Tag Archives: writing

Music is good for just about everything

Posted on November 26, 2025 by stillalife

“While in my heart there swells a song,       And I can sing.” James Weldon Johnson At last Sunday’s church service, our new ukulele group had its debut performance, which consisted of accompanying the audience’s singing of a gatha (Sanskrit for song or … Continue reading →

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AI: ghost in the machine ?

Posted on September 14, 2025 by stillalife

AI is messing with me. Here’s my evidence. Last week, using my early attempts at dictating* a scene for a mystery novel (a joint project with a friend), I ended up with about five pages of text. I highlighted a … Continue reading →

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Dictation

Posted on September 1, 2025 by stillalife

About ten days ago I subscribed to a blog about writing, and then began receiving emails from the blogger, Sarah Elizabeth Sawyer. The emails highlighted her mission to convince writers to dictate their novels, rather than compose them by fingers … Continue reading →

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My odd little 2019 calendar

Posted on January 10, 2019 by stillalife

In preparing my last blog post I got carried away doing research on the history of the modern calendar and ignored my original plan to describe the calendar I created for 2019. Today I’m returning to that topic. My calendar … Continue reading →

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“NaNoWriMo” is over and so is any hope for discipline

Posted on December 3, 2017 by stillalife

November was National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo and mispronounced by friends as something like “Nah, No Rhinos.” My first foray into NaNoWriMo took place in November 2011. That year I participated fully, which means I started a … Continue reading →

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My love of libraries

Posted on January 5, 2016 by stillalife

Ever since I checked out my first book in a tiny storefront in my West Seattle neighborhood, I’ve loved libraries. At age 15 and 1/2, my first job title after “babysitter” was “page,” a library position that involved shelving books, … Continue reading →

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And words to go before I sleep

Posted on November 15, 2011 by stillalife

November 15.  Exactly halfway through the month. At least fifty thousand words are the target for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) November event, “Write a novel in a month.”  Thirty-two thousand words are behind me, sixty-four percent.  The total … Continue reading →

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Finding creativity

Posted on November 7, 2011 by stillalife

“Creativity is not what you’re looking for, but what you find.”  I heard this quote from David, my hair stylist who makes me look like I really could have been born a blond.  He’s been in the business for many … Continue reading →

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November: a good month in which to write 50,000 words

Posted on October 21, 2011 by stillalife

“NaNoWriMo.”  Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it?  In fact, for a few days after I read it, I was saying “nano-rhino,” conjuring up images of a tiny version of the horned African beast.  I also thought it sounded … Continue reading →

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Movies and myths

Posted on October 19, 2011 by stillalife

I’ll never look at movies in the same way, as a result of reading The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, who says that contemporary storytellers construct their works according to ancient mythology and fairy tales.  This past week I watched … Continue reading →

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