Popular Posts
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A Writer's Moment: 'Property of the imagination' : “The English language is nobody's special property. ...
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“One of the great joys of life is creativity. Information goes in, gets shuffled about, and comes out in new and intere...
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A Writer's Moment: 'Be willing to fail' : “I'm always terrified when I'm writing.” – Mary Karr ...
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A Writer's Moment: 'Information In; Creative Responses Out' : “One of the great joys of life is creativity....
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“Librarians and romance writers accomplish one mission better than anyone, including English teachers: we create readers for life - and w...
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A Writer's Moment: 'Story ideas surround you' : “I always tell my students, 'If you walk around with your eyes and ears...
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
A Writer's Moment: 'Never an uninteresting life'
'Never an uninteresting life'
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
A Writer's Moment: 'The virtues of the writer'
'The virtues of the writer'
Monday, November 28, 2022
A Writer's Moment: 'It's how we use the talents we're given'
'It's how we use the talents we're given'
Saturday, November 26, 2022
A Writer's Moment: 'December Moon' on the horizon
'December Moon' on the horizon
After a fall of snow
I look out on the field
Shining there in the moonlight
So calm, untouched and white
Snow silence fills my head
After I leave the window.
Hours later near dawn
When I look down again
The whole landscape has changed
The perfect surface gone
Criss-crossed and written on
Where the wild creatures ranged
While the moon rose and shone.
Why did my dog not bark?
Why did I hear no sound
There on the snow-locked ground
In the tumultuous dark?
How much can come, how much can go
When the December moon is bright,
What worlds of play we'll never know
Sleeping away the cold white night
After a fall of snow.
Friday, November 25, 2022
A Writer's Moment: 'Explore ideas . . . and imagination'
'Explore ideas . . . and imagination'
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
A Writer's Moment: Imagine that . . . then write it!
Imagine that . . . then write it!
Monday, November 21, 2022
A Writer's Moment: 'The property of all'
Sunday, November 20, 2022
'The property of all'
“The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.” – Voltaire
One of history’s great thinkers and writers, François-Marie Arouet, known simply as Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and separation of church and state. Born on this date in 1694, he wrote down or espoused many of the ideas that influenced our own nation’s founding fathers (He was a longtime close friend of Benjamin Franklin, for example).
A versatile writer, Voltaire produced over 2,000 books and pamphlets, and wrote plays, poems, essays, and historical and scientific works. He also wrote more than 20,000 letters and was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk this placed him in with the leadership of his time. He is often credited with the quote, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Others say that what he really wrote, or said, was "I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write it."
Fluent in five languages, including English, he also was a voracious reader and often said that while he was flattered by people thinking highly of his works, it was the thoughts and ideas of others that were the base for his own writings.
“Originality,” he said, “is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers have always borrowed one from another.”
A Writer's Moment: 'A brand on the imagination'
'A brand on the imagination'