“Spreading your wings in a perplexing world”
October, 2016                                                                                        James Hurd      

CONTENTS

• New blog article: “A little rebellion in 100 words”
• Writer’s Corner
• Book reviews
• E-zine subscription information
• How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
• Quotable quotes

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NEW BLOG ARTICLE: “A little rebellion in 100 words”

 Every weekday I would drive my immaculate metallic gold 1953 Ford—dual chrome pipes, nosed, decked, and hung—into Orange High School’s dusty, potholed, student parking lot. It got dirty….  Read more here:  https://jimhurd.com/2016/10/11/a-little-rebellion-in-100-words/ 

(*Request: Please share with others, and leave a comment on the website after reading the article. Thanks.)

 WRITER’S CORNER

Writer of the Month: David McCullough. (Truman; John Adams; 1776) He is recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Great background research on his historical biographies and great detail.

Word of the Month:   Movie-making. Highlight all the parts of your piece that you could make a movie of. (I’ve actually used a highlighter to do this.) This is what gives the piece life, keeps it moving, and this should constitute at least fifty percent of the piece.

Farther vs. further. Farther: use only for distance. Further: use for “in addition” or in the sense of extending. “Further, I propose we seek a location farther from home.”

Quiz of the Month: What is wrong with these sentences? (Answers next month)

• Jake said, “I’m going out on the back porch to rest a while.”
• For some people it always takes more friends, less enemies, more excitement, more money, and more renown, whatever else it might take, to make them happier.
• We had a great day, it was unforgettable.
• The dog’s wound laid bare it’s internal organs.

Tip of the Month: Where do you put stuff? First, don’t put the beginning of your story at the beginning. Start it just before or just after the climax; then go back and provide the context. Keep the narrative flowing. Second, if you must provide lots of backstory (explanatory detail), sprinkle it in small doses amidst the driving narrative. Third, don’t tell your reader any more than she needs to know. Last, save the best paragraph, the best sentence, for the end.

BOOK REVIEWS

Lorraine Eitel and others. The Treasure of Christian Poetry. Fleming H. Revell: New Jersey. 1982. A compilation of some of the best Christian poetry in English from the Middle Ages through the 20th century. Includes poems by: William Wordsworth, John Milton, George Herbert, Christina Rossetti, Robert Browning, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, and many others. My favorite compilation of Christian poetry. (Disclaimer: All the editors taught at Bethel University.)

David McCullough. The Wright Brothers. Simon & Schuster, 2015. The dramatic story of the courageous brothers who solved the problem of flight. Historic photos.

SUBSCRIBE FREE to this E-zine   Click here https://jimhurd.com/home/  to subscribe to Wingspread  E-magazine sent direct to your email inbox, every month. You will receive a free article for subscribing. Please share this URL with interested friends, “like” it on Facebook, retweet on Twitter, etc.

BUY JAMES HURD’S WINGSPREAD: A Memoir of Faith and Flying.  How childhood (Fundamentalist) faith led to mission bush-piloting in South America—and Barbara. Buy it here:  https://jimhurd.com/home/    (or at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc.)

See pics here related to Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/

 QUOTABLE QUOTES

♠    I was always taught to respect my elders. It’s just getting harder to find them.

♠    Just one question for teachers: Would you enjoy being a student in the class you teach?

♠    Murder, considered a crime when people commit it singly, is transformed into a virtue when they do it en masse.   Cyprian, 3rd African Bishop

♠    Remember, God’s will was for John to be exiled, Paul to be jailed, Jesus to be executed. Why do we assume God’s will for us is to have a great job, a happy life, and a large bank account?

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