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WordPress Writing 201: Poetry Class, Day 1

Today begins WordPress Writing 201: Poetry Class. How great it is to have such a resource available for FREE! I write strictly nonfiction, so this class is a big stretch for me. But I’m determined to work on my writing this year, and what better way to do that than to dabble in something WAY […]

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bookshelves: Literature and Psychology

What Your Favorite Books Tell You About Your Writing

My major life activities are reading (usually fiction) and writing (always nonfiction). So I’m delighted when I come across something that combines the two: something like Marcy McKay’s writing challenge What Your Favorite Books Tell You About Your Writing. Marcy runs The Write Practice, a web site and newsletter aimed at fiction writers, but even

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Blog a Day Challenge: January Report

I admit that when I set this challenge up for myself near the end of December, I did so with trepidation: Would I be able to find something to write about EVERY SINGLE DAY? Would I be able to do all the research necessary for each post during a single day? Would I be able

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Flow

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience HarperCollins, 1990 ISBN 0–06–092043–2 Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life Basic Books, 1997 ISBN 0–465–02411–4 Athletes talk about being “in the zone.” For musicians, it’s being “in the groove.” Even if you’re not an athlete or a musician, you’ve probably shared the

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woman reading

The Best Books I Read in 2014

I read 43 books this year, for a grand total of 12,695 pages. The longest was Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, which weighs in at 771 pages. Here, listed alphabetically by author, are the 10 best: Atkinson, Kate. Life After Life Fergus, Jim. One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd French, Tana. Faithful Place

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Personal Challenge: A Blog Post a Day in 2015

I woke up a couple of days ago with this thought: I should challenge myself to write a blog post every day during 2015. I dismissed this thought right away because such a huge commitment seems like setting myself up for failure. Why not just commit to writing a post a day for the month

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Monday Miscellany: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Ireland! For only my second trip abroad EVER, I am in Ireland for 10 days. This is definitely the trip of a lifetime for someone with O’Dea relatives on one side of the family and Conklin folks on the other. More literary content next week. For now, I’m off in

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