A Wish For A Happy Writing Day!
Standardeducation
Thoughts From Chaucer and Shakespeare
StandardToday I will offer a few quotations from writers from earlier eras about creativity, learning, and teaching.
(illustration from Cassell’s History Of England – Century Edition – published circa 1902)
“And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche”
“And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.”
These are the Middle English and the Modern English versions of this quotation from “The General Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. This idea is of enormous importance to me, because I am both a teacher and a life-long student. All people should try to continue to learn throughout their lives and to teach someone else the wisdom they have amassed.
(Portrait of William Shakespeare, attributed to John Taylor
NPG London)
“Suit the action to the word,
the word to the action, with this special observance,
that you o’erstep not the modesty of of nature. For
anything so over-done is from the purpose of playing,
whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to
hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue
her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age
and body of the time his form and pressure.”
William Shakespeare (Hamlet Act 3. Scene2. lines 16-23)
Shakespeare speaks to the importance of representing life and humanity as it is and to examine the world in its complexities; it can also be an injunction for all creative efforts. I do not mean we should eliminate abstraction, metaphor, or altered forms, but that, at our core, we are creating art about humanity and our world.
Keep learning and keep sharing what you know.
Quotations on Justice
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(https://commons.wikimedia.org)
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
Elie Wiesel
“No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.”
Theodore Roosevelt
(https://commons.wikimedia.org)
“When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“An injustice to one person is a crime against everyone, and we must always try to achieve true justice in the world.”
Charles F. French
Have A Good Writing Day–Everyday!
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I simply wanted to wish all writers a good writing day–today and always. I also hope you will have excellent production on whatever project you are tackling.
Never doubt your abilities, and work on getting your first drafts done. They will not be perfect, but you will then have material to revise.
Remember to try to write every day and read everyday.
Happy Writing!
Get The Draft Done! is available here: Amazon.com
Gallows Hill can be found here in ebook.
Gallows Hill in paperback can be found here.
An interview about Gallows Hill can be found here.
Please follow the following links to find my novel:
Thank you!
The book trailer:
Maledicus:Investigative Paranormal Society Book I
My radio interview:
Available on Amazon
Time For A July Self-Promotion Party!
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(Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com)
Hello to all the writers out there and reading this blog!
It is time for a shameless self-promotion party, so please do not be shy about your work.
Be proud of your writing!
Let the world know about your book(s)!
Shout to the world about your writing!
Tell us about your book(s), and leave an image and a link if you can.
In order for as many people to see your work as possible, please Tweet and reblog this post!
Here is my self-promotion: my latest book can help writers who have issues with finishing first drafts of their books. If that is you, I offer direct, practical advice on how to Get The Draft Done! by Charles F. French.
Get The Draft Done! is available here: Amazon.com
Gallows Hill can be found here in ebook.
Gallows Hill in paperback can be found here.
An interview about Gallows Hill can be found here.
Please follow the following links to find my novel:
Thank you!
The book trailer:
Maledicus:Investigative Paranormal Society Book I
My radio interview:
Available on Amazon
While The Bombs Fell by Robbie Cheadle & Elsie Hancy Eaton — A Review
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This is a small book, only in length, but please do not be misled by its relatively short size. It is a wonderful historical read, and it is full of interesting and captivating details of life during World War Two as seen through the eyes of a child.
Robbie Cheadle and Elsie Hancy Eaton do a marvelous job of pulling the reader into the child’s perspective, who finds wonder and joy, even in this terrible historical period. I loved reading about how the family survived with what they had and still managed to maintain the important aspects of life regardless of the hardships of the time.
The details are fascinating, and the added recipes are delightful. If you are interested in history or a captivating tale, then I recommend this book highly!
I was enthralled in the story from the very beginning through to the end. I have tended to read historical accounts as told through the perspective of adults, and this book, narrated by a very young child, is a refreshing approach.
I give this book a 5 star review, and I hope you buy a copy and read it!
Please visit Robbie Cheadle’s wonderful sites:
Robbie Cheadle–Books/Poems/Reviews
Quotations on Stories
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“We owe it to each other to tell stories.”
Neil Gaiman
“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.”
Stephen King
“Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those last hours in the night when you can’t remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.”
Tim O’Brien
“In stories, we find the connection of all humanity.”
Charles F. French
A Few Quotations On The Environment
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“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.”
Bill Nye
“Global warming is real, and the environment is in danger. Those who deny the overwhelming evidence about climate change are embracing ignorance. In order to bequeath a livable world to our children and grandchildren, we must do all we can to fight climate change now.”
Charles F. French
The Bright Side of Darkness by J. E. Pinto
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I want to thank Jo Elizabeth Pinto for her post about her book The Bright Side of Darkness.
I recently came across an intriguing prompt for authors interested in sharing their books. The prompt was, “Write a diary entry from the point of view of a character in your novel.”
As Alice Mills bends over the table in her cheery kitchen with the flowered wallpaper, intent on filling a page in her journal, the early morning sun falls across her graying hair. She wears a faded cotton nightgown, and a neglected cup of coffee has turned cold beside her.
September 8, 1986
This morning began like any other Saturday, except I must have been real tired because I didn’t hear Walter get up and go out to the pool. So he’d already come in from swimming laps and started the coffee before I made it to the kitchen. He was flipping through the local newspaper the way he always does. I was about to get him a lemon bar or two I’d brought home from the ladies’ tea at church yesterday, and then he saw something at the back of the paper that put him on a tear!
I couldn’t piece it all together, but it had to do with Rick Myers, the orphan Walter sent to the reformatory a few weeks ago. He came home awful broken up about it that night. The poor kid’s folks had died in a car wreck a few months back, and then to tragically lose his girlfriend while he was trying his best to keep her safe … it really was too much. But there had been alcohol in his blood, and he’d been driving recklessly, even if his reasons were justified. Sometimes being a judge is a heartbreaking job. Walter can’t bring home all the lost boys who need us, So he did what needed doing.
But something must have gone as wrong as it could go at the reform school, because all at once, my unflappable husband jumped up from the kitchen table like he’d been sitting on a mound of fire ants. He bolted for the bedroom, dialing up the head of the reformatory as he went, and the way he lit into that man, Alvin Kingston, well, I was glad to be safe in my own kitchen and not on the other end of the phone line.
Quick like a bunny, Walter came out of the bedroom in a white shirt and dress slacks instead of his bathrobe, still spitting nails about Alvin Kingston. He told me he was going to the hospital to deal with the Myers boy, so I know something awful must have happened. I made sure to settle him down–he needed to forget about Alvin Kingston and focus his attention where it really mattered.
Speaking of focusing, I better put aside this silly diary and get busy. We’ll probably have a new boy living with us again. The bedroom where my baby Arthur grew up never stays empty too long.
What is a family? For Rick Myers, a despondent seventeen-year-old who has just lost his parents in a car wreck, it’s the four teenage buddies he’s grown up with in a run-down apartment building. Fast with their fists, flip with their mouths, and loyal to a fault, the “crew” is all he has.
At least, he thinks so until he meets Daisy, an intelligent, independent, self-assured blind girl. Her guts in a world where she’s often painfully vulnerable intrigue Rick, and her hopeful outlook inspires him to begin believing in himself.
But when the dark side of Daisy’s past catches up with her, tragedy scatters the crew and severely tests Rick’s resolve to build his promising future. Fortunately, his life is touched by a couple with a pay-it-forward attitude, forged out of their personal struggle with grief and loss. Their support makes all the difference to Rick and eventually, through him, to the ones he holds most dear as they face their own challenges. The Bright Side of Darkness is a story of redemption and the ultimate victory that comes from the determination of the human spirit.
I was among the first blind students to integrate the public schools in the 1970s. In 1992, I received a degree in Human Services from the University of Northern Colorado. While teaching students how to use adaptive technology, I earned a second degree in 2004 from the Metropolitan State College of Denver in Nonprofit Management. These days, I freelance as an editor and a braille proofreader.
As an author, I entertain my readers while giving them food for thought. In my fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, I draw on personal experience to illustrate that hope is always an action away.
I live in Colorado with my husband, my preteen daughter, and our pets.
To find out more about my books and me, please visit my Website at https://www.brightsideauthor.com.
Twitter: @BrightSideAU
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjepinto/
You can purchase her books on Amazon
Thank you again to Jo Elizabeth Pinto!
If any authors would like to publicize their books on my blog, please reach me by email: frenchc1955@yahoo.com
What Are You Reading?
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We are well into the month of June, and I was wondering what everyone was reading. Reading is one of the great pleasures in life, one in which I constantly indulge.
The spring semester is over, but the summer sessions of classes have already begun at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, and I am excited that I am teaching a course called Science Fiction & Fantasy. In that course, we have already covered Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling, and we are now doing American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
In addition to rereading those books, I am also reading Next To last Stand by Craig Johnson, While The Bombs Fell by Robbie Cheadle & Elsie Hancy Eaton, and Celtic Myth and Religion by Sharon Paice MacLeod.
So, I ask everyone out there: what are you reading now?
(Photo by Janko Ferlic on Pexels.com)
