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In which I Substitute Writing for Sleeping Meditation

December 24, 2018 by Jan Bear Leave a Comment

Meditating Gnome

Meditation comes hard for me — or maybe too easy. I always fall asleep. So I tried something different. Writing. Read more at Unorthodox and Orthodox. Photo by dorota dylka on Unsplash … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Unorthodox and Orthodox

Writing Days: Good and Bad

August 17, 2017 by Jan Bear Leave a Comment

Romancing the Stone

At the beginning of the 1984 movie, Romancing the Stone, we find romance author Joan Wilder, played by Kathleen Turner, finishing her new novel. As the heroine and hero ride off into the sunset, the camera turns to Joan behind her typewriter, with her face transfigured by the story. She’s been crying, and she gets up and walks around the house looking for something to blow her nose on. No Kleenex, no toilet tissue, no paper towels. All used up. At last she takes a note off the bulletin board and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Craft of Writing Tagged With: Romancing the Stone

The Villain’s Journey

May 20, 2016 by Jan Bear Leave a Comment

The Villain

In some stories (my own included, sadly), the villain moves through the plot like a chess piece in a rigged game. These stories may have action, but they lack depth.In a great story, the hero and the villain engage in a kind of dance, each illuminating the other’s options and choices. There’s a sense that the story could be told from the villain’s viewpoint, inside-out and backwards, but still with desire, motivation, rising and falling action, and a satisfying ending.It’s like the two essential … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Craft of Writing

Inner Life, Inner Work

May 11, 2016 by Jan Bear Leave a Comment

Dream on a train

Whether you’re a fiction writer trying to add depth to your characters or someone wanting to explore the mysteries of your own inner life, Inner Work, by Robert Johnson will be a valuable resource for you.Johnson, a Jungian analyst and author of 17 books, wrote the book as a means to interpret dreams, avoiding the trap of "you’ll meet a handsome stranger” that so many dream manuals fall into.Instead, his approach gives insights to understand how the symbols resonate uniquely with the dreamer, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Review

Mansfield Park vs. Mansfield Park

January 25, 2016 by Jan Bear Leave a Comment

Mansfield Park

I recently watched the Mansfield Park movie, made in 1999. As standalone entertainment, it was OK: entertaining and emotionally moving with a dollop of social consciousness.But it had been a long time since I had read the book by Jane Austen, and there were a few things that surprised me about Austen. A hardness, a coarseness, that fit our century more than hers.Mansfield Park is the story of a quiet, shy, and sensitive young girl named Fanny, raised above the the poverty she was born in to grow … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Review, Jane Austen, Katherine Hyde, Movie Review

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