The world in many ways was much like now. The geo-political landscape was constantly changing. Then, there was the threat from the USSR because Joseph Stalin died March 5 leaving an obviously struggle inside the Kremlin. Then, it was the Korean Conflict and the multiple events, sometimes called brushfire incidents, the Kremlin and Washington DC acted out their ideological differences at a local level. Then, we had just elected Dwight David Eisenhower as president and the build up of the military industrial complex was coming on line. And, then, we had the roiling of America over McCarthyism, the House Committee investigating supposed un-American activities, a rampage by Joe McCarthy to purge the country of any echo of free speech that might damage his idea of what was America. Continue reading
Author: teresafannin (Page 19 of 56)
Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan famously said “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Clever and pithy. Like the term originating in the midst of World War II when chaos was more reliable than not, SNAFU [situation normal/all f**ked up] works with Reagan’s comment–government is unreliable by its nature.
The twenty-first century has brought us SHELTER IN PLACE. Continue reading
Last year at the SCBWI Carolinas fall conference one of our presenters was Daniel Nayeri. If you don’t know Daniel, find out about him. His most recent publication is, well, it’s a box. How To Tell A Story. [Workman Press] It is about writing creatively. Probably more for a *kid* audience than an adult one, it is a ‘restart your brain’ sort of box. A way to test your own ability to write as well as letting you *see* the way a story unfolds.
This year my critique group–soup–has decided to use HTTAS as writing exercises. At a group meeting we roll the blocks. For our first exercise–not sure where we started–here’s what we had to work with Continue reading
I’ve been watching the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries series. I’ve enjoyed them. It’s been fun. There’s daring do. The clothes. The sets. The cars. There’s romance. But the bottom line is I won’t rally for a season four now that she’s kissed Jack as she goes flying off with her Father to England to return him to Mother.
Why not? After season 1, I continued to watch, but not with my whole brain. Phryne, charming and outré as can be, just is. She is a woman of mid-forties. She is a force of nature, with money and skills that come from a free-wheeling and colorful life, sometimes because of the wealth, sometime because it was scrabble. It’s interesting, but Phryne is not about to change. Continue reading
When I read I am not very critical, never was. I am the proverbial sponge. I take in. I soak. I immerse. If I can’t do that in a story, if I can put a story down without a fight, then for me, it’s not that good a story. If I have to fight myself to put down a story at midnight, make a bargain about what I will get done so I can get back to the story, then I know some part of that story will show up in my dreams. I dream all the time. I can not remember a time I did not, have not dreamed. Even when I wake up from being given an anesthetic, I feel like I dream.
It is very loud in my head. Always. I feel a little Walter Mitty. Always. So where am I going with this? Continue reading