Susan Gabriel's Blog, page 18
August 12, 2014
25 Reasons Why We Read Novels
Why are we always in search of a good book, especially a good novel? Why read novels at all?
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that every now and again I love to come up with a list. 77 Things to Do When Stressed or Uninspired was one of them, and then I did lists of what I was grateful for. (I’m big on...
August 5, 2014
The Great Love Affair with Life: A Quote by Diane Ackerman
Hi everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful summer. It’s hard to believe it’s already August.
I ran across this quote over the weekend and immediately wanted to share it with you. Author and naturalist, Diane Ackerman, creates a wonderful image of how we can have a love affair with life, without reigning in our creativity and...
July 23, 2014
The Facebook Sonnet by Sherman Alexie
Dear Readers,
In July of 2011 I shared this poem with you and it remains one of my most popular blog posts of all time. The Facebook Sonnet by Sherman Alexie originally appeared in The New Yorker back when I was still subscribing to the magazine. (If you’re curious about why I no longer subscribe read this. I don’t hold...
July 14, 2014
The artist who dances on the edge
Seth Godin is the author of 17 books and has a blog that is followed by thousands. He’s been on my radar for a while now, and I subscribe to his blog posts. He talks a lot about business and art and how these two things can co-exist.
Here is a blog post of his called The artist who dances on the edge. My youngest daughter, Stacey,...
July 8, 2014
The Grapes of Wrath Journal
Between June and October of 1938, John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, a book some
of us had to read in our high school English literature classes.
During those four months of creating what some would call his greatest work, Steinbeck kept a journal.
If you think someone who writes a great book doesn’t have insecurities, keep...
July 1, 2014
How I am a coward… and other secrets about book reviews
I’ve had a couple of faithful readers, a.k.a. friends for life, ask me about how to write a book review on Amazon for one of my books, so I thought I would devote a blog post to it. Caution: This post reveals the cowardice of the author, and how writers think about things like reviews.
It’s important to know that good reviews really...
June 24, 2014
Flash Fiction Story
As a highly creative person and writer, I am always experimenting with different mediums. For almost twenty years I’ve not only written novels for children and adults, but I’ve also written short stories, a play, part of a screenplay, lots of poetry, as well as experimented with different kinds of characters and voices just like an...
June 10, 2014
Are You Writing a Memoir?
Here are my notes from reading Beth Kephart’s wonderful book about writing a memoir called: Handling the Truth. CAUTION: it might actually convince you to write one.
Are you like me? Can you tell how much you love a book by how many notes you take, or how many corners you turn down to re-read and study if you’re reading...
June 4, 2014
Tiny Prayer to Father Time
Guest post by fearless writer, Wendy Manner:
“and it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time…”
~Death Cab for Cutie
There are lots of days I don’t write. I know all the psychology of how we make time for the things we want to do most and how we just have to do it, make it a priority even...
May 28, 2014
Maya Angelou Quotes
Author and poet Maya Angelou died this morning at her home in Winston Salem, North Carolina, just a few hours from where I live. She was 86. She leaves behind a body of work that is passionate and wise. In honor of her life, I’ve put together 21 of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes:
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold...
