Site-Wide Activity

Thanks, Steven.
One year would be End of September 2017.
I cognitively accepted her past – now I have to heal the (unlogic) emotional wound. Don`t know why it hurts. She also was with a guy who had plenty more sexual partners than she had – it did not bother her at all..

And yes, Steven, I would love to be stronger and less judgmental, but I want…[Read more]

OK. Private Messaging is enabled.

Getting to it is a little more obscure than I’d like:

Hover over your username in the upper-right corner of the page.
Move the mouse down to the “Messages” sub-menu.
Select the action that you’d like to take.
Once there you can get to the other actions via tabs.

When you have messages, you will see the…[Read more]

I’ve only sold one story and I already know “you’re not a real writer” is going to be one of those things my brain spits at me until I croak.

A lifetime of self-abuse is difficult to un-learn.

Yeah. In therapy (again) for that one. Between that and the positive messages of this class, every resistant fiber in my being is being resistant to…[Read more]

Oh, it’s definitely on-the-nose, much more so than any beginning author could get away with — and I note she posted it free on her site; I’m not sure this is marketable. I think its power comes from incorporating an all-too-real-world emotionally shattering event into an existing universe her readers are already familiar with.

Breaking it down…[Read more]

“Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc. Not just pretty words.”–Morticia Addams

Honestly, what Tananarive said is my experience as well. That inner critic never goes away. It merely changes its script. For me, it’s gone like this over the past 15 years:

You’re not a writer. You’ve no talent.
A senior editor from Del Rey reads my short story at a…[Read more]

I’m not familiar with Slack, but there is a “Private Messaging” system built into the software we’re using. I’ll turn that on after I finish some other chores.

I see that there is also a plugin that replaces the built-in messaging with Slack; so, I can look into moving to that if that is where people want me to spend my development time.

Hmmm,…[Read more]

Thank you! We will be setting up a way for students to share their work more easily, and I’m sure yours will be appreciated.

So many good submissions! Whoever is chosen, what I want is for you guys to read each others’ work, and use the Lifewriting methodology to peer into the structure and meaning. As you help each other, you help yourselves. Thank you!

Wow!

“How dare you reject your work – that’s the editor’s job!”
“Don’t torture yourself, Gomez. That’s my job”–Morticia Addams.

Very nice. This is a fine parable (if a little too on-the-nose) of real power and authority. I would say that it is an internal journey of understanding rather than an external journey of action. But as action and understanding are connected intimately, what it really does is provide perspective on the cycles of life and existence, along with…[Read more]

The Hero’s Journey is the simplest structure I know of that is really useful for both storytelling and life. But it is only a map, not the territory. In reality, we are experiencing infinite overlapping stories all at the same time. Teasing these out into a structure we can communicate to other human beings can be VERY challenging. Even to…[Read more]

Ellen–
this was close to perfect. PERFECT. Your list of obstacles hits almost every major button. By sharing it, you are helping to create a universal understanding of the inner world–others will read your words and say “oh my God! I thought I was the only one!”
Your idea to do a sun salutation is terrific as well. Ground yourself, and take…[Read more]

Hopefully you are doing better today
I think of you every time I start to treadmill – you are brave and I want to honor that.
Please accept my good thoughts in your direction

******SPOILER*****

The Beasts Who Fought For Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still by Catherynne Valente.

…..analyzed using the Hero’s Journey…

This is an odd story from a structure perspective but a perfectly natural story from a fairy tale perspective, so I’m not sure I’m getting this right. Go read it, link above, and tell me…[Read more]