Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's Blog: #42 Pencil: A Writer's Life, the Universe, and Everything, page 83
November 23, 2013
Story Inspiration Sunday
This week I was in San Francisco, for the day job. I had to stay at a hotel pretty far from downtown, but luckily, the company provided free buses into the city.
On Wednesday, the traffic was pretty awful when I was going in. The little signs that tell you how long it will take to get to downtown? All the other days it had been less than 10 minutes. On Wednesday, it was more like 45.
This was after we’d already been on the bus for over 30 minutes.
So I had a lot of time on my hands.
Recently,...
Writing Magic — Part 2
Last week I pointed out that the various systems of Western magic fall into two rough categories, folk magic on the one hand and on the other, natural philosophy, the attempt on the part of European intellectuals of the Renaissance and Reformation eras to develop a unified view of the universe from a magical/mystical point of view. The two categories have certain ways of thinking in common while differing wildly in others.
The roots of both, however, go back to very ancient times. Folk charms...
November 21, 2013
How I Learned to Love The Bomb
Now that the wall’s been torn down, the number of ICBMs downsized, and the Soviet Union reduced to bits of istans, we’re safe from nuclear annihilation. I think it’s time for us to step back and take a clinical, if not loving, look at The Bomb. Like how we do with stories of the Vikings and the Huns, let’s get past the horror so we can admire the genius.
With that in mind, I recently enjoyed two books on the subject: Manhattan Project, by Stephane Groueff; and Now it Can be Told, by none other...
IN THE BEGINNING
How do I begin to tell the story 
Of how great a love can be
A sweet love story
That is greater than the sea…
No that isn’t right. I’m not writing a love story this time.
When in doubt start with a brawl… Except
that the brawl needs three chapters of set up and starting with the fight then flashing back to—whatever is cheating. Isn’t it?
Oh if only I had a great and wondrous line that promises what is to come in the story and will be remembered for a hundred years. “It was the best of times. It was...
November 20, 2013
An Oasis in West Texas
My father wanted his ashes spread near the little town of Christoval, Texas, where he spent a lot of his childhood. My sister and I went up there a couple of weeks ago to do this final task.
I’d never been there, though I’ve gone to nearby San Angelo a number of times, so I was picturing the usual sun-baked place with a dying downtown of decrepit buildings. But although the post office is the main building left downtown, there were trees everywhere you turned, courtesy of the south branch of t...
November 19, 2013
WWW Wednesday 11-20-2013
WWW Wednesday. This meme is from shouldbereading.
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?
• What are you currently reading?
A Difficult Woman, by Alice Kessler Harris, a thematic biography of Lillian Hellman; and Which Lie Did I Tell, by William Goldman. Every now and then I find myself up to my hips in non-fiction. There is probably a reason for it, but I’m not sure...
Marion Zimmer Bradley on What Is A Short Story?
What is a Short Story?
Marion Zimmer Bradley
When I speak of a short story, I am referring to the commercial or category short story, not the New Yorker or “literary” short story. I am dealing with the techniques for writing and selling what is known as commercial fiction. I have long contended that anyone who can write a literate English sentence can learn to write and can make a modest living writing for and selling to these markets, but it is necessary to learn a few simple rules. These rule...
November 18, 2013
BVC Announces The New Atlantis by Ursula K. Le Guin
The New AtlantisbyUrsula K. Le Guin
A vision of hope sinking and hope rising, in an America paralyzed by corporate control of government while sea levels rise catastrophically due to human-caused climate change.
Download an Ebook Sample:
Buy “The New Atlantis“
at the BVC Ebookstore
The New Atlantis
byUrsula K. Le Guin
A vision of hope sin...
The New AtlantisbyUrsula K. Le Guin
A vision of hope sinking and hope rising, in an America paralyzed by corporate control of government while sea levels rise catastrophically due to human-caused climate change.
Download an Ebook Sample:
Buy “The New Atlantis“
at the BVC Ebookstore
#42 Pencil: A Writer's Life, the Universe, and Everything
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