True Art is Flawed Redux – C.S. Lewis on Imperfect Art
I recently looked back on my blog post, True Art is Flawed, and then I came across this quote from C.S. Lewis about Hamlet. And it’s another great example of what I’m trying to say. Lewis describes the literary debate over whether Hamlet is a good play, and whether it is flawed or whether Shakespeare meant to write it the way he did. This is Lewis’s conclusion: ‘Most certainly an artistic failure.’ All argument is for that conclusion—until you read or see Hamlet again. And when you do, you are left saying that if this is failure, then failure is better than…
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What AI Can Never Do – On Being A Writer When AI Exists
There’s two streams of discussion about AI floating around that I’ve noticed. There’s this realization that almost everyone is using it, because it’s just so easy. Teachers despair that students resort to it almost immediately, and many users share how AI makes writing work emails or whatever so much easier. But then there’s the editors discussing how exhausted they are at receiving endless AI manuscripts. They describe the writing as “bland” and don’t understand how the creators can’t see that the use of AI is so obvious. To me, this raises a question. Why do so many of us feed…
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To Be Happy at Home
“To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition” I don’t like to think about Covid times. I guess in a way I had it extra hard, because I was coming off a hip injury and then a hip surgery and recovery that already kept me limited to home for several years. In 2019, I was just starting to feel like myself again. Then the Covid pandemic hit and it felt like God was playing some cruel joke, limiting me to staying home again. (I wrote about this in Being Alone). Now I’m home a lot of…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 9: Meander in Montmartre
I was doing a blog series on Parisian landmarks to celebrate the publication of my novella, Paris in Clichés. Well, it’s six years after its publication, and I figured it’s high time to finish the series! I promised I would cover Montmartre! Previous landmarks I’ve explored are: Meander in Montmartre Back when I covered the Sacré-Cœur, I promised I’d cover Montmartre in more depth later. Here it is! To start, Montmartre was once a village outside Paris, which gives it some character all its own. It’s perched on a hill, crowned with the Sacré-Cœur church, and so it’s filled with…
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If You Make Dumb Mistakes, You Might Not Be Doomed
I used to find clips from Dave Ramsey’s show very comforting. Someone would call in with an insane amount of debt, maybe after making several poor decisions. And after questioning how they got into the situation, Dave Ramsey would always have a path forward – “rice and beans, beans and rice” – that made it look like you could climb out of almost any situation. For some reason, I was always terrified of making some kind of stupid decision and ending up penniless and alone. So to see people making clearly very dumb decisions and still being able to get…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 8: Modernism at Musée D’Orsay
I was doing a blog series on Parisian landmarks to celebrate the publication of my novella, Paris in Clichés. Well, it’s six years after its publication, and I figured it was time to revisit another landmark. Previous landmarks I’ve explored are: Modernism at Musée D’Orsay Everyone knows about the Louvre museum in Paris, maybe even more so now since its sensational robbery. But like any proper European city, Paris is packed with museums. And one of the most wellknown painting styles you might have heard of, Impressionism, is not found in the Louvre, but rather in the Musée D’Orsay. Yes,…
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Tiny Experiments vs Setting Goals
I’m not sure why the idea of “setting goals” always felt awful to me. Maybe because it implies there’s something wrong with where I am. Maybe because the thought of working towards one thing feels stifling. It feels so wrong in our modern world to not enjoy the idea of goals, when all the world around me stresses achieving more and doing more. But I can’t explain it, it’s something I’ve always felt, as far back as I can remember in elementary school when the concept of setting goals was first explained to me. It just didn’t resonate with my…
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Looking Back: My Most Popular Blog Posts in 2025
I haven’t updated my blog in a while – I didn’t make a post once in 2025! And I have some excuses… while I have been busy, I’ve also been writing a bit elsewhere. And I’ve had some big personal changes since I last posted too, including getting married and having a baby. But my blog is still being read! Out of curiosity, I looked back at which blog posts are still being read in 2025, and it seems my posts on Tolkien and Jane Austen tend to be the most popular (which isn’t the most surprising, since I wrote…
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What’s the Point of Blogging? (in 2024)
I experienced the height of the blog, back when everyone had their own personal blog and some people were making a six-figure income from it. If someone went on a trip, they might create a blog to share pictures. People created blogs to document their baby growing up, or their home renovation progress, or whatever. At the time, blogs were really seen as a kind of personal diary, and when some people made fun of them they’d mock “people who publish their diary online for strangers.” Everyone online would read them. Nowadays, blogs are still being created. But instead of…
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Why Writers Should Exercise: Cycling in Order to Write
I just got back from cycling to an appointment. The strangest thing is how good it can feel to rush through the cool air while exerting to get some place… for some reason, exertion to get anywhere doesn’t sound like fun. If I just sit back and think about it, I’d rather drive and let the car do the work. But I never, never feel happy after driving, and I usually do after I cycle. So exercise is good for mental health. It’s also good for creativity, as Ryan Holiday argues: “[I]n my experience, the physical practice is actually quite…
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Why “Just Do It” is Terrible Advice AND the Best Advice You Can Give
There’s a self-help book called Girl, Wash Your Face, that I haven’t read. But the title says it all, doesn’t it—just take that step. Get to work! Do something! When I say it to myself (even thought I haven’t read the book), I’m telling myself to get on with my day, to get moving. Or take one of the most famous of Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules For Life: “Clean your room.” When you boil most advice down, it ends up at the same thing: Just do something. Take a step. Yet anyone who is paralyzed by depression or anxiety knows…
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Why Aren’t There More Novels Set in Montreal?
I’ve never read a book set in Montreal. There’s many books set in Montreal. There’s movies set in Montreal. I just can’t think of any. I haven’t heard anyone recommend any, or read any myself. This is in contrast to that other famous French city, Paris. Sometimes I just go to the library and search the catalogue for “Paris,” and read whatever book comes up (they tend to be fluffy romances). But when I do the same for Montreal, I get travel guides or books in French. There just isn’t that same long list of novels set in the city.…
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Freedom to Fail
An updated version of this post has been published at the Reformed Perspective magazine! It’s been a long time since I shared a “Quotables” post. But I came across a quote this week that reminded me of another quotable I wrote on years ago, about failure. That old post was about the incisive power of “what would you do if you knew you could not fail?” to clarify what you really wanted to do. The quote I came across this week is – rather than what would you do if you could not fail, it should be what if you…
Keep readingEnding in a City – From Garden to City, Part 2
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place. You can read Part 1, about the garden, here. Ending in a City Have you ever heard the saying, “the Bible begins in a garden but it ends in a city?” Since I wrote on gardens in the May issue, it makes sense to explore cities next. The interesting thing is that while I’m a city girl myself, I have a lot of friends who dislike cities. Many long for the…
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On Doing Things that Scare You
“Just because something scares me, doesn’t mean I won’t do it,” I told a friend of mine the other day, as a way of explaining myself—explaining why I might push back against an idea and make it look objectively from an outside perspective like I don’t want to do it—and yet I do it anyway. The truth is, almost everything scares me, and if I’d never learned to do things anyway I would never do anything at all. This doesn’t mean I always make good decisions about what to do. Part of why I have a fear response is because…
Keep readingWe’ve Got to Get Back to the Garden? – From Garden to City, Part 1
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place. We’ve Got to Get Back to the Garden? What does it mean to go “back to the garden”? “Back to the garden” evokes this sense of longing inside us, to return to a clean, natural state where all is peaceful and green. It’s a retreat from the rushing, noisy, ugly human world to reconnect with nature as it would be without us. Gardens are places to rediscover the natural state, the…
Keep readingAnother Bible Study Method!
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place. Another Bible Study Method How do we usually teach the Bible? When teaching children, we tend to either tell them biblical stories, or give them verses to memorize. These can be great strategies, but both of these can reduce the Bible into chunks. Verse memorization especially can isolate individual verses from their context, but even children’s bible stories can simplify a biblical narrative to the point where a child might…
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My Frustrations Upon Rereading Sense and Sensibility
I was rereading Sense and Sensibility the other day, and suddenly realized it’s not my favourite Jane Austen novel. Any Jane Austen novel is a novel of the highest quality, so to say “not my favourite Austen novel” still means I love this book. But in the past I’ve found I keep forgetting to mention this one when listing off why I love Jane Austen’s works, and now I’ve realized why. The characters are hard to connect with, the relationships aren’t as fully fleshed out as in some of her other novels, and she glosses over some frustrating male behaviours.
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Looking Back on 2021: Author Update from Harma-Mae Smit
Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, it’s not exactly true, but if there’s something you’re passionate about and you can channel your creativity towards that, then you are really making the most of your time. It’s work, yes, but you also get to explore what you love. Over the past year, I had two different projects that really hit the sweet spot between my interests and opportunities to write, and so I thought I’d share them with you here. Besides writing, I have strong interests in both history and theology. And in…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 7: Take in the View from the Sacré-Cœur
Where can you get a lovely view of Paris? From the Eiffel Tower, is one obvious answer (another landmark you can climb is the Arc de Triomphe). But there is another viewpoint that you do not have to pay to go up, where you can sit and enjoy for as long as you wish (perhaps with a bottle of wine). And that is on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur. The Sacré-Cœur is a church on top of the hill of Montmartre. It is the second most visited church in Paris, after the Notre Dame, but it is not nearly as…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 6: Get Lost in the Louvre
In my novella, Paris in Clichés, the characters “race from the Winged Victory to Venus de Milo to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, with barely half a glance at everything in between.” This is the only glimpse they have of the famous Louvre Museum, and it’s very similar to what many tourists see when they visit Paris, especially if they’re in a rush. But do I recommend experiencing the Louvre this way? No, no I do not. Some guide books recommend caution when visiting the Louvre, describing it as overwhelming. They recommend you ease into it—decide ahead of time…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 5: Macarons at Ladurée on the Champs-Elysées
One image that Paris conjures up is definitely a narrow stacked pyramid of puffy, double-decker macarons in a rainbow of pastel shades: rose, lavender, mint green, cream, lemon yellow. Or these very same macarons nestled tightly in silver-embossed boxes. Why are macarons so deeply connected to Paris? You might have guessed it–this version of the macaron was invented in Paris. The shop they were invented in is named Ladurée, and it was first opened in Paris in 1862. So basically this bakery has existed longer than my home country of Canada. The macaron wasn’t there from the beginning though: in…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 4: Don’t Miss the Eiffel Tower
Paris is so closely associated with the Eiffel Tower that when you see the Eiffel Tower you think of Paris, and when you see the word “Paris” you think of the Eiffel Tower. They’ve almost become synonymous with each other! The Eiffel is so well-known that it would be easy to overlook the experience of visiting it. But visiting the Eiffel Tower is not at all the same as fulfilling your obligation of going up the CN Tower or the Space Needle or some other high point when you visit a city with a tower. Obviously you get a nice…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 3: Bateaux Mouches on the River Seine
Most of the major cities in the world have a river or a waterway nearby, and these can be a big part of what shapes and defines the city. Paris has the Seine, of course. Since Paris began on the Île de la Cité, as we talked about last time, the river actually goes straight through the centre of the city and right past many of the major landmarks. This means a great way to take a tour of Paris is to do it by boat! The boats that run these tours are called bateaus mouches, and they have wide…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 2: Berthillon, an Astonishing Ice Cream Shop on the Île Saint-Louis
One fun way to start deciding what you’d like to see in a new place is to look at a map. You start to realize the layout of a city you had in your head doesn’t always line up with the layout in reality—Oh, the Notre Dame is actually on an island? Oh, the Eiffel Tower is south of the river Seine, and the Arc de Triomphe is north of it? And so on. As I was zooming in on various streets of Paris, I noticed there was not just one island in the Seine, an island which held the…
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Why Tour Paris? Reason No. 1: Shakespeare and Company, A Bookstore as Cozy as You Imagine a Bookstore Would Be
There are two kinds of tourist attractions in Paris: first, the sights everyone knows about, even those who have no interest in Paris (the Mona Lisa and the Eiffel Tower are examples); and second, the sights that everyone who’s looked into what to see in Paris knows about, but outside of that are not necessarily household names. I would place the bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, in the second category. It is internationally famous. But while the name might have a familiar ring to many, I wouldn’t expect absolutely everyone to know what is it without explanation. Image by Sierra Maciorowski…
Keep readingWhy is Reading a Good Story Set in Paris Still a Good Idea?
“Paris is always a good idea.” This was the title of one of my previous blog posts, a post written after I returned from a trip to Paris. It’s also supposedly a quote from Audrey Hepburn, though no one online seems to be able to trace when she might possibly have said it. Either way, it sums up how a lot of us think about Paris—if asked if we’d like to go, we’d say, yes please! However, this year is 2020, and the question remains—in 2020, is Paris a good idea? In a year of hardship and upheaval, is thinking…
Keep readingEncouraging New Believers When Fellow Christians Don’t Live up to Their Beliefs
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place. *** The new Christian sits across from me, brow wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand. It makes me ask, what difference does it make to be a Christian?” She’s just been detailing to me some of the difficulties she’s been through since joining the church, like her search for a Christian social circle to support her in her new faith. But also her confusion—her confusion over the drinking and partying ‘like…
Keep readingSomething Wrong
I stood by a street that was eerily peaceful. Four lanes of asphalt, and not a car in sight. I could jaywalk with impunity, which was good, because no one wanted to push the buttons of the crossing lights nowadays. In the park, the serene scene continued. Birds chirped loudly. The grass greened up. Everyone and their dog paced the long, multi-use paths. It was an artist’s impression of a perfect spring day, and yet standing in the middle of it, it felt ominous, oppressive, and wrong. No voices of children called out from the playground. No greetings crossed the…
Keep readingSpiritual Care for the Spiritually Healthy
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place. *** So we’re reading a book about pastoral care in one of my classes, and it’s frequently making me cry. Because too many of the scenarios mentioned are too similar to things I’ve walked through, and yet they’re presented as if there is a spiritual side to them, a side that can be addressed by wise people of faith—and yet I’ve never personally gone through these experiences and felt there was…
Keep readingBeing Alone
In April of 2014, I traveled to Paris, France, alone. I mostly did it because I had not succeeded in several things in my life at that point, and I wanted to prove I was at least capable of taking care of myself on my own. Plus, who doesn’t love Paris? And I did learn I could carry myself on my own for two weeks, but I also learned how much resilience it takes to be alone. Before I left, I dreamed of wandering down romantic streets and drinking coffee in cafes, and getting lost in museums. What I did…
Keep readingChrist Shares Our Sufferings–Does He Understand Existential Angst?
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** You’re not supposed to experience existential angst if you’re a Christian. Existential angst is the despair that stems from the conviction that life lacks meaning. We believe life has meaning, and therefore the suffering from existential angst is not suffering Christ experienced or shares in. Simple as that, right? However, there is a paradox in the “meaningfulness” of the world in Christianity. “Meaningless, meaningless,” says the Preacher, “everything is meaningless.” As…
Keep readingSingles and Social Distancing
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** It has been said that perhaps our current requirement to remain at home with our families, with no responsibility except to keep others safe by not going out, is given to us for a reason. Perhaps we’ve been granted the opportunity to reset and re-focus–to restore the bonds with our families that may have become frayed or broken. To enjoy the blessings of home, that we lost in the bustle of…
Keep readingMaybe We’re Not in Control
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** I still remember setting eyes on the “flatten the curve” chart last week Thursday. Everything clicked into place. It was so clear–okay, that’s what we have to do next. There were actual steps to follow. Everyone seemed to start taking them over the next days and week. Social distance, social distance, social distance…. Here we are, more than a week later. We watch helpless from our quarantine boxes as the virus…
Keep readingCompelled to Speak–My Solution When I Feel the Urge to Talk
It is an interesting experience, walking around in the world with thoughts exploding inside your head. They flit by as flashes of insight into what passes before your eyes, or sudden connections between what you hear and what you know, or knee-jerk opinions to what’s happening. Thoughts can float up unpredictably, and seem profound and awe-inspiring. And when this happens, of course you want to speak them. There are times in my life where I feel like I’m going through the world while holding back a torrent of opinions springing to mind. But of course I could never speak them…
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Should We All be Theology Nerds?
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** I realized that, when I watch other church groups haggling over some obscure point of Christian doctrine, I tend to shake my head and think, “that’s so stupid, that doesn’t matter at all!” But if it’s something that I am disagreeing with someone about, I always think it’s the most important detail in the world (this really matters!). Now, I’d be the first to admit that there are a lot of…
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Everyone Knows the Earth is Round (even Thomas Aquinas)
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** Lately there’s been an odd increase in the number of people promoting flat earth theories. What is fascinating, however, is how long humans (at least some of them) have known the earth was round. I just came across this quote from Thomas Aquinas: “[T]he astronomer and the physicist both may prove the same conclusion—that the earth, for instance, is round: the astronomer by means of mathematics (i.e., abstracting from matter), but…
Keep readingWeird Favourite Bible Verses–John 21:25
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** I want to do a series on my favourite Bible verses that are a bit weird. I have a weird taste in favourite Bible verses. By weird I just mean they’re not exactly the ones you’d print on coffee mugs or t-shirts. Obviously I do think the verses that are constantly printed on coffee mugs are valuable–all of the Bible is valuable–but I think the level of cliché reached by constantly…
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How to Know a Man is Just–Plato and Jesus
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** Christianity has always maintained that, in order to restore the relationship between us and God, Jesus Christ had to be without sin—without his own contribution to the human evil that divided humanity from God. Approximately 350 years before, a Greek philosopher laid out his criteria for declaring a man perfectly ‘just.’ If you really think about it, it is a tricky problem–how can we know someone is trying to be good for…
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Why Are ‘Christian Women’s Topics’ so Depressing?
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** Does anyone else get a sinking feeling when reading women’s blogs? “Hope for Weary Women.” “Trusting in God When Life is Out of Control.” “Stop Stressing Over Being the Perfect Mom.” Women seem to be weary, anxious, lost, miserable. It all makes womanhood look like a wasteland of negative emotions, and I get nervous–when is this misery going to descend on me? After all, I’m a woman. Should I be bookmarking…
Keep readingReading the Earliest Christian Writings: Impressions of the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** Many authors have denounced the shallowness of modern Christianity, and Christianity’s ignorance of both its theological and historical roots. This is a worthwhile issue to point out—but of course I must avoid the temptation to point out a speck in my brother’s eye while ignoring the log in mine! I feel like I am often tempted, just because I know some details about Christian history, to assume I am better educated…
Keep readingDid I Achieve Anything in 2018? Top Posts
In 2019 I am starting an author newsletter–sign up here! It’s that time again—time to look at the most successful posts of this past year! You may have noticed this blog has been a little less active these past few years, but this year there is good reason for it—I’ve had several pieces published in other publications! Some of you fellow writers out there may be able to relate to plateauing as a writer for a period of time, and then suddenly making a breakthrough. Or, in other words, finally gaining a greater understanding of what would improve your craft.…
Keep readingReasons for Declining Ebook Sales: My Update on the Ebook Industry, and Musings on My Participation in it
In 2011, I wrote a blog post titled, “The E-publishing Experiment.” This was at the very beginning of my ebook publishing journey, and at the time the hype over the future of ebooks was high. Several ebook authors had begun to make enough money to be noticed by the publishing industry. Bloggers all over the internet were encouraging new authors to jump on this ebook publishing bandwagon. While everyone held some nostalgia for the printed book, the idea was that the ebook tide, spurred by the Amazon Kindle, would just rise and rise and rise—until almost all versions of the…
Keep readingWhat if I Write Something Wrong?
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** As a young writer, I was eager to get something published, but the first time I actually sent something in for publication an unexpected terror descended over me. Considerations I’d never considered before suddenly popped into my mind. What if there was a factor I hadn’t known existed, and therefore hadn’t taken into account when I wrote my article? What if I didn’t have enough knowledge to actually take a position…
Keep readingWhat I Learned at my First Local Author Book Festival
When I was a teenager, I ran into a relatively well-known Edmonton author at the Fringe Festival. I recognized him immediately, because his picture was always in the Edmonton Journal newspaper. I was completely unknown to him, but for whatever reason I was compelled to duck and hide, my face burning with embarrassment. It was like I thought he could see right through me, see I wanted to be a writer too, and would laugh at me. Teenage emotions aren’t always rational, are they? I don’t know why I was afraid a “real” writer wouldn’t take an aspiring writer seriously.…
Keep readingHow to Find the Meaning of Life
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** “I’ve never met someone so concerned about doing something meaningful,” someone told me the other day. He was surprised by me, but I found myself surprised by the comment–how on earth do so many people go through their day without constantly facing this question? Isn’t this the most obvious thing to be asking–what should I do right now, and why? It’s true that obsessing about the meaning of your actions can…
Keep readingGuilt When Reading Books
“Make sure you schedule a few hours a week to devote to reading.” What heavenly advice! Yet somehow the fact this was given as advice shocked me. I suddenly realized I am more used to hearing, “Stop reading and start doing something useful.” But the idea reading should be scheduled into your life feels strange and foreign to me. Reading is “fun”–this is what they repeatedly taught us in school. You’re supposed to do it because it’s fun, not because it helps you live. Maybe this contributes to us reading books less often. It was fair for teachers in my…
Keep readingFinding a Home for Your Writing–The Struggle for Publication, and My Latest Projects!
The way you’re supposed to know you’re a writer–or any type of artist, really–is if you just can’t stop creating. Even if you receive no recognition or payment or readers, you can’t help but write. In fact, the world is so overwhelmed by writers that you’re really advised not to dive into the world of writing unless you truly do feel this drive. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who writes incessantly, whether or not anyone cares. And I understand the struggle to launch bits of your work out into the world where other people can see and enjoy…
Keep readingTop Ten Works of Christian Fiction – What Are They?
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** UPDATE: I’m glad to see The Gospel Coalition make an attempt at such a list here. The other day my fellow seminarians and I were discussing the lists of top ten Christian books you so often run across online, and how far too many of them feature only really recent books published in the last ten years—not to mention how these lists tend to skew towards whatever theological tradition the compiler…
Keep readingAugustine on a Drunk Homeless Man–Augustine Again
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** I’m so glad I’ve been able to pick up Augustine’s Confessions again, and came across this passage of Augustine’s reflections on his encounter with a drunk homeless man. I love how it doesn’t go in the expected, modern direction (why is the man homeless? should the man be drunk?), but swerves into profound spiritual reflection instead: I started Confessions last year and look forward to finishing it! This ancient man has…
Keep readingContentment Vs. Ambition–Let’s Examine Each More Closely
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** This is the second post examining ambition vs. contentment, or, in other words— If there’s something we really, really want, should we teach ourselves contentment because we don’t have it, or develop our God-given talents in order to achieve it? I promised I would examine both contentment and ambition in more depth today. But before I start I’d like to emphasize my exploration should in no way be authoritative, though I…
Keep readingThree Posts (and Books) Worth Reading
Blogs are supposed to end the year with a top-ten list. Looking back over my year, I realized there are a few posts whose messages really are worthwhile, but I don’t feel the necessity to list ten of them. Here are three, in the order of popularity: You Might Relate to Mary Bennett, but You’re Not Supposed to Imitate Her This is a post about a one-trait character showing all the reasons you shouldn’t be a one-trait character. As I said in this post, I myself have a tendency to view intelligence as my defining characteristic, but I found a…
Keep readingContentment Vs. Ambition–Should Christians Be Content or Ambitious?
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** I’m going to try a different type of article today, and perhaps a few more times in the upcoming year. I’m going to explore the tension between two valuable concepts, and see if there’s a way to reduce the tension a little. There are two opposite messages our culture tells us, and which Christianity repeats without much additional judgement being applied to these messages. First, we’re told to be grateful for…
Keep readingIs Science Superior to Art? (Is That Why Kuyper Wants Theology to be ‘Science’?)
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** It’s easy to bemoan the fall of Theology, from being the ‘Queen of Sciences’ to merely being a subsection of the Religious Studies department (if it has a place at universities at all). For example, R. C. Sproul laments, “in the classical curriculum, theology is the queen of the sciences and all other disciplines are her handmaidens. In the modern curriculum man is king and the former queen is relegated to…
Keep readingKuyper Encounters Difficulties – Subjectivity Weighs In…
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** Principles of Sacred Theology continues to fascinate me, despite the reality of heavy schoolwork weighing in. In my last post I explained the amazing claim that Abraham Kuyper made about theology–that out of the chaos of theological knowledge, order could be found. A unified order. In fact, it is the responsibility of people to find this order, and to work out this framework to rest theological knowledge in. The obvious objection…
Keep readingBringing Order to Chaos–Can Human Achieve Actual True Knowledge?
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** You may’ve expected my next post to continue with Augustine, and I certainly would like to get back to Augustine, but since I currently am attending seminary to sort out the tangle of thoughts in my head about theology, I may blog about several different Christian classics first, before getting back to dear Augustine. Now consider theology–would you consider it crazy, or maybe presumptuous, to argue there are basic underlying principles…
Keep readingShocked by Augustine’s Confessions
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** Lately I’ve had the leisure to do some more quality reading, as I’ve been laid up with an injury, and I’ve found myself facing Augustine’s Confessions without an excuse. So I dove into it. And I was quite shocked—not by any of his confessions (so far), but how readable it is. You always imagine classics to be quite unreadable, which doesn’t really make any sense, because how could anything become a…
Keep readingThe Books You Fight With
Jane Austen’s been in the news a lot lately, due to her death happening two hundred years ago. As with most occasions Austen is mentioned, discussion turns to ranking her books. Pride and Prejudice is apparently preferred by the popular vote, while Emma is lauded by the critical vote. And I have no argument with this—I’d put one or the other of those at the top myself, except—what book do I find myself meditating on the most? Which one do I wrestle with, and spend hours studying thematically and artistically? It’s not my favourite book, but it has the power…
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How to Find Your Life’s Passion
Just do things. That’s my answer to that question. Just do things. That’s my answer to that question. Most advice about finding your passion tends to be either ‘follow your heart,’ or, ‘don’t follow your heart, they’re lying to you.’ What neither of these pieces of advice take into account is—how does your heart know what it loves? How do you know you’ll love being an astronaut if you’ve never done it? And how do you know a career as an archaeologist won’t surprise you? We all know people who from birth knew what their passion was, achieved it, and…
Keep readingLet the Children Grow Up–They Do in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
‘Neglectful’ was the word tossed around by one reviewer of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Apparently the Professor was neglectful of the children he’d taken into his house during the bombings of WWII, letting them run through his house on their own and not over-scheduling every minute of their day with dance class, extra tutoring, or athletics. Let’s leave aside the fact that a bachelor professor who appears to be entirely unused to children decides, out of the kindness of his heart, to shelter a group of four children seeking refuge from the bombing of London. Such a…
Keep readingIs Out of the Silent Planet a Christian Classic?
This post was originally on my second blog, Reading the Christian Classics. All posts from that blog have now been migrated here, so all my writing is in one place *** Is Out of the Silent Planet a Christian classic? Its author, C.S. Lewis is certainly well-known as a popular Christian writer, but his ‘Space Trilogy’—of which Out of the Silent Planet is the first—is not mentioned as often as The Chronicles of Narnia, or even several of his nonfiction works. Is the book neglected because its quality is considered inferior to The Chronicles? Is its message too dated? Or do some…
Keep readingYou Might Relate to Mary Bennett, but You’re Not Supposed to Imitate Her
An updated version of this post has been published at the Reformed Perspective magazine! Mary Bennett gets a lot of good press. In Pride and Prejudice, she’s one of heroine Elizabeth Bennett’s three younger sisters, and she’s described as the bookish one. Maybe because readers of Pride and Prejudice tend to be bookish as well, we tend to feel the story overlooks her, and write multiple blog posts and articles and sequel novels bemoaning this. This is in spite of the plentiful evidence Jane Austen herself did not like her. Despite her being bookish, Austen did not mean to point…
Keep readingOut of the Silent Planet Awoke My Imagination – Let It Awake Yours Too
I’ve been meaning to read Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis for a long time, ever since I discovered Lewis really did write fiction besides the Chronicles of Narnia. Now that I have I can’t resist blogging about it, because it excited me so much to find out how good it was. I rarely review books here, but some books are worth it, and if you’ve been looking for a worthwhile book I’ll write down some things to consider with this one. Out of the Silent Planet always sounded like such an intriguing title, but I probably haven’t…
Keep readingA Few Classics That Are Not Hard to Read
Classics are usually heavy reading. Even if they’re short, the language is unfamiliar enough that they take a long time to get through. But every once in a while you find one that surprises you, and here are three that surprised me. Note: I’m not including any classics described as ‘children’s literature’ in this list. Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne I just really enjoyed the very punctual and methodical Phileas Fogg racing around the world with his comic French servant, Passepartout. They get into preposterous adventures of all sorts, some of which strain believability but are…
Keep readingMore White Male Protagonists in Scorsese’s Silence
I went to see Martin Scorsese’s Silence the other day and was curious about others’ reactions to it, especially considering the way it discusses Christian faith (and I am a Christian). Reactions to the movie were not hard to find, but scattered among these were many who pointed out Scorsese had made another movie about white male protagonists. And honestly, the movie is about Japan from the point of view of two Jesuit priests–this cannot be denied. However, I think to reduce it to that would overlook some of the value of the movie. Very often other cultures are only…
Keep readingOn Following Your Dreams in 2017
We’re told we should either pursue our dreams at all costs, or quit dreaming and face reality. It’s a new year now–what should we actually do? Open your eyes and take a look around. The truth is, many people do make a living doing what they love, and yes, this even includes the arts. Somehow they support themselves in painting, or writing, or pontificating on architectural theories—how, no one knows, but they don’t look like they’re starving. Many would tell you they knew this was what they were meant to do with their life. They couldn’t be happy doing anything…
Keep readingFirst Draft Depression
I’m doing NaNoWriMo this month–National November Writing Months–that thing where you try to write a 50 000-word novel in a month. It’s good to write a full novel again. But it also reminds me how excruciating the process of creation actually is. The minute you try put that thing in your head down on paper, it just sits there dry and lifeless and so, so far from what it was meant to be. The idea you had was good. That’s why you started writing it. But the reality of your ability to communicate this idea with others destroys all…
Keep readingNo, Let’s Talk About Being a Millennial
“Rhiannon’s life, compared with mine, seems very wobbly. She can never feel quite safe in her home or work; she is generally anxious and suffers from what her mum calls “impending doom scenarios”. … I’m not surprised. I’m only surprised by her and her friends’ general determination and resilience, and their lack of animosity towards people of my age. They confirm my belief that much of the “antagonism” between our generations has been whipped up by whoever labels us and lumps us all together as baby boomers or millennials in the first place. Those ridiculous terms are not helpful, and…
Keep readingDo People Fall in Love Out of Gratitude?
What’s going on here? A romance novel is seriously making the hero fall for a girl simply because she adored him first? “[T]hough Henry was now sincerely attached to her, though he felt and delighted in all the excellencies of her character and truly loved her society, I must confess that his affection originated in nothing better than gratitude, or, in other words, that a persuasion of her partiality for him had been the only cause of giving her a serious thought. It is a new circumstance in romance, I acknowledge, and dreadfully derogatory of an heroine’s dignity; but if…
Keep reading2015’s Top Posts at Stories and Stuff
I didn’t blog a ton, but I did get a few good posts out about stories and writing! So here are my best posts (judged purely on the basis of their popularity with the internet!) from this year: In Jane Austen, Nice Guys Finish First “Authors can easily write their ‘nice guys’ as Mary Sues. I’ve read many novels where the romantic hero is very, very boring. He’s supposed to be the epitome of good, and he is, to the point of dullness. The solution to this, it is said, is to add faults. But add too many faults, and you just…
Keep readingThings I Learned About Love in 2015
Things I learned about love in 2015: I can fall in love. I used to wonder if I could. Then this year happened. Multiple times, sometimes at the drop of a hat, which is not reassuring because: Love is blind. When you’re in love even serious red flags don’t look like flaws at all. When you come out on the other side of it, you’re suddenly terrified because – how on earth did you not notice? Love needs community. The above issue is at least helped by having other people who are not in love to see the person you are…
Keep readingWorldview and Writing
I thought I left off my last post on a rather hopeful note. Turns out people start worrying the minute you acknowledge the world is not a bed of roses, even though we all agreed on that point millennia ago. I think it’s just facing the fact that life is just a precarious teeter on the edge of misery, that’s so nerve-wracking for people to hear. Most of the time we are thankfully and blissfully comforted by being blinded to this. Most of the time, we don’t have to think about this. And if you straight out say life is a…
Keep readingWriting the Tragedy – As Hard as Living It
The place my writing comes from inside me is dead right now. Probably not permanently, but dead for now. I’ve always thought of writing – and reading – as a kind of escape from reality. I’ve blogged about this more than once. There’s a contrary theory of literature that says the good stuff comes from the bad experiences – the emotional turmoil – the realization that reality actually is incredibly ugly. This theory may be right, but I don’t have enough distance from the ugliness to put it in words yet. Maybe I never will. And I know the joy…
Keep readingWhen a Hurricane of Clichés Equals a Great Movie
Today, I’m going to talk about Casablanca. If you want to know more about why I care about Casablanca, check out my previous post, ‘Writing Reality – Or Escaping It’. “Thus Casablanca is not just one film. It is many films, an anthology… And this is the reason it works, in spite of aesthetic theories and theories of film making…Two clichés make us laugh. A hundred clichés move us. For we sense dimly that the clichés are talking among themselves, and celebrating a reunion.” – Umberto Eco (Travels in Hyperreality, and “Casablanca, or, The Clichés are Having a Ball”) For…
Keep readingIn Jane Austen, Nice Guys Finish First
Girls go for the bad guys, they say, and nice guys finish last. If so, then Jane Austen has achieved an amazing feat of literature by creating nice guys you want to cheer for. Nice guys many females claim they’d like to date. Nice guys who aren’t boring, but actually readable. I realized this while reading several people online insist Frank Churchill and Henry Crawford are far more interesting than their romantic rivals (the nice guys who actually get the girl, in other words) – George Knightley and Edmund Bertram. This is craziness, of course. You’d have to be pretty…
Keep readingWriting Reality – Or Escaping It
A quick thought for today: Writers write what’s real. They try to connect with some reality in the readers’ experience, and inspire emotions that complement the work they write. They try to represent the world as it truly is. That is one theory of writing’s purpose, anyway. The problem is, reality really bites. I wanted to improve as a writer this year. I gritted my teeth and tried to dredge up something of reality – bad experiences as well as good (though I’d be the first to admit my own real problems may barely phase anyone else.) I wrote down…
Keep readingJoin Mark Zuckerberg’s Book Club, Rediscover Why Books Matter
Mark Zuckerberg is starting a book club. A Facebook book club, which seems appropriate, considering he is Mark Zuckerberg. BUT he said one very insightful thing that should give everyone hope for millenials – we aren’t necessarily shallow, visual-obsessed youngsters with short attention spans. At least, maybe not if we join Mark’s book club. Here’s what he said: “Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today. I’m looking forward to shifting more of my media diet towards reading books.” The thing is, he is absolutely right. How many times…
Keep readingMust-Reads at Stories and Stuff in 2014
I started this blog in 2009–wow, that’s a lot of blogging! This year was definitely less active for me in the posting department, as I’ve had a lot going on (see Paris, and my Job and Apartment update). However, I refuse to neglect this blog! I love to debate the joy of stories with you all–as both a writer and a reader. Stories need to be not just heard, but chewed over and hashed out between us all before they solidly enter the age-long human conversation. Let’s soldier on with this! So this blog will not die any time soon,…
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How to Catch a Man 101: Show More Affection Than You Feel
AKA Dating Advice from Dear Jane Austen “There are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement,” [said Charlotte]. “In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels. Bingley likes your sister undoubtedly; but he may never do more than like her, if she does not help him on.” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 6 Here’s the trouble with romance! Let me start off by saying this is not true in most books and movies out there. If you took the romance advice of…
Keep readingUpdate! And Quotes!
Whoa, haven’t blogged for a while! What’s been going on? Well, for one thing – I moved. A huge undertaking, as it turns also. Secondly – I got a new job. I now work in, wait for it… a library! How appropriate! (Where did I work before? Well, actually I sold computers for Microsoft. Turns out having a history degree is surprisingly flexible, and not just for honing your writing skills 🙂 ) Anyway, while I was moving I came across this, which I decided to share with you all. It’s my old high school binder! I (or some of…
Keep readingTell Me About Your Favourite Bookstore
Last Friday The Guardian published a wonderful list of bookstores worldwide – including one from Canada, woohoo! Any book-lover knows there is no shortage of lovable bookstores out there, so which is your favourite? I’d have to say, from The Guardian’s list, I want to visit the bookstore-in-a-van that sells Portuguese books translated into English. Leakey’s, in Scotland, looks worth visiting too. Shakespeare & Company, in Paris, is not included in this list – I have a feeling it might’ve been too cliche to include such a famous landmark. But in case you’ve forgotten, here’s my picture of the place…
Keep readingDo Spoilers Spoil Stories?
Spoilers ruin everything. They rip out ask the suspense and enjoyment, they wreck– Wait, you’re saying people actually like a work MORE if it’s been spoiled for them? Are you serious? This is what Derek Thompson argues in “In Defense of Spoilers.” Apparently, anticipation of a twist can take away our enjoyment of the parts of the movie or book that don’t lead up to the twist. Or maybe we just like predictability. Anyway, research by psychologists has shown people rate stories higher when all the plot twists have been spoiled for them ahead of time. Okay, okay, there’s truth…
Keep readingUseful Words English Doesn’t Have
Anyone who’s ever started learning another language has come across words that just don’t translate into English. My favorites are ‘saudades,’ from Portuguese (meaning a feeling of longing, melancholy or nostalgia), and ‘gezellig,’ from Dutch (meaning a nice atmosphere, but also belonging and time spent with loved ones). Today, Slate published an excerpt from Lost in Translation that lists many more. My favorite is ‘tretar,’ which apparently means a third refill of coffee in Swedish. This sounds like a very useful word! Go check out the original article to find some more useful words we don’t have in English. The…
Keep readingWhy Own Unread Books?
I used to never buy a book I hadn’t read. That was what libraries were for – I didn’t want to buy something that might be garbage. Only after I knew the quality of the book would I buy a copy for myself. However, I have started seeing the error of my ways. Two recent blog posts brought this to my attention. The first – ‘The Virtue of Unread Books’ – argues that unread books are not merely pages on a shelf, but collectively they express an idea. When you stockpile books you’ve already read, Scott James argues, you’re basically…
Keep readingDo You Hear Voices In Your Head? (While Reading)
Do you hear voices in your head? When you’re reading, I mean. Of course I mean when you’re reading. I’m not trying to suggest anyone is crazy… I mean, do you hear voices of narrators and characters speaking out loud in your head when you’re reading? I’d never thought about this before. I’m struggling to remember what I actually hear when I read, but I think I enter the fictional world so completely that it’s hard for me to pin down individual sensations when I snap out of it. However, many people do hear voices. And accents. This phenomenon was…
Keep readingIndependent Bookstores Have NOT Disappeared–They’re Doing Fine, Actually
So it was bad news for a while for independent bookstores–you know, those tiny neighbourhood shops crowded with books and run by a dedicated owner or two. Chain bookstores were swallowing up their business left and right. Thousands closed as big-box retailers like Barnes & Noble and Borders took over (or Chapters and Indigo bookstores, if you’re from Canada, like me). But, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s these very chains that are now in danger from online retailers like Amazon. While your local independent bookstore (the ones that survived, at least) has managed to hang onto loyal customers and…
Keep readingDo You Use ‘Alot’ A Lot?
Hopefully you realized there were two spelling of ‘a lot’ up there in my title, and hopefully you also realized one of them was not grammatically correct. Why not grammatically correct, you ask? I don’t know – the spaces lobby argued we should all use the space bar on our keyboards more often? That is why I was SO HAPPY to see someone finally speak up in defense of ‘alot’. James Harbeck argued today in Slate that just like ‘ahold’ and ‘awhile’ were finally somewhat accepted in English, ‘alot’ is likely here to stay. Whether it’s official or not, whether grammarians…
Keep readingJ.K. Rowling is Not Dead – But Why Does She Want You To Know What Harry Potter’s Up To?
J.K. Rowling, as the infamous Rita Skeeter, wrote a follow-up to Harry Potter. Harry has a new scar. He and Ginny might be having problems. Ron’s hair is thinning, while Hermione’s hair is – still not behaving. And so on. Heresy, you might cry. The Harry Potter series is finished. Who does this J.K. Rowling person think she is, going back and adding stuff? This is just as bad as the time she declared Ron and Hermione should’ve never gotten married, and that Harry was Hermione’s One True Pairing after all. She went and wrote a whole sappy epilogue, naming each…
Keep readingIn Defense of Typing
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Was not my last post about handwriting? How handwriting stimulates creativity and word productivity? Very true, but since then I’ve run across the article, ‘The Joy of Typing,’ which strikes back at the idea that typing reduces the quality of your thought. Typing, the author Clive Thompson argues, does not make us stupider. Handwriting is great for note-taking, he goes on to say, because it prevents us from robotically recording every word we hear, and instead makes us think about how to shorten what we’re hearing into something we can write down. But typing is better for…
Keep readingI Handwrite My Fiction, But I’m Not Stuck in the Dark Ages – I’ll Prove It
Remember back in November I said I managed to spew out 50,000 words in a month in order to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? Well, I may not have mentioned those were handwritten words, so really my total of 50,000 was a guesstimate. I have recently been occupied in typing these words up. And the result… well, do you think I over- or under-estimated? Over. Definitely over. I’ve hit 46,000 words and I still have a third of the manuscript to go. Which leads to the question – why on earth would I use such an inefficient method…
Keep readingParis is Always a Good Idea
“Paris is always a good idea.” – the internet would like to believe this quote is by Audrey Hepburn* It’s been a while since I updated, hasn’t it? And definitely for some of those weeks I didn’t have a good excuse, but I’d like to believe a spontaneous trip to Paris is a good enough excuse for a least a couple of them, isn’t it? How cliché! A spontaneous trip to Paris to “find myself” – well, not really find myself, but at least learn new things about myself. Specifically, how brave I am to travel alone. And what it feels…
Keep readingWhy ‘Write What You Love’ Means All Fiction is Fanfiction
Fanfiction gets a bad rap. Some of it is deserved, of course, but what else do you expect from amateur writers scribbling basically for their own amusement? Of course you’re going to get purple prose, authors inserting themselves into stories as Mary Sues, and unrealistic and uncomfortable situations. But maybe the difference between ‘original fiction’ and ‘fanfiction’ is not that one is sadly ripping off other people’s characters, while the other is actually coming up with new stuff. Maybe the difference is – ‘original fiction’ is just much, much better at hiding what it’s inspired by. I started thinking about…
Keep readingHow the Sochi Olympics Illustrate the Value of Books
The big news when this set of Olympics started in Sochi was how much the whole thing cost – fifty billion dollars! – and cue predictions of how these fancy Olympics venues would all fall apart in a decade or so from lack of use. Okay, okay, I can definitely get in line with the thought that, however good for the ‘human spirit’ athletic competitions are, Olympics costs are ballooning to an unreasonable amount. I mean, couldn’t humanity find something better to do with fifty billions dollars than build some amazing venues that might be only fully used for a…
Keep readingDeadlines, Oh Dear
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) Apparently this is me as well, even with arbitrary deadline I set for myself! In other words – no post on Stories and Stuff last Friday, even though I promised myself I would. Anyway, I always loved the humour in this quote. Douglas Adams was known for missing deadlines, so it’s nice for all of us procrastinating authors to know we’re not alone. Also, he wrote several popular and famous books, so if your (and my)…
Keep readingObservations on Being Single, Revisited
I wrote a post for Valentine’s Day a couple years back, and clearly felt I’d said everything I’d needed to say about it, because I never wrote another one since… and this year, I thought I’d look back on it and see if I still felt the same way. I do. I still feel like there’s a gulf of misunderstandings between men and women that just cause frustration all around! Double-thinking what you do, and being cautious in what you say, are still so necessary… and yet they still build walls in what should just be easy, wonderful friendships. And…
Keep readingRant on “Ruining the English Language”
All those crazy kids on the internet, jibbering in text speak and handing in essays with hashtags in them, are a menace to the venerable old mother tongue, the tongue we all speak and most of the world speaks… a language known as English. A respected language that is beginning its slow slide into decline, because of the ignorance of grammar, complete unawareness of sentence structure, and the mangling of words. When “lol” is used commonly by the masses, is it not a sign of society’s decay? Wait, wait, wait, back up a moment. Is anyone seriously nodding along here?…
Keep readingEbooks Have Not Killed the Printed Book (Yet)
Two years ago, I asked the question, will ebooks replace the printed book? Will we turn into a world of readers who stare at the glowing screen, instead of burrowing our noses in the musty pages of a hardcover? And I predicted that the good old printed book will never go extinct. Not completely. If vinyl records are still being used by music lovers, why wouldn’t printed books stick around for all of us book lovers? And it looks like, so far, the evidence bears me out. I obviously have a vested interest in whether ebooks are read by anyone…
Keep readingWriting Is Difficult!!!
“A writer—someone once said—is a person for whom writing is difficult.” – peptalk from Lev Grossman, during Nanowrimo A writer with real genius makes writing a book look easy. When you read the book, you don’t feel all the blood and sweat and tears the author poured into the manuscript – you just follow a good story. Which leads to a persistent belief of writers that writing itself should be easy too. That, when the words just aren’t flowing, something must be wrong with you, as a writer. I always get discouraged when writing gets difficult. Sometimes ideas just flow,…
Keep readingStories and Stuff’s Top Posts in 2013
Three years in and this blog is still going strong! And that’s all thanks to all of you, my dear readers, who keep coming back and reading, commenting and sharing. Virtual confetti, balloons and champagne to all of you! Here’s a summary of the top five most popular posts Stories and Stuff had this year: 1.) Creativity is the Residue of Time Wasted Creativity – we all want it, we’d all like to know how to have more of it. This was clearly a pithy little quote that explained creativity in a way a lot of people liked. 2.) Ranking…
Keep readingTwo Impossible Things to Get in Life
“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough, or a book long enough, to suit me.” -C. S. Lewis Don’t you love it when people know you enough to get you something for Christmas that’s just perfect? Here’s something that combines three things I love: C. S. Lewis, tea, and books. Isn’t it a great mug? And yes, despite my admitted addiction to coffee, I will never say no to a cup of tea. Or to a long book, unless it is so poorly written as to not be worth the effort. What about you? Get any perfect gifts this…
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