Happy Halloween!

books, short story, writing

I normally write normal stories (sort of), but this time of year I haul out my memories of reading such classics as “the Veldt” by Ray Bradbury or “the Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe and pen my own creepy tales for friends. It wasn’t until I started gathering all my short stories together in an anthology that I realized just how many of these chilling stories I have typed up over the years.

But enough about that. Here’s a creepy fact for Halloween: Charles Dickens, who wrote an inspirational Christmas story using ghosts, had a pet that he once featured in a short story. It was this pet that inspired Edgar Allen Poe to write his own classic poem which served as his breakout piece and put his name securely on the legendary creepy writers list (if such a list existed).

Current reads

books

A friend told me she likes to know what other people are reading so I thought I would share my current list.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

The Paleo Solution by Rob Wolf (reread)

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Next on the list is Loamhedge by Brian Jacques, but since I am struggling with Dante’s book, it might take a while. Hill’s book is delicious so far, and Wolf’s book is eye-opening even on the second go ’round.

So what are you reading? And what do you think about it?

Banned Book Week

books

What do “The Call of the Wild,” “Black Beauty,” and “Gone with the Wind” have in common? Sadly, someone thought they were controversial and should be banned.

In celebration of Banned Book Week (September 22-28), check out some of the books that shaped America at the Library of Congress site. Now see how many of them have been banned at one point or another. Penguin has also put up a list of classics that have been banned and why.

It would be a sad state if we didn’t have the choice to read something simply because someone else disagreed with the subject matter, but I would be willing to bet most of you are the type to stand up and make your own choices and have your own opinions. Here are 100 of the most challenged or banned books of the last decade (2000-2009). See how many you have already read!

 

Making time

writing

Up until recently, I kept putting off what I wanted to do by saying I didn’t have time. Well, I will never have more time. There’s only a certain allotment of time doled out during the day. The trick was to determine whether my goals were important enough to really pursue and, if so, plan how would I go about it. I’m a work in progress, but I am making headway with the goals of writing and reading more.

If you feel you don’t have time to read or write as much as you would like to, take a look at this article. It might help. It might not. The real trick is not to spend too much time on websites like this and instead go out and live your life to the fullest. Good luck!

Opening sentences

writing

“Stanley Ketchel was twenty-four years old when he was fatally shot in the back by the common-law husband of the lady who was cooking his breakfast.”

The above opening sentence was written by John Lardner, a noted sports columnist of the 20th century. As a newspaper writer, he had to capture his audience with one shot (and still be mindful of the little kids who might read it) and pull them in to find out the rest of the story (thus buy the paper ). About the only thing missing for a modern audience (which everyone at the time would have known) was that Ketchel was a dominant force in boxing, a powerfully built man not to be messed with.

I wish the media still wrote like that. Shoot, I wish I did, too.