Sydney Avey's Blog, page 3
June 19, 2018
Why a Writers Conference Might Work for You
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In 2013 I went to the Mecca of writers conferences
If you have a story to tell, you might want to consider attending a writers’ conference. Not everyone wants to write or publish their stories, but if you dream of seeing your byline on a story in a magazine or holding your hot-off-the-presses book with your name printed across a knockout cover, what should you do? Seek an...
June 12, 2018
Use Your Imagination, Part 3
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Fairy tales invite you to use your imagination.
This third in the series listing books that invite us to use our imagination begins with a quote bookseller Byron Borger shared from C. S. Lewis.
Fairyland arouses a longing for [a child] knows not what. It stirs and troubles him (to his life-long enrichment) with the dim sense of something beyond his reach and, far from...
June 5, 2018
Use Your Imagination, Part 2
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Use your imagination
In Use your imagination Part 1 I introduced bookseller Byron Borger, who shared his thoughts about the power of words with my Bay Area writing group. Part 1 included my takeaways on his talk and a partial list of his recommended reading. In Parts 2 and 3 I will post additional comments and suggested reading. Visit Byron’s website to see the full text...
May 29, 2018
Use Your Imagination, Part 1
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When you use your imagination, you entertain thoughts free from the confines of reality.
Use your imagination, our parents would tell us kids when we struggled to understand something or solve a problem. Funny, we never had to ask them how to use our imaginations. We instinctively knew how to go there.
Imagination is a mental process of entertaining thoughts free from the...
April 10, 2018
Book Review: Up the Hill To Home
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Up The Hill To Home by Jennifer Bort Yacovissi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I knew I was going to love this family history when Charley falls in love with much older Emma because her bearing signals self-possession and strong character. His antics to win her heart are hysterical. Their negotiations as they consider matrimony should be taught in school!
If one quote captures th...
April 3, 2018
Fish Fossil Swirl: Living in the disruptive moments
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Fish Fossil Swirl by Jo Thomas
Last month, while enjoying a breakfast crepe at a Jewish deli in Silver City, New Mexico, a mixed media piece of art by Jo Thomas titled Fish Fossil Swirl caught my eye. A blank wall in my Arizona house received this gem with joy.
What speaks to my soul about this artwork is the murky depth of the water, the frenetic whirl of sparkly seaside...
February 20, 2018
Book Review: The Longest Trail
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The Longest Trail by Roni McFadden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Young girls seem to obsess about one of three pastimes that serve as rites of passage from adolescence to adulthood. They are stirred by ballet, horses, or boys. Roni McFadden writes a well-crafted memoir that chronicles her experience with horses. The Longest Trail, A True Story has appeal even if you aren’t a “h...
February 13, 2018
Fact or Fiction: Writing the family story
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I never met my great grandmother but I inherited her short stories, Leaves from a Reporter’s Notebook. Her stories are dramatic and funny. I have no way of knowing if they are factual, but they are faithful to the times and worth the telling.
All I know about Nellie Belle I heard from others who knew who her. I could trace some of her movements through genealogy records,...
February 1, 2018
Book Review: Living Life Backward
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Reading David Gibson’s book, Living Life Backward, How Ecclesiastes Teaches us to Live in Light of the End, reminded me that all three of my published novels begin with a death. The Sheep Walker’s Daughter opens with Dee at her mother’s deathbed. The Lyre and the Lambs finds Dee beside her best friend as they discover a suicide. And The Trials of Nellie Belle begins with...
January 25, 2018
Nellie Belle Makes Her Literary Debut
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Nellie Belle is about to make her debut on the literary stage! The Trials of Nellie Belle is now available for preorder. Shipping date is February 6. I’ve listed links to the major book retailers on my website.
