Did you hear last month about the Maryland teacher who was arrested? Early reports pointed to two science fiction books he’d written as a reason he was considered a threat. Later reports placed the blame on a letter he’d written.
The first report I saw was from The Atlantic mobile site (In Maryland, a Soviet-Style Punishment for a Novelist – Atlantic).
It all seemed bizarre. A bit too 1984 or The Trial. So I went looking for a follow-up story and found “What I Didn’t See At First About The MD School Teacher/Sci-Fi Writer” in the Daily Kos.
I finally found an article in The Baltimore Sun that seemed to explain the story a little better. (Letter penned by teacher placed on leave a point of contention for lawyers).
In the end, I’m left with more questions than answers. Did a young man need help? Did his fiction really play a role in his detention? Was race a factor? Will the full story ever come out? Or will some other novelist have to explore the way things play out?
Tag: creativity
Brain clutter
Do you work with someone who seems to spend more time getting ready to work than actually working? Someone with notebooks full of minutiae but few concrete results? Is her or his mind as cluttered with details, too? Jessica Stillman offers some ideas to reduce brain clutter.
Prompt: What happens when a brain-cluttered person faces a problem for which she or he is unprepared?
3 Tricks for a More Organized Mind | Inc.com
http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/3-tricks-for-a-more-organized-mind.html
Book seers
For writers, the question is never resolved, is it? Do you plot or do you start filling pages until a project is done? Which is the better approach?
Obviously there is no right answer.
But, here’s another installment in the debate. See if any of the suggestions helps you through one of your projects.
To Pants or To Plot, That is the Question. Or is it? | writingwenches
http://writingwenches.com/2014/09/08/to-pants-or-to-plot-that-is-the-question-or-is-it/
Be true
Shakespeare told us “To thine own self be true.” Nick Horby’s advice to readers could be paraphrased, “To thine own taste be true.” He asserts reading should be fun, not enforced.
I don’t think he means no one should write literary novels. Clearly some people like them. Writers, and readers, should pick the genres they like. There is no “should” about what to write.
Can’t get into highbrow novels? Ditch them, says Nick Hornby – Telegraph
Do some research
Not all of these tips for public relations professionals apply directly to other types of writing. But they are a reminder of a kind of research you may need from time to time.
They also could spark an idea for a character or a workplace that might fit something you’ve been thinking about.
How using the research skills you learned in college can pay off | Articles | Home
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/4fd748a6-2800-4f24-b777-b18df036bf0e.aspx
sharon p. lynn 