"Be the instrument playing the sound of your life's passing." ~Jonathan Safran Foer
So, it's now 10 days into 2017. (10 already? Time goes so fast!) I'm back to my relatively regimented schedule of working, writing, laundry, cleaning, etc, basically, all the stuff of a peaceful daily life. Once we (the proverbial "we") get back in our routines after a vacation or big event, I think we can start to forget all the great memories we've made. They get buried under all the new things we're doing, like an old photograph that gets lost in the bottom of a box for years or maybe forever. So, before I forget them all, I want to document my top 10 best moments of the 2016 vacation holiday season (in no particular order)!
It's the New Year. That means it's time for resolutions. I've decided to make my own 2017 reading challenge list as part of my New Years Reading Resolution.
On a recent trip to New York with my daughter for a dance trip, she took a Bollywood class with a very sagely instructor. (See story of that trip here.) I've been thinking about something that teacher said recently. The class was high energy and she told the girls to push through their fatigue. She explained to them that energy creates energy and if you stop when you're tired, it will be harder to stop again. She was basically explaining to them Newton's first law of motion, which describes inertia. But, this law doesn't just apply to physical objects. It's mental as well. And it often applies to writing.
If You Want to Understand Why I’m Crying It’s because I can’t protect her I can’t protect her against The rising tides of water and hatred I can’t protect her when She leaves my arms for school Where children with spinning compasses And growing access to lethal weapons and unchecked prejudices Can penetrate the sanctuary Of education and innocence
So, I need a little levity in my life right now. Therefore, I decided to try something new. I'm calling it T-shirt Tuesday. My husband probably has hundreds of t-shirts with funny, ironic sayings or pictures on them. I'm going to use those to draw inspiration for my Tuesday blogs, or at least I'm going to try. Ready? Today's inspiration is...
Oh passive voice, the bane of my writing existence, along with idioms and the use of semicolons. (I actually despise semicolons. Just start a new sentence!) But that is a rant for another time. As a newly published author, I probably struggled with passive voice the most. And through those struggles, along with the help of some very seasoned book editors, I think I’ve learned enough about the topic to provide some helpful (and abbreviated, for those of you with busy schedules) advice.
In case you’re wondering, November 1, 2016 is National Calzone Day, National Author’s Day, National Brush Day, and National Family Literacy Day. Guess which one I’m going to write about? Brushes of course! Brushes are so versatile. Alright, I’m joking. Obviously, since I am a newly published author (The Travelers, check it out!) and avid reader, I am more excited about National Author’s Day than National Brush Day. Therefore, I want to celebrate authors and their fantastic thoughts and ideas.
K.L. Kranes 