A parable of physics teaching assistants: elegance, battlefields, and intimacy
Fencing with an unfamiliar foe. Source: “Fencing Match between St.-Georges and ‘La chevalière D’Eon’” on April 9, 1787, by Abbé Alexandre-Auguste Robineau (1747–1828) – www.royalcollection.org.uk, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11260912 Invitation or Attack? As an undergraduate, I took physics because I wanted to go to medical school. Physics promptly took over the structure of my week. Three […]
Why people can’t hear you OR how to write wicked dialogue
1. Fancy words hide your message Marie Forleo’s video, 5 Reasons People Don’t Take You Seriously, shows how we get in the way of our message, and what to do about it. My writer-mind couldn’t help thinking how to use these tips in reverse. Inside a novel, conflict built on miscommunication is quite fun. Here […]
Spring is coming. Let’s not give up on hospitality yet.
Forest road in spring green with a blue sky above. Kottenforst, Germany. © Laurel Decher, 2016. Is Migration Our Lot? Lately, I’ve been wondering if migration is our natural lot and living peacefully in one place all our lives a rarity. Cranes are migrating and their calls remind me of spring. The current news shows […]
What Do You Do for Fifteen Minutes a Day?
A few moments of light change the whole forest. Germany. © Laurel Decher. How Often Do You Think “It’s All or Nothing?” When we’re overcome by life and can’t get to the things and the people that matter to us, we get frustrated. Do you ever think. . . . . .If we don’t have […]
Check it out: more evidence for the power of libraries
On a recent trip to Cologne, I was surprised by this machine in the Neumarkt underground station. It lets library patrons check out and return mysteries and thrillers on their daily commute, 24 hours a day. You gotta love librarians. They’re always thinking up some new way to share books. What’s new at your library?
Hope for February: ESPERANZA RISING and Esperanza Spalding
Hopeful signs: Tiny snowdrops dusting the ground under giant trees bare of leaves under a gray sky. Kriegshoven, Germany. © Laurel Decher, 2016. Hope keeps cropping up . . . Hope keeps cropping up. In February things can look dark in the Northern Hemisphere, but the light always comes. I want to share some hope […]
Noblesse oblige, libraries, trees, and cyberbullying prevention
What can you do with your heritage? Noblesse oblige for the modern age. If you inherited a castle, what would you do with it? In a nearby village, the lovely Burg Satzvey was built in the early 1300’s and hosts jousting and other medieval-themed shows for the entertainment of the populace. Half-timbered houses cluster around […]
Half a Library: 6 Libraries That Changed My Life
A new library is born. Hard-working librarian who made a half a library into a whole. In 1775, James Boswell wrote, “A man will turn over half a library to make one book.” I’ve turned over half a dozen libraries in the service of my current work-in-progress, but library fever started much earlier. After all, […]
Why we need broken things: lowering the risk of creation
Accepting imperfection is part of what makes us human. I’ve watched this video about the beauty of mistakes about five times already. I first saw it in a great Coursera course about creativity. Neil Gaiman’s commencement address says something similar: make mistakes and make good art. Moving from one country to another with my family, […]
Think, Act, Speak: What order makes character reactions feel real?
Download graphic Infographic for Motivation Reaction Units. The best order for character reactions is feeling/thought, action (involuntary or voluntary), speech. You don’t have to include all the reactions every time, but they should be in this order. The reader will be able to take in the story with the least amount of friction. Do you […]
Skin-colored Felt: Doing Other People’s Cultures Wrong
Skin-colored felt is not easy to find, even if you know what color you’re looking for. My youngest and I are sewing figures for a Christmas nativity scene. So far, we’ve made the palm tree (brown corduroy). Glue overdose means the only original figures are the baby Jesus and the Rastafarian Joseph, named for his […]
What must be said: hardware, broccoli, and love
Last night I learned a dear friend died. She and her husband helped us when our first child was born and were both friends and second parents to us. That’s when she inscribed a copy of THE ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST cookbook: “In our hearts, you’ll always be our neighbors.” The news reminded me about grief, […]