Author: Laryssa

The writer becomes an astronomer so focused on this new task – very different from writing – that she discovers a black hole: that place where writing disappears after it has been launched into the webosphere and captures the attention of no one.

When I know that my students are capable of reviewing their errors independently, I no longer make corrections on their essays. I simply circle or underline the grammatical and/or spelling errors and then ask them to try to correct the errors on their own.

I started to wonder: how could I better expose my other interests and passions so that I can attract the right people and have meaningful conversations about those interests? For example, I have a completed manuscript, but I can’t put a leash on it and take it for a walk. Anyway, why would anyone want to pet a stack of paper?

Making it through a gatekeeper of a literary agent and landing a publishing contract for a print book is an aspiring writer’s Holy Grail. I think the desire to obtain this ultimate literary goal keeps many writers from embracing or at least considering eBooks and other new media.

The designers and developers at Facebook understand and acknowledge the importance of narrative. Recently, Facebook upgraded its layout to a timeline format. The timeline is a year-by-year guide to a Facebook user’s life and includes as much information as the user wants to share.

So far, my reluctant students have taught me that most college kids are resistant to “textbook speak” and method. Sure, the textbook has a lot to offer me in terms of how I can structure the class, but the textbook does little to show my students why they should care! I can only laugh.

Writers are constantly asking themselves, Is my writing good enough? and What is the point of writing this? Very rarely do we believe that we are good enough and very rarely do we believe that our writing has purpose. However, two shining moments make the effort very much worth our time and energy.