Category Archives: Thoughts about Writing

Evolution of a Symbol; or, Is the Medium Really the Message?

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Marion

Where I work, there’s a signal that gets used in the women’s restroom whenever one of the paper towel dispensers runs out of paper.  A scrap of paper towel (presumably the last scrap) is stuck on to the handle of … Continue reading →

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Quote of the Week; John Crowley

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Marion

This is the quote I originally planned to use, from Endless Things: “. . . For readers, time in a novel goes only one way; the past told of in the turned pages is fixed, and the future, nonexistent till … Continue reading →

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Thoughts about Grammar

Posted on April 17, 2010 by Marion

This quote came from a Huffington Post article about the Goldman Sachs thing.  Do they mean you shouldn’t sell products that you know will fail, or that you shouldn’t sell to investors you know will fail?  You be the judge. … Continue reading →

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Quote of the Week; John Crowley, ENDLESS THINGS

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Marion

  There is more than one history of the world—John Crowley, Aegypt This wasn’t the quote I was going to use.  I was going to list the quote about how the writer with a novel is, like God, is outside … Continue reading →

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Sunset Line and Twine, Part I

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Marion

The rain turned the air a shimmering silver. In my car, I checked my cameras, hoping it would let up soon. Half an hour earlier the clouds had thinned, paled, and it looked like the rain was over, but now … Continue reading →

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The Art of the Semi-Colon

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Marion

When to use one; when to eschew one; questions that have plagued writers and English students since the invention of punctuation.  I direct you to a website, provided courtesy of steampunk writer Cherie Priest, that answers all your questions and some you … Continue reading →

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Margaret, Can You Hear Me?

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Marion

During Nanowrimo I connected with a Forestville-based writer named Margaret. She was writing an interesting mystery/dark comedy (or a darkly comic mystery) set in the Russian River area. We had exchanged a couple of chapters of each other’s novels and I … Continue reading →

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RIP, Robert Parker

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Marion

Robert B Parker, creator of Boston sleuth Spenser, PI Sunny Randall and small-town sheriff Jesse Stone, passed away on 1/18/10.  He was found dead at his desk where he had been writing, which seems like how he would have wanted … Continue reading →

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Brian Fies on Writing

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Marion

Well, since I can’t find anything worthwhile to say about writing, here’s a blatant steal from Brian Fies on story-telling.  Click here. Brian is talking about graphic novels, a specific technique, but notice what he has to say about timing, pacing … Continue reading →

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From the Sublime to the Funtime

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Marion

Sunday afternoon I participated in a Japanese tea ceremony, a contemplative, educational cultural event.  Later that same day I attended the Sonoma-Marin Region of Nanowrimo’s Thank God It’s Over party—a cultural event also, of a different culture.   Our thoughtful … Continue reading →

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