October 2010
103 posts
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"Let's end the great gender lie." →
Are girls’ and boys’ brains as different as we assume?
September 2010
37 posts
The Reader's Drinking Game →
William Faulkner: Every time a sentence goes on for more than a page, drink the entire bottle. Then make out with your sister.
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How underdogs can win →
David beats Goliath by breaking the rules.
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Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide →
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Last California Salmon Fishery May Close →
If commercial and sport fishing are stopped for a year (again), the population may be able to rebound.
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From Legos to iPods
One school librarian heads off challenges to books in the collection with a speech to parents about the library’s role and the population it serves.
As teachers and librarians, we have a responsibility to serve all of the kids who come to us. We have a responsibility to offer literature choices that speak to all of them and meet all of their diverse needs….
We respect your right to...
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Castle in the mist
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Titanic sunk by steering mistake →
The new steering system meant turning the wheel had the opposite effect as in the old system. And then a White Star official convinced the captain to keep sailing instead of waiting for rescue vessels, sealing the ship’s fate.
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Novel writing software
A misnomer. It’s really “organizing the stuff you use for writing a novel and a text-processing mode” software. It also might be called a multimedia scrapbook. My favorite program is Liquid Story Binder. I can use it to store all the songs and photos as well as links and notes for one story in one place. I choose an appearance for the workspace and that opens with my last-used...
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This stack of papers is always the hardest to deal with.
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"What if choosing sides is exactly what the...
Jay Rosen is a journalism professor and media analyst at NYU. He just contributed to a blog about why reporting on climate change is so bad.
The reality is it is very, very hard for a mainstream news person to say, “These people have the facts on their side, these people are manufacturing doubt and manipulating the case, and everyone should realize this is a phony debate–okay, is that...
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Small pockets of time →
Sometimes four hours of your very own can be more intimidating than productive. Sometimes it’s not going to be yours until the kids go to college. Scroll toward the bottom of this page to get some ideas for what to do with the short bits you can find.
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Writing is fun
I’m plotting a story that takes place in Turkey. Where exactly has turned into an accident of National Geographic photo spreads after seeing a story about Cappodocia, a town carved out of the rocks. I don’t know yet how much this place is going to drive the events of the plot, but looking at the photos is cool, and it’s keeping me engaged with the story.
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How it feels to write without outlining first →
Lots of writing how-to books dictate starting a new project by filling out a stack of charts and worksheets, and woe to you unproductive slobs who embark in a different way. Marjorie Liu unapologetically describes one different way.
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System? writers don’t have systems, except for the things which really matter, like drinking coffee…
Emma Darwin
Man, I love reading about writers and their systems. Some are indirect and hide it, some are honest. There’s every method under the sun. I read about the snowflake method and on one level think, “But what do you actually do?” On another level I suspect...
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You were introduced as “my current fiance(e).” And then what happened?
“I heard someone tried the monkeys-on- typewriters bit trying for the plays of...”
– Bill Hirst
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tumblrbot asked: WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?
amgamble asked: Why did you sign up for one more social media time su--I mean tool?
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