vanwestervelt
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I’m not much on labels, but in 1981, Betsy Flowers published an article in Language Arts that talked about the four different kinds of writers. Without going into too much detail, here they are: Madman: Unleashed, uninhibited writing that’s a free-flow from brain and heart to parchment. Architect: Planned structures of the story, plotting out…
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(Each week, I will be responding, in depth, to questions I receive on my Memoir Writing Group on Facebook. The group is free, and we focus on the art and craft of writing our life stories.) A few days ago, a new writer to our group, Billy, posed this query: “I have several ideas for…
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I’ve been writing a long time, and when I go back and read my earliest works written in the 1980s, I see a lot of experimentation and non-conformity while still sticking to the basics of story structure: a defined beginning, middle, and end falling neatly within the boundaries of the standard plot sequence. Although I…
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With the new year quickly approaching, it’s a good time to think ahead to what we really want to focus on for ourselves (I know that I preach selfless acts a lot, but we also need to think about what’s best for us). It’s easy to look back at 2016 and reflect on what we…
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Yesterday, in my daily email from Church of the Nativity, Evan (the author of the emails) was discussing the plight of John the Baptist, who absolutely believed he was pursuing an opportunity to follow God; instead, he ended up in prison and began to doubt his mission. Evan posed this question toward the end of…
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Yesterday, I touched on my walk in the woods. These walks have always brought me closer to my spirituality. In years’ past, that time spent in the woods was absolutely communal. Now, though, as I sit outside Church of the Nativity after my Catholic studies group, I see my communion in the woods as being…
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I’m sharing this on the trail here in Gunpowder Falls State Park, where I’ve decided to take a little walk in the woods to reconnect with the Earth. This is my first mobile post here at The Baltimore Writer, an experiment to bring you my experiences more immediately, perhaps a little raw and incomplete. It’s…
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I spend a lot of time in my head, thinking and thinking and thinking about what to write about. Even though I keep a little Piccadilly notebook with me at all times, capturing little snippets of life that I find interesting, I don’t do enough with them. In those moments, I am happy that I…
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Sharing with all of my Baltimore Writer followers… Thank you very much for your interest in Faith, Hope, and Legacy: A Collection of Christmas Reflections, featuring “Gretchie’s Gifts,” my latest Christmas story in memory of my dear friend, Gretchen Trageser Smith. This is a 121-page eBook (PDF format) that can be opened on any smartphone…
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It was a late November night, And I was just about done. The stacks of papers that I needed to grade Had, in some small way, dwindled down to none. I lifted the stained red cup from my desk And finished the cold coffee poured hours before; I reached for the lamp signed by students…
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