my cardiologist yesterday.   Every year I have to wear a Holter monitor for a day because of a heart ablation I had in 2007.   If you don’t know what a Holter monitor is, it’s a 24-hour mobile, wires-hanging-off-your-body EKG.   The nurse practitioner saw me, (not the doctor, which is ok because his voice puts me to sleep).   She was very sweet.   She asked me if I was still taking Estradiol and Progesterin.   “No,” I said. “I’ve totally gone off those.   I was on them for a very long time and I wanted to be sure to stop.” What I didn’t tell her is how long I actually had taken those hormones.   37 years.   I started with HRT when I was 17 because I have Kallman’s Syndrome.   You may never meet a person who has this condition.   It only affects 1 in 10,000 people (or 1 in 86,000, according to one source) so that’s quite a range and far more males have it than females (as do most negative things).   So, being female, I am quite an oddit
Read more

Annie Dillard on Writing Advice and Some Observations

-
  https://getpocket.com/explore/item/write-as-if-you-were-dying-read-annie-dillard-s-greatest-writing-advice?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us I frequently listen to a podcast called THE HABIT. Its host is Jonathan Rogers, who for the most part interviews writers with a Christian focus. He is a better interviewer than I, and he runs a community of writers. I recommend him. I do have to say that the podcast makes me feel very shallow as a writer.  One reason is that Jonathan Rogers has a signature question, Who are the writers that make you want to write? If I ever land on his program (a dream), I will need an answer to that one, and right now I don't have one. Sure, there are writers I like, lots of them, but reading them doesn't send me to my computer to get cracking. They are more likely to make me think, you've got no business doing this writing gig.  Actually, bad or mediocre writers motivate me more although I am not exactly proud of that. And the fact that what I want to
Read more