Magnificent Principia (2013), by Colin Pask, as a way to read–without actually reading–Isaac Newton’s The Principia, or more correctly, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica or Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1687 (last edition, 1726). Magnificent contains important chunks of Principia, although what percentage I am not at all clear on, and it digests those chunks for…
I have been having such a good time journaling, lately. Now, I have always been a journaler, which is not surprising, as a writer. I have also always been a doodler, which also isn’t surprising, as a visual artist. (I also love photography, which means, taken all together, that my family is going to have…
Many of the things we need to know and learn as writers (and/or publishers), we need to know and learn for life. I often find that something from my personal life applies to this blog because, let’s face it, maturity as people helps us toward maturity as writers. Of course, there are job-specific things to…
No, not the Kenneth Branaugh version from 1993, although we will talk about that in a bit, but the 2012 Jos Whedon version. And yes, you did read that right. Now, how did this happen? How did I end up watching this film? NO idea. It showed up at my door from Netflix and I…
Searching for Sugar Man, 2012, a Swedish-British documentary directed and written by Malik Bendjelloul and about musician Sixto Rodriguez. Perhaps you don’t know why I would be reviewing this movie for a writing and publishing blog. Well then, just hold on tight and I will tell you. After I tell you this. It seems like…
Sure, it sounds like a garage band, but it is really something that every indie author needs at the ready. It’s your platform toolbox, and it better be stocked. The deal is, no author can breathe a sigh of relief on their publication day, anymore. Even if you have solidified a nice publishing deal with…
The Clarice Bean trilogy by Lauren Child, published from 1999-2006. The series includes, in order, Utterly Me Clarice Bean, Clarice Bean Spells Trouble, and Clarice Bean Don’t Look Now. There are three more books related to the series, but they are picture books and I did not read them. Best I can decipher, Child started…
I find myself with very little to say, today. I am supposed to be relaxing with my family, enjoying the cool rain of upstate New York, but instead I have stayed back from the annual trip to the pet store in order to get my bi-weekly blog up. I have not finished any books lately…
A few days ago, my nine year old daughter received a letter in the mail. It was from her last year’s teacher. Now, my children are in a smallish Montessori school, which means that they switch teachers and classrooms only every three years, and each of these transitions is somewhat of a big deal. Both…
Don’t know if anyone has noticed under my “Events” tab, but I have been participating in the local Lit 101 for the approximately six months that it has been running. What is Lit 101? A night of flash fiction at the Francesca’s on Ninth Street in Durham, on the third Sunday of every month, at…
Magic Beyond Words: The J. K. Rowling Story, 2011. Available currently on Amazon Prime. First thing I learned: her name is pronounced ROE-ling, not R-Ow!-ling. I had no idea. Second thing: this movie is cheesy, sometimes painfully so. And yet, I did not want to turn it off. I guess I was willing to take…
Two reasons I am reviewing “one of the best films of 2012”: It is a book adaptation of the 1999 epistolary novel by Stephen Chbosky (and Chbosky directed! How jealous am I?); it is about an aspiring writer. The bit about him being a future writer is in the background (probably just a fragment left…
When I was a kid, I was labeled “not sporty.” I was also never described as “adventurous,” that I can recall. Ideas of sporty and adventurous in my culture were limited to things like basketball and Lewis and Clark. As I got older, I realized a few things about that: one, sports are not limited…
Time for another writer-related movie review: Girl Most Likely (2012; originally Imogene). This one came completely out of the blue. Despite always having my writer-related-movie-radar up, I had not heard anything about it. My husband just randomly picked it off of Netflix because it has Kristen Wiig in it. We were, then, pleasantly surprised. Now,…
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, published in 1847. I read the Barnes & Noble Classics edition, because it was given to me for free, but I did not read much of the front matter. Jane Eyre is a Western classic, easily on any list of top 100 novels of all time. Part of what makes…
The prompt for today’s flash fiction comes from The Write Practice, by Joe Bunting. I was supposed to write about–well, I won’t tell you exactly what or reading the story would be extra-boring–while not looking at what I was writing. Limit: 15 minutes. I threw a journal over the top of my laptop so I…
Last fall, when my youngest kid went off to kindergarten, I went full-time (six hours a day during school days) as a writer and publisher. The year turned into three novels at different stages of production: one is in the later stages of editing, and two are half-written. Now that summer break has arrived, I…
Some of these lessons, you just can’t be “taught.” The truth is, to be a good writer, and a good indie publisher, you have to have outside feedback, and then, miraculously, you have to know what to do with it. Because sometimes it’s not grammar or spelling or even A + B = C, but…
First things first: The Starving Artist has passed 100 posts and 800 followers! Also, we have passed one of the great, blog-tipping-points where–after a year and a half–the blog finally has its own momentum and we get actual comments (maybe some Shares, Tweets, Likes) on every post. Woo-hoo! Now, if I can only usher it…
I know that many of the people who follow my blog are not writers or publishers. I also know that, as a writer, I often get in a discussion (about being a writer) with people who have a very hard time understanding what I am talking about. This is because of the revolution you didn’t…
the starving artist 