Writing Exericse: A Startling Sound
Have you ever been startled by a sound you had never heard before? Stopped in your tracks, wondering what the hell was going on? Felice Benuzzi's unique adventure memoir No [...]
Have you ever been startled by a sound you had never heard before? Stopped in your tracks, wondering what the hell was going on? Felice Benuzzi's unique adventure memoir No [...]
There's no denying that we are at the tail end of fall here in the Midwest--the temperature dips below the freezing at night, the trees are almost bare, and the [...]
Chicago winter - late afternoon yesterday outside my building We've emerged from subzero temperatures here in Chicago, but as winter has gripped the outside with ample snow, treacherous streets and salty [...]
I once asked my creative writing students to bring an object to class for its smell - we passed them around to sniff and try to describe their scents. One [...]
Blogging, I have realized, is also a journey of self discovery, of appreciating that perhaps the most ordinary things really aren't that ordinary. When I sifted through the spoils from [...]
Today is the first day of summer, so I was thinking of all the smells that mean summer to me. Smell is purportedly the sense that brings back memories the fastest, [...]
It is raining and thundering again in Chicago this morning, and more wetness and cool temperatures are forecasted for the rest of the day, so I'm feeling rather un-summery and [...]
I often find, in student manuscripts, instances where the writer tells me something, only to go on to show it. And then tells me again what she’s already shown me. [...]
View from the window behind my writing couch this morning - see how the water is pouring from the spout? What words to use describe the sound of rain? We had [...]
Today I cut open a butternut squash for a beef tagine dish I was trying out, and as I scooped the seeds out of its bottom and breathed in its [...]