Linda K. Sienkiewicz's Blog, page 61
February 12, 2015
10 Overused Expressions Beyond Clichés
Clichés have their purpose. When you want to express how silly Mother looked when the flying pancaught fire, “She ran 
around like a chicken with her head cut off,” quickly gets your point across. Never mind that no one who’s grown up outside a farm knows what the hell this looks like — we can imagine. There’s no need to say more. A cliché quickly gets your point across.
But theydon’t work inwriting. Most writers know enough toavoidoutdated phrases and idioms because, well, they’re outdated. Th...
February 9, 2015
5 stars for Panic in a Suitcase, a Novel
Panic in a Suitcase follows the lives of the Nasmertovs, who emigrate from Odessa, for over two decades. The elderswonder if they made the right choice, moving to America, while, at the same time, they try to convince the lone hold out, Pasha Nasmertov, to join them. He steadfastly resists in apassive aggressive manner that infuriates his sister.
The novelisuproarious and engaging, full of vivid characters with idiosyncrasies and foibles. I loved Akhtiorskaya’s style — her language, herfresh a...
February 4, 2015
Get Close to your Readers through Point of View
In any story, there is a narrator separate from the writer. Point of view concerns how the narrator tells the story, and this will determine how close the relationship between the narrator and reader will be. Each point of view, from first person to third to second works differently to move the reader, and through the manipulation of point of view (POV), a writer can create intimacy or add necessary distance.
What point of view is the best for your story? Is second-person (you) always wrong?
Ho...
February 3, 2015
Need Inspiration to Write?
Often calledone of the best short story writers of the 1990s, Josip Novakovich was praised by theNew York Timesfor fiction that has “the crackle of authenticity, like the bite of breaking glass.”
Novakovich was born in 1956 in what is nowCroatia.He studied medicine in Serbia, and then moved to America, where his mother wasborn, and continued his studies. Novakovich has received aWhiting Writer’s Award, aGuggenheim fellowship, two fellowships from theNational Endowment of the Arts, an award fro...
February 1, 2015
10 Signs You Shouldn’t Watch that Video
This video of dogs reacting to a levitating sausage is absolutely priceless. You’ll be shocked when you see this 80 year old woman dance the salsa. You’ll havea big grin all day afteryou see these puppies roll down a hill.
Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but Iprobably won’t finish that novel any time soon if I continue watching these videos with their ridiculous come-on lines. They can’t be serious. I’ll never be the same after I watch a Labrador Retriever romp with a lion? Really?Sometimes the i...
January 31, 2015
Conversation with Linda S. Browning, Mystery Writer
Congratulations to Linda S. Browning on the publication of hernovel, Daredevil, which features the endearing characters, Leslie & Belinda, from hershort story, “No Wake”, which won first place and was published in Mystery Times Ten 2013. Shealso won second place in the Mystery Times Ten 2015 contest.WheneverI correspond with Linda, I’m often amazed by her honesty and sense of humor.She says about her childhood that she wasa “pretty weird kid.” Somehow,I thinkthat’s something manywriters can i...
January 21, 2015
Let your children be who they are
I was sharing some fabulous photos of my mother, who passed away in 2013, when a childhood friend asked me if she was supportive of my writing.
My first impulse was yes. Then I had to rethink the question. Was she really? It didn’t always seem so.
It’s true my mother more thantoleratedmy creative pursuits. She suppliedme with pencils, paints, scissors, glue, and giantpads of paper. She colored with me. She drew pictures withme. She read to me.She taught me to sew and embroider, and let mecut up...
Support means letting your children be who they are
I was sharing some fabulous photos of my mother, who passed away in 2013, when a childhood friend asked me if she was supportive of my writing.
My first impulse was yes. Then I had to rethink the question. Was she really? It didn’t always seem so.
It’s true my mother more thantoleratedmy creative pursuits. She suppliedme with pencils, paints, scissors, glue, and giantpads of paper. She colored with me. She drew pictures withme. She read to me.She taught me to sew and embroider, and let mecut up...
January 12, 2015
Why we need to write thank you letters
Peter Ormerod, “a journalist with a particular interest in religion, culture and gender,” says in The Guardian that we should stopmaking children write thank you letters because 1. this apparentlydistasteful task was unduly forced upon him as a child, 2. it’s a charade thatteaches children to lie (“sanctioned insincerity”), 3.parents strong-armchildrento write thank yous only to make themselves look good, and 4. henever received a thank you letter from hisnephews and hewas okay with that.
All...
January 5, 2015
Can a dog have a best friend?
My daughter gaveClementine a Frosty the Snowman squeaky toy for Christmas. When Clemmyfirst heard itsqueak, shescootedaway, and seemingly refused to have anything to do with it. However, later that day, we found she’d put it in her bed. In the following days,she’d bring Frosty wherever I was, just set himdown and look at me. Dogs, especially corgis, can be so curiously funny. Hope you enjoy this documentation as much as my daughter and granddaughter did.None of these photos were staged, by th...
