I have been coping with computer disasters of astonishing magnitude over the last week or so, but I had to share this wonderful quote with you. Leave it to a poet to tell the truth so very vividly! “I have...
…and out the other. Remember that saying? Unfortunately, that’s almost completely true for visual learners. Auditory learners, on the other hand, could probably say “In one eye and out the other” with as much accuracy. I hadn’t thought of it...
Turning off the television is always a fabulous idea. I don’t have one to turn off, but if I did, I’d certainly be happy to celebrate TV Turnoff Week. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to sit and stare...
I’ve been thinking about writing persuasively this week. There are many times in life when you want to write persuasively, and it pays to know how do it. Sometimes, nothing more than a refund is at stake, but at other...
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge Have you ever thought about the part that enthusiasm plays in the learning process? I have noticed that when I’m interested in something, I learn it so much more easily...
I’m working on a small book on evaluating writing, so in my last e-mail newsletter, I asked if anyone had questions on the subject. One mom sent in the following question, and I thought I’d share it, along with my...
I’m thinking about spring, and the need to seize the day, and do the thing that is appropriate for the moment. It’s time to emerge from our winter cocoons! Spring means being outdoors, breathing great gulps of crispy-fresh air, moving...
“Mom, I need some copywork!” I thought my son was kidding when he approached me this morning. After all, he is taking college classes, and doing quite a lot of writing. I thought he’d finished with copywork years ago! As...
In this brief article, scholar, editor, and translator Luis Sundkvist explores the life of noted Russian author Ivan Turgenev and considers ways in which his life and work intersected with the Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Biography...
Marianne Moore (1887 – 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. She won several awards for her poetry in her lifetime, and her poems are frequently anthologized. Poetry (1919) by Marianne...
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. He is seen as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets. His works include several collections of poetry, one novel, and...
Leo Tolstoy (or Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy), 1828-1910, was a Russian novelist and social reformer, born on the 9th of September (August 28) 1828, in the home of his fathers – Yasnaya Polyana, near Toula...
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821–1881), Russian author, born at Moscow, on the 30th of October 1821, was the second son of a retired military surgeon of a decayed noble family. He was educated at Moscow...
