The 25 Best Websites for Literature Lovers
It’s an interesting relationship that book lovers have with the Internet: most would rather read a physical book than something on an iPad or Kindle, and even though an Amazon purchase is just two or three clicks away, dedicated readers would rather take a trip to their local indie bookstore. Yet the literary world occupies a decent-sized space on the web. Readers, writers, publishers, editors, and everybody in between are tweeting, Tumbling, blogging, and probably even Vine-ing about their favorite books. In case the demise of Google Reader threw your literary Internet browsing into a dark void, here’s a list of 25 book sites to bookmark. The Millions Ten years is a mighty long time in terms of Internet life, but that’s how long The Millions has been kicking out a steady stream of reviews, essays, and links.
Breezy Friendship Bracelets
The best summer project around? Friendship bracelets... So portable, so cute and so easy! And you don’t need to be intimidatingly crafty to make them.
Kerouac on technique
Jack Kerouac 1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy 2.
Creative Writing Prompts
You went to bed like any other night and were out like a log in minutes. But when you woke up, you weren't at home. You were in a car (that wasn't yours), wearing clothes (that weren't yours), and holding a bag full of money (that wasn't yours).
High school persuasive writing prompts
High school students can practice their persuasive writing skills with these engaging persuasive writing prompts. Whether they’re trying to convince a friend to watch less TV, volunteer at the local food bank, or read an amazing book, they’ll find the perfect prompt below. 1.
Ten Obvious Truths About Fiction
The following essay was previewed in the class that Stephen Graham Jones taught for LitReactor, Your Life Story Is Five Pages Long. 1. The reader should never have to work to figure out the basics of your story. Who’s whose wife or husband, what the time period is if that matters, why these people have broken into this house, and on and on, just the basic, ground-level facts about your story. If you don’t relay that stuff up-front, as quickly and efficiently as possible (and please don’t be fancy), then your story becomes a game of three-card-monty, with you hiding information under this or that shell, trying to keep everything moving fast enough that nobody knows what’s going on. Which is to say your story becomes about the reading of the story, not the experience the story is trying to get the reader to engage.
DIY – Cress cups with a face
Cress is a lovely herb that tastes great on a sandwich with cheese or cream cheese. It’s also a herb that is really easy to grow at home. Within days you can harvest from your own little window garden. When I found these little sake cups at the thrift store I immediately saw some great looking cress planters in them. Because what looks better then a cute little face with some green hair? This is also a great little project to do with kids.
How to Write Great
And yet, at the end of the day — our own or days in general — what else do we seek from our books? The verities need not be expressed gently, unambiguously or in rhyming couplets, but it is the verities that make us know ourselves. And you can swoon your critical head off over Joyce’s bourgeois “Ulysses” and Robert Graves’s girl-crazy “Ulysses,” and still know in your acritical heart that neither holds a candle to the original wild sailor or even to Tennyson’s old salt, who strove, sought and found, and did not yield.
Best Creative Writing Exercises (PHOTOS)
Writers block, oh, writers block ...please go away! Even though it's the bane of all writers' existence, there are a bevy of ways to bypass the darn thing. From writing prompts to writing exercises, there are thousands of ways to get the creative juices flowing. Here are just a few of our favorites. Trust us, they work! Try them out and report back.
40 Photo-Illustrated Questions to Refocus Your Mind
Asking the right questions is the answer… It’s not the answers you get from others that will help you, but the questions you ask of yourself. Here are 40 thought-provoking questions to help you refresh and refocus your thinking: Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below. Also, check out our sister site, Thought Questions, for more photo-illustrated questions like these; and check out The Book of Questions
Set up Your Story in the First Paragraphs
by Jodie Renner, editor, author, speaker I receive several first chapters (and synopses) every week as submissions for possible editing, and I always read the first page. Some are clear and compelling and make me want to read more.
Stained Storage Boxes
Today I'm continuing my organizing marathon with this little storage box set! They're super easy to make, lined with cute fabric and the perfect fit for our big bookshelf in our upstairs hallway. Supplies: Wooden boxes with lids, Martha Stewart wood stain in Beach Glass, brush, cotton rags, and printed cotten fabric for the box lining. 1.
Colson Whitehead’s Rules for Writing
Rule No. 1: Show and Tell. Most people say, “Show, don’t tell,” but I stand by Show and Tell, because when writers put their work out into the world, they’re like kids bringing their broken unicorns and chewed-up teddy bears into class in the sad hope that someone else will love them as much as they do. “And what do you have for us today, Marcy?” “A penetrating psychological study of a young med student who receives disturbing news from a former lover.” “How marvelous!
