Once again, I’d like to explore a little more of the idea that encountering an example of bad writing by someone else can actually provide an excellent opportunity to improve your own writing. (My previous discussion about this is here.) As a writer, it’s always important to read plenty, both for enjoyment (of course!) and to have a lot of examples to draw from of what sort of writing is to your taste. But when you come across something that…
This summer I went to see a movie in the theater. This was sort of a big deal for me because, between one thing and another, I hadn’t been to a movie theater in many years. (Also, the last movie I saw in a theater was…ah…disappointing. (IT WILL LIVE FOREVER IN MY MIND IN INFAMY!)) But I saw that Twisters was in theaters, and a) an action movie is usually a safe bet at a theater—the big screen makes action…
These stories are all apropos of nothing. I offer them merely for the sort of entertainment one gains from truly random things. 1.1 How I learned coincidences that span the globe are just like other coincidences. So, it happened like this. It was my senior year of college, and someone in my belly-dance class had invited me to tag along to a hafla, which is just Arabic for ‘party’ and was pretty much just a group of other college students…
I just started re-reading a book I really like. Though some people re-read a lot, for me it’s really rare, even with favorite books. Though…perhaps lately it’s been getting less rare? I think this’ll be my third time through this one. The book is called The Wizard Hunters and is the first in a trilogy called The Fall of Ile-Rien by Martha Wells. Like many, I quite like a lot of Martha Wells’ work (Murderbot, anyone?), but I really think…