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randomhouse:

10 Writing Tips from Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd
1. To write is to talk to strangers. You have to inspire confidence, to seem and to be trustworthy.
2. It is always prudent to remember that one is not Tolstoy or Dickens.
3. Don’t concentrate on technique, which can be the same as concentrating on yourself. Give yourself to your story.
4. The reader wants to see you trying—not trying to impress, but trying to get somewhere.
5. For a story to have a chance to live, it is essential only that there be something at stake. A car chase is not required.
6. Try to attune yourself to the sound of your own writing. If you can’t imagine yourself saying something aloud, then you probably shouldn’t write it.
7. The creation of a style often begins with a negative achievement. Only by rejecting what comes too easily can you clear a space for yourself.
8. Use words wantonly and you disappear before your own eyes. Use them well and you create yourself.
9. The best work is done when one’s eye is simply on the work, not on its consequence, or on oneself. It is something done for its own sake. It is, in Lewis Hyde’s term, a gift.
10. Be willing to surprise yourself.
January is #GoodProse Month. For more: http://www.biographile.com/category/good-prose-month/

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10 Writing Tips from Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd
1. To write is to talk to strangers. You have to inspire confidence, to seem and to be trustworthy.

2. It is always prudent to remember that one is not Tolstoy or Dickens.

3. Don’t concentrate on technique, which can be the same as concentrating on yourself. Give yourself to your story.

4. The reader wants to see you trying—not trying to impress, but trying to get somewhere.

5. For a story to have a chance to live, it is essential only that there be something at stake. A car chase is not required.

6. Try to attune yourself to the sound of your own writing. If you can’t imagine yourself saying something aloud, then you probably shouldn’t write it.

7. The creation of a style often begins with a negative achievement. Only by rejecting what comes too easily can you clear a space for yourself.

8. Use words wantonly and you disappear before your own eyes. Use them well and you create yourself.

9. The best work is done when one’s eye is simply on the work, not on its consequence, or on oneself. It is something done for its own sake. It is, in Lewis Hyde’s term, a gift.

10. Be willing to surprise yourself.

January is #GoodProse Month. For more: http://www.biographile.com/category/good-prose-month/

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Source: randomhouse

suite148:

mental vacation *sigh*

Great colors to finish up my back room.

Source: design-seeds.com

the-absolute-best-posts:

theburiedlife

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles roll

ed into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed..

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—-your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—-and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else—-the small stuff.

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.

Take care of the golf balls first—-the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

(via suite148)

Source: theburiedlife

highheelsandsexappeal:

binks808:

sexcandyandbitches:

jeffbernat:

A picture began circulating in November. It should be “The Picture of
the Year,”… or perhaps, “Picture of the Decade.” It won’t be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the U.S. paper which published it, you
probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother’s womb.

Little Samuel’s mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta.
She knew of Dr. Bruner’s remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at
Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these
special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon’s finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, “Hand of Hope.” The text explaining the picture begins, “The tiny hand of 21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother’s uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.”

Little Samuel’s mother said they “wept for days” when they saw the picture. She said, “The photo reminds us pregnancy isn’t about disability or an illness, it’s about a little person” Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.