Stories should be natural as apples, brief as lust, long as a thought.
Vocab Word of the Day: Tittles
It sounds dirty, but it’s not. (But we wish it was.)
From the FreeDictionary.com:
n. tit·tle
1. A small diacritic mark, such as an accent, vowel mark, or dot over an i.
2. The tiniest bit; an iota.
[Middle English titil, from Medieval Latin titulus, diacritical mark, from Latin, title, superscription.]
Now you can tell your friend you saw her tittles.
‘The cat sat on the mat’ is not the beginning of a story, but ‘the cat sat on the dog’s mat’ is.
Self-editing
Hey you, try really hard not to do this on your first draft. I often find myself stopping to mentally (or physically) delete the last three words I just wrote, the “that” you don’t need for example (because you rarely need that “that”), because I know they’re just not right. But that’s really just an excuse not to keep writing. Get it all out first and then go back later with fresh eyes. I call it the Shut Up and Write method.
How Sweet It Is
Poetry magazine has a great deal for the upcoming national poetry month. You can receive up to 10 free copies of their April 2013 issue for you and your reading group. Click here to get at it!
High-res
What a great idea. Help him out if you have a good story!
Does this date mean anything to you?
If so, Pulitzer-Prize-winning Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten wants to hear from you. He’s writing a book called “One Day,” about Dec. 28, 1986, and needs the hive mind’s help to capture the big and small dramas of its 24 hours. Pitch him ideas and leads on the book’s Facebook page.
Time to Restrain Yourself
It can be paralyzing to have everything be an option when you’re starting with a blank page. Try to box yourself in. Place limits. Restrain yourself. Do that and see how you flourish.
Sometimes it’s as easy as restricting length: Write something that includes a beginning and end in one page. Tell a story in a paragraph. Describe a person in 6 words.
Or maybe, in something as arbitrary as a letter: Begin all your sentences with the letter B.
Or even just focusing on a theme that automatically frames your story for you: Imagine you’re having a conversation with your mom. What do you tell her?
Brooklyn Public Library Mobile App
For all my Brooklynite library loverrrs out there.
Brooklyn Public Library launched its first mobile app, My BPL, available for iPhone and Android. The app allows readers to personalize their library experience on-the-go by finding new titles, searching the library catalog, save to-read lists of eBooks, manage your library account, find branch info and scan an ISBN with your phone to search library collections.
For more information, visit http://www.bklynpubliclibrary.org/my-bpl-mobile-apps.
Know what you know. Thanks Mr. Hodgman.
One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
Hell yeah Jack.
