science

Stopgap measure: 4 (okay, it’s really 5) totally awesome literary links

beccakinla Israel, Jewish, Jewish writing, literature, magazines, optimism Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. Camp was out, day school was still out, kids were home, and Mr. K. started his school year the second week of August. As you can imagine, I’ve been a little busy…the only significant writing I’ve done in the last several week has been a few episodes of my serial.

I’ve got kids home from school for one more day, but recently I’ve been seen some really interesting stuff out there on the web which I believe will be of interest to followers of this blog. So I’m posting those links in lieu of a truly original post by yours truly (although I’ve got an idea about what I want to post next).

Top 4 Cool Things I’ve Seen on the Internet Recently:

  1. If you haven’t seen it yet, this is the best analysis of Israel media coverage ever, with fascinating insider details.
  2. Hevria is the new project of Elad Nehorai from PopChassid. He’s brought together an amazing range of writers to solve problems in the Jewish community through positive action and creativity.
  3. The L.A. Times periodically publishes poetic op-eds. Here’s the latest bunch.
  4. And finally, the geektastic interview with Rabbi Goldfeder about how truly intelligent robots MIGHT actually count in a minyan. I’ve actually had an idea for a SF story for a while with robots, and Rabbi Goldfeder’s research will definitely come in handy.

Hopefully, I’ll be ready to publish the aforementioned post later this week. As a teaser, I’ll tell you that it is partly based on Nina Badzin’s essay from earlier this summer about the things she doesn’t write about. So I guess that’s link #5.

Have you read any of those articles? What did you think? Share your opinions in the comments.

Liked Wired for Story? 3 articles about brain science and creativity

beccakinla writer, writing, writing process Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

I already blogged about the delightful Wired for Story. Recently, I read some other articles about what neuropsychology tells us about writing. I thought I’d share the links to 3 of them with my audience members today.

1) Why do writers while away hours in a cafe?

From Psychology Today: We’ve all heard the jokes about writers hanging out in cafes. (For the comic representation of this trope, see Bo’s Cafe Life.) Does lingering in coffee shops really promote creativity? Continue reading →

Two writing-themed reads: Wired for Story and This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

beccakinla advice, reading, recommended reading, writer, writing, writing process Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
Wired for Story by Lisa Cron

Neuropsychology might be a writer’s best friend.

I recently read two relatively new books about writing that I found very useful, and thought I’d share them with you.

Wired for Story

My best friend since college is, like me, a professional writer, although she specializes in a totally difference field. When she raved about the book Wired for Story, I immediately added it to my Goodreads list. It just took me a while to actually buckle down and read it. I’m glad I finally did. Continue reading →

In case you need to feel validated for writing literary fiction, science will back you up

beccakinla fiction, literacy, literature, novel, novels Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

I’m not usually the type to post an hour before Shabbos starts, but this news item (first heard this morning during the break between some Mozart and some Corelli on KUSC) is just too wonderful to wait.

In case you feel defensive because you still think high-quality literature belongs in schools, or you’re trying to encourage quality over quantity in your own writing (thus spending way more time on each piece than seems wise), a new study indicates that reading literary fiction (Jane Austen, Don DiLillo, Chekov, or Alice Munro) temporarily enhances a reader’s emotional intelligence.

For more, read the study’s abstract here and a New York Times piece about it here.

Regional dialect in the U.S. – Pardon me for my nerdiness

beccakinla goofy, habit, how to write Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
two women talking

“I’m sorry I laughed at you for calling the ginger ale, ‘Coke.'” “That’s alright, Mabel. I’ll forgive you if you pardon me for laughing when you called the spigot a ‘spicket.'”

Like most people who read and write SF and fantasy, I have a tendency towards nerdiness. I watched Star Trek loyally (until I ditched my TV at age 24). I read graphic novels. I watched foreign films as a teen and young adult and snubbed “Forrest Gump” and “Titanic.” And my idea of a fun day out could easily involve a museum, planetarium, or library.

Yes, I sat at the table with the nerds, geeks, and dweebs in high school. At least the social consequences of nerdiness drop drastically at some point during college.

One of the things I studied in college and graduate school happens to be sociolinguistics, and the topic still fills me with geeky glee, so when Discover Magazine directed readers to Joshua Katz’s work at NC State University, I had to give it a look-see. Continue reading →