Paul R Kohn > Recent Status Updates

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

“… Stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech.”

“... While to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.”

“…The paragraph, not the sentence, is the basic unit of writing – the place where coherence begins and words stand a chance of becoming more than mere words.”

“Put your vocabulary on the top shelf of your tool box, and don’t make any conscious effort to improve it. One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. Remember that the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colourful.”

"When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.
Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, but then it goes out - it belongs to anyone who wants to read it."

It never ceases to horrify me the way people treat each other because or race, religion, any difference they can find. And it's great to see other people stand up and not just follow the masses. This novel demonstrates that amazingly.

"The moment you can keep your jabbering mind at bay and use your senses without judgement, you will begin to experience the world quite differently. Unmediated reality is a wondrous thing. The more you observe reality without interference from a judging mind, the more glimpses you will catch of it."

Talked to the boys a bit about mindfulness tonight and tried the "Sleep Tight" exercise on the CD. They both definitely enjoyed the exercise which they did last thing before they went to bed.
I could hear them both really focussing on their breathing as they were going to sleep tonight. It will be interesting to see if they think to try this when they wake up overnight.