An open letter to the lawmakers of Alabama May 23, 2019

The Recovering Evangelical

Dear Pro-Life Advocates:

Congratulations. After 46 years, you did it. You’ve taken a huge step toward the goal of overturning Roe vs. Wade and reestablishing the sanctity of all human life. From the first heartbeat to the last, you have declared all life to be valuable.

I know that this long, hard battle is not over. Lawsuits will be filed. Court decisions will be made. Other states, and even the federal government will weigh in on the issue. But this is an important step.

I’ve just got one question for you, though: Now what?

What comes next? Where do we go from here? What does this mean for unborn children and the mothers who carry them?

I mean, we all know that outlawing abortion does not mean an end to unwanted pregnancies, so does this mean that you will now provide easier access to birth control? Does this mean that…

View original post 889 more words

Advertisements

Remote Control by Jennifer Ruth Jackson December 12, 2018

A disturbing but well done holiday story by Jennifer Ruth Jackson. (shudder)

Lonesome October Lit

+++Pete stood at the foot of his little brother’s bed, clenching and unclenching his fists. Bits of wrapping paper still clung to his pajamas and sweat rolled into his narrowed eyes.

View original post 452 more words

Hillsborough Local Book Fair Schedule of Events November 20, 2018

Looks like a great day of readings. Can’t wait!

Friends' Matters

The Friends of the Orange County Public Library present the Hillsborough Local Authors Book Fair on Saturday, November 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., hosted in the Main Branch of the Orange County Public Library. Shop “Small Business” Saturday and support our great local authors and bookstore. For more information, visit our Facebook Event page.

Here is the full list of readings that will be presented upstairs in the Library:

10 a.m. – 11 a.m.   Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green will give the keynote address.

11 a.m. – 12 p.m.   Barbara Claypole White, Morrow Dowdle, Carol Strickland, Samantha Bryant, Emily Beuhler, and Anne Anthony will read for 10 minutes each.

12 p.m. – 1 p.m.     Lee Smith will read for one hour.

1 p.m. – 2 p.m.       Anna Jean Mayhew will read for one hour.

2 p.m. – 3 p.m.     …

View original post 157 more words

Author Spotlight: Samantha Bryant November 18, 2018

So happy to have a chance to be a part of this local event. Hillsborough has such a rich writing and reading community!

Friends' Matters

On November 24, the Friends of the Orange County Public Library will host its first ever Hillsborough Local Author Book Fair! You can read more about the event here. Leading up, we’ll be posting short interviews with some of our author guests. Today we’ll hear from Samantha Bryant! 

Who did you dedicate your first book to and why?

Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel was dedicated: For any woman who has ever felt betrayed by her own body.

Part of why I write is to process life. As E.M. Forster famously said, “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”  So, I end up, at least at some level, writing about things that worry, upset, or scare me. In that way, writing is my therapy: the safe space where I figure out how I feel.

I went through a medical scare in…

View original post 329 more words

EVENT: Hillsborough Classic Film Society Screening of On the Waterfront September 26, 2018

If you’re local to Hillsborough, and a movie buff like me, you might want to check this out!

Friends' Matters

The Hillsborough Classic Film Society presents:

ON THE WATERFRONT, Columbia Pictures, 1954

Starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, and Eva Marie Saint, directed by Elia Kazan, with music by Leonard Bernstein

3pm Sunday, September 30, 2018, Orange County Public Library, Hillsborough

Free to the public, but please RSVP: hillsboroughclassicfilms.com

There will be a short talk after the film by David Zonderman, Labor Historian, Head of History Department, NCSU, followed by discussion.

This is the Criterion Collection restored edition of the film.

View original post

7 Nifty Editing Tips August 2, 2018

#2 is the one I always have to exercise self control about. I can get lost polishing things at sentence level, ignoring the fact that some of those beautiful sentences might not even make the final draft!

Richie Billing

For some writers, editing is the most loathsome part of the process. For others, it’s their favourite. Yet undoubtedly it’s the most important, and given the rise in popularity of self-publishing, it’s more crucial than ever to know how to edit your work.

A good story is grown. It takes weeks, months, of careful tending and nurturing, uncovering the meanings hidden within, fixing things so characters leap off the page, refining to make the plot and prose gripping and immersive. Just like a seed, a story requires patience and dedication. Look after it well and you’ll end up with a blossoming flower.

 

“To write is human, to edit is divine.”

Stephen King

1. Put it away

Some write their first draft and think whatever pours out of them in the first instance is Man Booker-worthy. If you can nail a first draft like that then I doff…

View original post 1,350 more words

Stupid Writing Advice – Write What You Know July 21, 2018

Too true!

Jason's Blog

The gem of a piece of writing advice has been floating around since stylus was first put to clay tablet: write what you know.

So, if you’re a psychologist, write about psychology. If you’re a filmmaker, write about filmmaking. If you’re a teacher, write about teaching.

The problem with writing what you know is the ease with which you can get caught up in writing about the minutia of your subject matter. I wrote a three-hundred-plus page novel about a teacher that was so detailed on the subject of teaching that it bored the pants off of anyone who made the mistake of agreeing to beta read it. It was terrible. I had to abandon the manuscript. Out of all those pages, I managed to salvage one chapter and publish it as a short story. Not a great showing for a year’s work.

Here’s the link to that story, if…

View original post 94 more words