Lionel Shriver responds to Yassmin Abdel-Magied and all of those offended by her controversial Brisbane keynote. The New York Times
Ken Kalfus, who wrote the review of The Mandibles to which Shriver referred in her keynote, explains that cultural appropriation is not the problem. The Washington Post
Tori Amos: Trump is disrespectful to all women. The singer/songwriter talks about her response to Audrie and Daisy, the role of storytelling in her creative process, and accountability. The Daily Beast
Lisa Cron digs deeper into the response to her last Writer Unboxed post, in which she posited an alternative to the plotter/pantser dichotomy. It’s hard to own what you believe.
If you read last week’s curation, you’ll know that I don’t personally subscribe to the pursuit of happiness ideal. Like Matt Inman (The Oatmeal), I’ve learned that contentment is a much better place to be. Also, to feel anything at all, other than rage, after a depressive episode, is, like, awesome. I don’t need to, or want to, be bouncing-off-the-walls happy. One extreme in emotion usually heralds its opposite.
Still, I read and share all these posts and articles on happiness. What’s up with that? If you take the word happiness out of the equation, these are all really good tips to live a good, meaningful life. That’s what leads to contentment. So there you are: Mellie’s philosophy.
Lots of informal writerly learnings for you this week 🙂
K.M. Weiland posts another instalment in her most common writing mistakes series. Last week, it was part 53: no contractions in dialogue. Helping writers become authors
I shared the Tweet that inspired Chuck Wendig’s grammar rant last week. I’d also heard Grammar Girl, Mignon Fogarty, discuss it on her podcast a week or two earlier. Chuck brings up some good points, though. The ideal order of adjectives may well be how they sound best when spoken, and this can vary between English speaking countries as well as regionally, within each country, based on dialectical differences. Words like absolute and must, while they exist in the English language, sometimes don’t apply to it universally.
Annie Neugebauer is back with part two of her query letter mini-series: the extras. Writer Unboxed
This is beautiful. Though it was completed more than a decade ago, this is the first time I’ve seen Destino, Walt Disney’s collaboration with Salvador Dali.
How do dogs “see” with their noses – Alexandra Horowitz. Ted.ed
What happens when otters see a butterfly – kawaii!
Nothing but thieves – Graveyard whistling.
*posts that comforted me this past week.
And that’s a wrap, people.
See you Saturday with the last of my CWS 2016 sessions, Grants for writers with Jack Illingworth of the Ontario Arts Council. It’s kind of timely. Deadlines are coming up.
Last week’s Spark in the summer replay was episode 299, which features an author who live-streamed the writing of a book, and an interview with David Mitchell on how Twitter played a role in the creation of his novel, Slade House. Awesomesauce. CBC
The Library of America will publish Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Complete Orsinia. David Streitfeld for The New York Times. The actual title of the article is misleading, implying that Le Guin is denying that she’s a science fiction author (something of which she’s accused other writers in the past). Not so. She’s tired of the epithet being used as a reason to exclude writers of excellence from the literary canon. As she says, she won’t be pushed out. Kudos!
And then, THIS: On being a late bloomer.* Kelly Robson in Clarkesworld. Really, I want to give this article ALL THE STARS. I think Kelly single-handedly saved me last week.
Netflix announced that they were renewing Stranger Things on Tuesday last week. On Wednesday, the creators shared this first teaser for season two. They had no idea what was in the pipe, no, they didn’t 😉 Katharine Trendacosta for i09.
Always Looking Up 