Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “One Writer’s Journal”
A novel needs a good first line. It needs every line to be good but that first line in your story needs to grab a reader’s interest. Those few words need to be a flashing pointer toward the rest of the story. A good first line can also help a writer dive into the story. Most writers, including me, work …
Happiness consists more in conveniences of pleasure that occur everyday than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom. ~~Benjamin Franklin Where do you feel happy? And if you found such a place, how often would you make every effort to go there? This would be a place where you would feel loved and worthy and safe and …
A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead. ~The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951) There’s truth in that first sentence of Graham Greene’s novel. A writer does have to pick that moment to let her characters come to life and …
“Snow brings a special quality with it—the power to stop life as you know it dead in its tracks.” ~Nancy Hatch Woodward. I guess I took a snow day last night before the snow actually started here in Kentucky. Whatever, I let Wednesday and most of Thursday slip by without doing a post. I could certainly claim a snow day …
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”~Edith Lovejoy Pierce It’s the first Sunday of the first month of a New Year. 2022. All those twos. In a couple of hundred years people will be able to …
“Man is a harp with a thousand strings. Touch the spiritual cord of his heart, and lo, with what inspiration he sings!” (Shaker saying) The Shakers didn’t place the same emphasis on special holiday as some of their neighbors did. The journal keepers sometimes didn’t mention Christmas at all and when they did, it was generally very brief. The South …
May we not spend Christmas or observe Christmas but rather keep it. ~ Peter Marshall Sometimes people seem to want to stop having Christmas as soon as midnight strikes on Christmas Day, but I think Christmas should last all the way to New Year’s and on as we continue to find joy in focusing our thoughts on a long ago starry …
When I married, I started going to the little church where I’m still a member. They always had the children put on a Christmas play. My kids took part when they got old enough to be shepherds, wise men, or angels. The performances were always fun since you never knew what might happen next with a bunch of youngsters. Usually …
“Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one is a life diminished.” ~Dean Koontz I’ve never gotten a dog for Christmas. Got one for my birthday once. The many others all showed up in their own good time either when I needed a dog or they needed a home. If you’ve stopped by here before, you probably …
A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer. ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca The stories some of you sent me of special Christmas memories has been a gift to me. Some of the stories made me smile. Some brought a tear. But the thing that connects many of the stories …