Susan Dayley's Blog, page 45

There's a Word for That?

When I grew up, my parents occasionally asked us to be "Pacific"—in other words—to state exactly what we meant. It was years before I recognized the irony of using the wrong word for "specific." One reason I love English is there is a wealth of words for very specific moments. I was told that interpreters [...]

Book Give Away

Hey all my millions of fans, or just the mildly curious, there is a free book-give-away of Redemption right now at Walnut Springs Press blog. Redemption is the story of Jonah [It's not just another big fish story anymore:]. Give it a try. Entering is simple. Filed under: Redemption - The Story of Jonah Tagged: [...:]

Elements of a Story / Themes

This week I'm going to skip ahead in the list of Literary Elements and discuss Themes. I was going to title this something like: how to write a great book report, I decided themes lead to something better than great book reports: character development. One of my favorite times with a theme was after reading [...:]

3 Verses in Isaiah

My DH and I were reading from Isaiah chapter 22 in conjunction with the Sunday School assignment. We came to the verses 9, 10, 11 and I exclaimed (with excitement—after all, how often does Isaiah make sense to the average non-scholar?) "I know what this is about!" Because my enthusiasm is still bursting, I decided [...:]

Elements of a Story / Background

"Mom, I need to write a book report." Hopefully you don't hear those words the day before it is due. Book reports can be the terrible nightmare under the bed, or they can be a portal at the back of the wardrobe behind the fur coats. Today I am beginning a series (Mondays) about elements [...:]

Blog go round

Herman Melville said, "We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men." This post is about weaving one of those fibers. Tristi Pinkston is hosting "A Follower Fiesta of Fun and Friskiness!!" (alliteration sure seems to snag some souls.) The idea is to generate friends to her blog and [...:]

Classic Literature Quiz

This post is just for fun. I have listed ten sets of three characters. Each set are from a classic literature book. See if you can guess the book. Most of these are for children, though some are more mature. (They are all appropriate for children, but may not hold their interest.) 1) Mary Lennox, [...:]

Discipline

I stood in the hall at church facing Steven (not his real name). He had the sullen, slightly rebellious look I have encountered before when such moments happen. I tried to remember the steps I was supposed to take. First, "identify the problem." "Does it seem that you come out here rather often?" (The music [...:]

Hometown Girl

I live in a small city, where not long ago all the commerce was centered on Main Street: the bank, the post office, the hardware store, the library, the shoe repair shop, the book store, the antique store, and many others squeezed in between. Many are brick buildings, some with two stories. There are false [...:]

When a Nation Changed

King Ahaz reigned with evil. He left his kingdom staggering beneath the debt of a heavy tribute to Assyria, wars at his borders, depleted treasuries, crumbling city defenses, a robbed, desecrated, and shut temple, and refugees that swelled the population of Jerusalem beyond it's protective walls. Yet when Hezekiah became king of Judah, the first [...:]