Author: harmamae
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Is Rebellion Necessary for True Art?
“Generally speaking, art is an expression of man’s need for an harmonious and complete life, that is to say, his need for those major benefits of which a society of classes has deprived him. That is why a protest against reality, either conscious or unconscious, active or passive, optimistic or pessimistic, always forms part of…
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Creativity is the Residue of Time Wasted
Creativity is the residue of time wasted. – Albert Einstein* Sometimes time wasted is just time wasted. And sometimes time wasted ends up being creativity. Why is this? Well, creativity is a funny thing. You don’t always know where you’re going to end up when you start. You might find yourself in a lot of…
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Peck Out Her Eyes, She Deserves It!
Vindictiveness in Fiction Some versions of Cinderella end with her ordering her bird-friends to peck out her stepsisters’ eyes. Yes, the sweet, lovely Cinderella whom we all heard about as a kid – though clearly not the Disney version. Apparently she decided to take revenge and punish her sisters by blinding them in the most…
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Haven’t You Heard of Lincoln’s Doctor’s Dog?
Haven’t you heard of Lincoln’s Doctor’s Dog? It is the world’s biggest bestseller, or it should be, if this old saying from the publishing industry was true. Apparently book about Lincoln, books about doctors, and books about dogs all sell extremely well (at least before the internet came along, and fell in love with cats…
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The Pleasures of Not Writing
“The pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again” —John Updike. This quote grabbed me because it is something I’ve been struggling with a lot lately – I’ve managed to keep writing a fair amount, but each step is a momentous struggle of motivation.…
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How a Non-Existent Word Got in the Dictionary
Last Friday, we have some fun looking at potential new English words, and how the English language is changing. Since then, I ran across the delightful story of the non-word ‘dord,’ a word you’ve probably never heard of – because it isn’t actually a word. But for eight whole years it was included in Webster’s…
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What, the English Language Changes? Literally?
First, a somewhat related note – check out my story ‘One House, Six Decades – Three Generations’ on the new CBC Hyperlocal site. The CBC, our venerable old Canadian broadcaster (for those of you who aren’t Canadian and didn’t know), wanted stories of change from Canadians across the country – change in people and places,…
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The World Is Better On Coffee (But It Won’t Make You Write Better)
“Many people claim coffee inspires them, but, as everybody knows, coffee only makes boring people even more boring.” – Honore de Balzac, On Modern Stimulants Coffee won’t make you write better, but it might make you feel better. A large cup of coffee every morning, laced with cream and sugar and carried with me in…
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Argue Your Way to Knowledge!
“Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.” – John Milton According to Milton: the desire to learn -> opinions -> knowledge. In order to arrive at knowing something, you have to make the…
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Ranking Jane Austen – Is It Possible?
Emma Mansfield Park Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility Northanger Abbey Persuasion Is this a sensible way to rank Jane Austen’s books? As far as I can discern, this is how Adelle Waldman ranks them, in “I Read Everything Jane Austen Wrote, Several Times: Here Are Some of the Many Things I Learned.” Fans of…
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