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The Joy of New Words
My oldest recently needed to rank his foreign language choices for middle school next year(!) As a lover of languages myself, I am excited for him…and crossing my fingers he enjoys it. One of the myriad benefits of acquiring a new language is that it makes you reexamine your own. Honestly, I’m not sure I… Continue reading
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Story Versus History
My husband and I are big fans of the long form YouTube essay. Recently we watched a suggested video by Gavin the Medievalist entitled “Our Cultural Memory of the Middle Ages,” where he spells out the difference between the historical Middle Ages and Medievalism. Basically, people have been constructing narratives about that time period since… Continue reading
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A Rough Draft Just Has to Exist
(Alternate title: “That writing advice you hear all the time? Probably true.”) You’ve probably heard the saying, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Well, what I need to hear is: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the done.” As they say, “you can’t edit a blank page.” Unfortunately, one… Continue reading
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Work(s) in Progress
Like a good many writers, I haven’t always been the best at completing projects. As a kid I did the thing where I would crack open a brand new notebook and get a page or two down of an exciting new idea. Once I transitioned to writing on a computer, I repeated the process digitally,… Continue reading
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Kiki’s Delivery Service Delivers on the Feels
I have some very deep-feeling children, and movies often succeed a little too well at taking them on emotional journeys. The kids know that, and thus often resist turning on a movie, but, if we manage to convince them to start, often they get engaged. This past week we got our youngest to watch Kiki’s… Continue reading
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Pathetic Fallacy
As someone who has lived in the American Midwest most of my life, I am well versed in chatting about the weather, and there’s been much fodder for small talk these past weeks. Last month we experienced an unusually heavy snow followed by frigid temps that kept it all on the ground. Then in the… Continue reading
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Show me all the behind the scenes.
Art is far more than a finished product (and writing those words makes me question both the “finished” part and the “product” part, but I digress). I have always enjoyed hearing fellow creatives talk about their processes. I love hearing how other writers work, of course, and have attended many a reading, workshop, and seminar,… Continue reading
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Escape
Escapism is a hot genre right now given, well, everything… What do we mean, I wonder, when we say “escapism?” Do we mean a neat romance? A quiet story set inside a cozy magical tearoom or bookshop? A dungeon crawling adventure where the monsters aren’t too terrifying and there’s never a doubt our hero will… Continue reading
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Elizabeth Gootzeit 