“Spreading your wings in a perplexing world”
November, 2017 James Hurd
Contents
- New blog article: “Learning to Love Manure Day”
- New novel
- Writer’s Corner
- Book and Film reviews
- E-zine subscription information
- How to purchase Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying
- Quotable quotes
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New blog article: Learning to Love Manure Day
I’ve always hated manure. So on my first day working at Marv’s egg ranch when Ron said, “The real fun here is manure day,” I thought he’d gone mad.
During high school Ron and I worked for Marv. Ron was a bit smaller than I was, but one of the most confident kids I knew, funny and smart.
I would drive my pea soup green 1953 Ford to work. When I had it painted, Marv and Ron mocked its gleaming metallic gold paint—“Hey, Ronnie! Jim’s car’s all dirty. That sick cat must’ve crapped all over it.” And later when my ears reddened at their sexual jokes, they ate me like a baby marshmallow rabbit….
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New novel: I’m working on a new novel about how a devout California boy became an atheist while at Bible Institute. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t work out real well…) Estimated publication: summer, 2018.
Writers’ Corner
Writer of the Month: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). Victorian English poet. Two of her poems: “How Do I Love Thee?” (Sonnet 43, 1845) and “Aurora Leigh” (1856).
Word of the Month: Chronology. Make certain your reader doesn’t get lost in time. Give them time slugs, or at least little signals of when something takes place, especially if you’re jumping around in time.
Quiz of the Month:
How do you write a date in your story (e.g., the second day of April)?
Last month’s quiz: Where does the reader’s mind naturally place emphasis? Answer: The reader places emphasis on the last word or phrase of a sentence, paragraph, or chapter. Examples:
Weak: Linda broke her leg when she fell down.
Better: When she fell down, Linda broke her leg.
Tip of the Month: The shorter the sentence or paragraph, the longer a reader will linger over it. Put your powerful punches in short sentences.
More “How to write good”
- The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
- There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
- They were too close to the door to close
- The buck does funny things when the does are present.
- A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer
Book Reviews
Margaret Craven, I Heard the Owl Call My Name. Dell, 1973. The haunting tale of a dying young priest who is assigned to a tiny Kwakiutl Indian village in British Colombia, his struggles, courage, and ultimate triumph. I’m using this book this spring in my Introduction to Anthropology course at Bethel University.
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See pics here related to Wingspread: Of Faith and Flying: http://www.pinterest.com/hurd1149/wingspread-of-faith-and-flying/
Quotable quotes
Epitaphs:
In a Georgia cemetery:
“I told you I was sick!”
In a Ribbesford, England cemetery:
Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread
And the Lord sent them manna,
Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna.
Playing with names in a Ruidoso, New Mexico cemetery:
Here lies
Johnny Yeast
Pardon me
For not rising.
A Vermont widow wrote this epitaph, which sounds more like a want ad:
Sacred to the memory of
my husband John Barnes
who died January 3, 1803
His comely young widow, aged 23, has
many qualifications of a good wife, and
yearns to be comforted.
Someone who wanted anonymity in Stowe, Vermont:
I was somebody.
Who, is no business
Of yours.
On Margaret Daniels grave at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia:
She always said her feet were killing her
but nobody believed her.
Oops! Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York:
Born 1903–Died 1942
Looked up the elevator shaft to see if
the car was on the way down. It was.
In a Thurmont, Maryland cemetery:
Here lies an Atheist
All dressed up
And no place to go.
Finally, written on the tombstone my wife picked out for me:
I tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen.
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