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Love, Pinkie

Someone purchased ‘Love,Pinkie’ paperback and e-book and left a note with the purchase. Words that TOTALLY MAKE MY WEEK. 🙂 I'm happy to see lives touched by ‘Love, Pinkie’ even after all these years! Thanks for the encouragement Mew~ <3 Christina

“Hey Pinkie, I was so I bummed out I didn’t get to finish your book at The Book Cafe! I was already as halfway through it and then the cafe had to close for the day :'( (p.s. They wouldn’t even let me buy it!) So PLEASE, please send a signed copy this way to make my day “love, pinkie” is such a delight to read! I look forward to be reading more of your work! – Love, Mew Tatsaneeya”

p.s. You can purchase it at www.lovepinkie.com

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You Can Write Your Way Out of an Emotional Funk. Here’s How.

"In each study, Pennebaker found that the people who wrote about emotionally charged episodes experienced marked improvement in their physical and mental well-being. They were happier, less depressed and less anxious. In the months after the writing sessions, they had lower blood pressure, improved immune function, and fewer visits to the doctor. They also reported better relationships, improved memory, and more success at work.

Pennebaker’s Writing Rules:

Set a timer for 20 minutes. Open up your notebook (or begin a document on your computer). When the timer starts, begin writing about your emotional experiences from the past week, month and year. Don’t worry about punctuation, sloppiness or coherence. Simply go wherever your mind takes you, curiously and without judgment. 

Write just for yourself, and not for some eventual reader. Do this for a few days. Then, close the document without saving it, or throw the paper away. Or stick it in a bottle and cast it out to sea. Or if you’re ready, start a blog or find a literary agent.

It doesn’t matter. The point is that those thoughts are now out of you and on the page. You have begun the process of ‘stepping out’ from your experience to gain perspective on it."

nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/09/journaling-can-help-you-out-of-a-bad-mood.html

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#3 Do you know when to yourself or yourselves?

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#4 Me or I?

I used to make this mistake often until I discover this trick!

Which one? A) Emma and I are going to the mall. B) Emma and me are going to the mall.

A) is correct because breaking up the sentence... - Emma is going to the mall. - I am going to the mall. (not Me am going to the mall.)

Now you know!

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#2 Do you know when to use that or this?

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Read A Book

"So, how do we retain our sanity in a dumb, dumb world? I wouldn’t be a good teacher if I didn’t come prepared with a few ideas.

No. 1: read a book. Something special happens when you set aside the inane distractions of modern culture and immerse yourself in a novel. You open yourself up to new ideas, new experiences, new perspectives. It’s an experiment in patience and mindfulness. The New School for Social Research in New York proved that reading literature improves empathy. It’s true. Reading makes you less of a jerk. So, read often. Read difficult books. Read controversial books. Read a book that makes you cry. Read something fun. But read."

#excerpt from https://medium.com/@thatdavidhopkins/how-a-tv-sitcom-triggered-the-downfall-of-western-civilization-336e8ccf7dd0#.8cj5jwx1g

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What Editors Look for on an Opening Page?

Editors at Penguin Random House Look for these:

1) A Powerful Opener 2) Unique Perspective 3) A Well-Realized World 4) An Authentic Voice 5) Attention-Grabbing Characters

More on them at: authornews.penguinrandomhouse.com/what-our-editors-look-for-on-an-opening-page

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What should you cut from your writing?

Sometimes you have to cut because of a word limit on an assignment or a test. Most of the time, however, a little tightening makes writing clearer and more concise. What should you cut from your writing? 

#1: text that doesn’t drive the main argument forward #2: repetition #3: text that misleads the reader #4: beloved phrases and clichés #5: optional quotes

More on the guide to cut your writing: www.grammarly.com/blog/tough-necessary-job-cutting-ones-writing

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Fewer or Lesser? 

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Is every day the same with everyday?

It's not! A small spacing in between the words (every and day) makes a difference.

Every day means “each day". Everyday means common, ordinary, commonplace, daily, or routine. e.g. “Everyday clothing,” refers to the clothes you wear on ordinary days, in contrast to those for special events or holidays.

“May you live every day of your life.” ―Jonathan Swift “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ―Pablo Picasso

Now you can differentiate them! :)

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How can you avoid five comma abuses?

“Let’s eat Grandma. Let’s eat, Grandma.” 

The first sentence sounds as if your grandmother is the main course. The second, with the handy comma, invites Grandmother to eat with you. Unfortunately, commas are misused as often as they’re praised.

How can you avoid five comma abuses? For one, you don’t always need a comma with a conjunction (e.g. "and”).

www.grammarly.com/blog/5-ways-to-abuse-a-comma

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Do know this 8 offbeat literary genres?

1) Bildungsroman [bil-doongz-roh-mahn] The Bildungsroman explores the education, development and coming of age of a young protagonist. The term comes from the German Bildung + Roman literally meaning "formational novel." Examples of this genre: The History of Tom Jones, Jane Eyre, and Black Boy.

2) Penny dreadful Popular in Victorian times, the cheaply made penny dreadful featured serialized tales of adventure, crime and horror. Also called dime novels, these sensationalized stories could be purchased with loose pocket change. Characters from this genre: Sweeney Todd, Buffalo Bill, and Deadwood Dick.

3) Wuxia This historical-fiction subgenre focuses on the warriors of China. Though wuxia originally came only in the form of novels, it has since spread to film, television and video games. The term comes directly from the Chinese word for "martial artist." Examples of this genre: Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, Xiagu Danxin, and the Chu Liuxiang series.

4) Picaresque [pik-uh-resk] The picaresque genre showcases humorous tales of adventure, focusing on the antics of knavish-yet-attractive heroes. This genre, originally developed in Spain, comes from the Spanish picaro meaning "rogue." Examples of this genre: Kim, Tropic of Cancer, and Under the Net.

5) Cyberpunk   Often set in futuristic industrial dystopias, the sci-fi subgenre cyberpunk highlights stories of computing, hacking and large corrupt corporations. The earliest recorded use of this term is in Bruce Bethke's short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983. Examples of this genre: Neuromancer, Gravity’s Rainbow, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

6) Saga Sagas are medieval narratives hailing from Iceland or Norway. They chronicle the history of Vikings, kings and families of the time. The term saga derives from the Icelandic and Old Norse term meaning "story" or "history." Examples of this genre: The Laxdaela Saga and The Grettis Saga.

7) Grimoire Though perhaps not exactly a literary genre, grimoires--manuals of magic or witchcraft--can be found on the shelves of many a witch, sorcerer or amateur spell caster. Grimoire came to English in the mid-1800s from the Old French gramaire meaning "grammar," and the genre is a grammar of sorts.

8) Epistolary [ih-pis-tl-er-ee] The term epistolary entered English in the 1600s from the Greek term meaning "message" or "letter." An epistolary novel is a story told exclusively through letters, emails, newspaper articles and other primary sources. The form experienced a popularity surge in the mid-1700s, and has since structured some of the most beloved books in the English language, like Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, Frankenstein, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Full Article: http://www.dictionary.com/slideshows/offbeat-literary-genres

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Expand Your Brain

10 books that will expand your brain, include “Born Standing Up” by Steve Martin and “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. 

www.businessinsider.com/10-books-that-will-expand-your-brain-2016-7

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Singapore Literature

Came across this ST article about Singapore Literature. Interesting read about the Singapore's evolving literary landscape for budding writers. Written by Suchen Christine Lim, author of Rice Bowl.

"No one these days would scoff at someone who aspires to write a novel or a play. Singapore's intelligentsia, the reading public and the Government recognise the importance of a national literature."

This I don't quite agree. There's still stigma towards writing a novel as a job in Singapore. It's probably only a welcoming landscape for a selected group, like the writer herself. Personally, I believe the ecosystem for writing is still not strong enough for aspiring authors.

"Our literary fiction, poetry and plays offer the reader multiple perspectives and individual narratives that question, challenge and broaden our views of ourselves beyond the national Singapore Story and the officially sanctioned founding myth. In the long run, while geography and politics continue to shape our nation, our literature will reveal our collective soul."

This I agree. 

For full article: http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/a-moral-force-to-be-reckoned-with

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Time and its fluidity

The God that I know is outside time. Existing in was, is and will be. So it's interesting to read how writer William Faulkner came to this perspective through writing. #quote from William Faulkner's interview with @theparisreview: "Beginning with Sartoris I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it, and that by sublimating the actual into the apocryphal I would have complete liberty to use whatever talent I might have to its absolute top. It opened up a gold mine of other people, so I created a cosmos of my own. I can move these people around like God, not only in space but in time too. The fact that I have moved my characters around in time successfully, at least in my own estimation, proves to me my own theory that time is a fluid condition which has no existence except in the momentary avatars of individual people. There is no such thing as was—only is. If was existed, there would be no grief or sorrow. I like to think of the world I created as being a kind of keystone in the universe; that, small as that keystone is, if it were ever taken away the universe itself would collapse. My last book will be the Doomsday Book, the Golden Book, of Yoknapatawpha County. Then I shall break the pencil and I’ll have to stop." Read in full: www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4954/the-art-of-fiction-no-12-william-faulkner

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Workplace Fiction by Women

Do you like to read office fiction? 

"Surveys like Graeber and Saval’s routinely leave out an entire class of workplace fiction: the books written by women. It’s an ironic omission given that the majority of clerical jobs pioneered by men in the nineteenth century—jobs that were central to the formation of modern bureaucracy—are now performed by women. 

Male novelists of the workplace depict female characters, of course. Except that if you turn your attention to female novelists, you’ll discover that the men don’t know the half of it." - #excerpt from www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-office-politics-of-workplace-fiction-by-women

This article suggested a number of office novel titles available, find and read the one that catches your eye. ;)

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SG Ministers and Their Books

“I enjoy reading, but read less than I would like for pleasure. It is partly finding time, and also the effort of focusing on something not work related.” - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

Despite his hectic schedule, PM Lee completed three books about the Middle East recently. And having just been on holiday in Japan, he is now starting on a biography of Tokugawa Ieyasu, a warlord who unified Japan. If our PM has time to read, what excuse do we have?

Find out what other books PM Lee and other ministers have read: www.mci.gov.sg/…/national-reading-movement-ministers-edition

Article by Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) in support ofNational Library Singapore's National Reading Movement.