-
Podcast 5: What I’ve Learned From Reading Other Authors
The Podcast: The Transcript: When I was a child, my mother says I was always on the move and didn’t really have the patience to sit and read a book. I would read, but as I moved into my teenage years, other things were occupying my time, and reading wasn’t one of those things. Fast forward to high school and Ms. Susek and my creative writing class I took. It was the one class I could really sink my teeth into. I loved that class, and it fostered a love of creative writing that I still hold today. As you heard in last week’s podcast, I went back to school…
-
Old Postcards & My Book Resolution
I’m knee deep today in organizing for the spring semester, but I wanted to take a quick coffee break to show you these two gems I came across in my collection today. I love old postcards, and as I’m getting back to the simpler things in life, and am much happier for doing so, letter writing and postcard writing are such a great way to bring back taking time to put your feelings on paper. I loved the idea that I read that inspired a blog post a couple of years ago—every time you go on vacation, mail home a postcard to yourself (or postcards, depending on how long you’re…
-
Dickens Is Missing
I’ll make this one short and sweet. Where the hell is Dickens? My son is now a senior in high school, and all this time I’ve been waiting with anticipation each year to see which books have been selected for the high school English classes for the year. I am sad to report that now, for four straight years, we’ve had no Dickens on the list. I’m not a fan of Common Core, but I am a fan of Dickens. When I was in high school, I read Great Expectations. I read A Christmas Carol on my own. Now, Dickens’ novels are missing from high school reading lists. When I…
-
All The Books We Want to Read | Building Your Summer Reading List
*** Today is my last weekday of spring break, and I’m about to finish up some spring cleaning and attack some final grading. Additionally, I stacked up my summer reading list; that is, I have made a pile of books I want to read this summer. It gives me something to look forward to—seriously. I thoroughly enjoy summer days spent by the pool or beach reading. I’m currently reading After You by Jojo Moyes. It is the sequel to Me Before You. So far, I’m enjoying it. I’m a big fan of Jojo Moyes, and I don’t expect to be let down at all. Her easy, yet vivid writing along…
-
Good News: Teens and Young Adults Are Reading
* * * In an article dated Wednesday, October 24, from The Baltimore Sun by Reuters, apparently teens & college-age adults are reading, and folks in their 30s are the largest percentage of those utilizing e-readers. To see the details of the article, click here. The statistics regarding reading are pretty good, and it’s encouraging, especially for someone who is (a) a writing professor, and (b) a writer. It’s imperative that we keep people reading, and quite frankly, though I’m still one of those “book with paper” kind of people, as long as people are reading, I don’t care by what means they do it, but that they do it.…
