by Rachel Toalson | On My Shelf
On my shelf this week:
The poetry of William Blake
The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing, by Jeff Goins
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, by Erma Bombeck
This week I’m spending time in the poetry of William Blake, reading about how to gracefully spend time in the “waiting room,” reading an old classic and studying a humor master.
Best quotes so far:
“Life does slow down, inconveniences do occur and delays happen to the best of us. The challenge is what we do with these times, how we use—or waste—our waiting. The slower times contain a wealth of wisdom for us to tap into, but only when we recognize them.”
Jeff Goins
“All this waiting is not an accident: it’s a call to slow down. These delays are meant to point us to a deeper truth: we are not finished. If we relish this reality and embrace the opportunity it holds, we may be able to grasp a depth we’ve not yet reached. We may find this abundant life, after all.”
Jeff Goins
“A life filled with movement, with constant motion and no rest stops, isn’t a life at all.”
Jeff Goins
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
by Rachel Toalson | On My Shelf
On my shelf this week:
Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, by Liesl Shurtliff
Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Anderson
Story Structure Architect: A Writer’s Guide to Building Dramatic Situations & Compelling Characters, by Victoria Lynn Schmidt
This week I’m reading an alternative story about Rumpelstiltskin (it’s cute), and, since I’m working on a series of fairy tale retellings, I’m starting with reading Hans Christian Anderson. Schmidt’s book will be one I take my time with. So much good information here that I’ll need to ingest slowly.
Best quotes so far:
“When you over-plot your story, you may lose spontaneity and feel like a slave to your overly detailed outline. When you build your story as you go, you tend to end up with a ton of subplots and loose ends that can’t be tied up and a character arc that flatlines. You need to have some direction as to where you are going, but you also need to feel free to write what your heart tells you to write.”
Victoria Lynn Schmidt
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
by Rachel Toalson | On My Shelf
On my shelf this week:
Toddlers are A**holes: It’s Not Your Fault, by Bunmi Laditan
The Irrational Season, by Madeleine L’Engle
Parenting With Presence: Practices for Raising Conscious, Confident, Caring Kids, by Susan Stiffelman
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
I’m not quite sure what to think of Bunmi Laditan’s parenting humor book…she’s very good at humor, though. I’ve been wanting to read this classic spiritual from Madeleine L’Engle for a while, so I’ve finally made time. I’m a big fan of Susan Stiffelman and her first book, Parenting Without Power Struggles, so when this newest one came out I knew I had to add it to the list. And I’m finally getting around to reading Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize winner. It’s beautifully written.
Best quotes so far:
“The Coming of the Kingdom is creation coming to be what it was meant to be, the joy and glory of all creation working together with the Creator.”
Madeleine L’Engle
“It is the nature of love to create.”
Madeleine L’Engle
“I find it a good discipline to practice believing as many as seven impossible things every morning before breakfast. How dull the world would be if we limited ourselves to the possible.”
Madeleine L’Engle
“Children who feel liked, seen, cherished—just as they are—are naturally more motivated to do what their parents ask; it is human nature to cooperate with those we feel solidly connected to.”
Susan Stiffelman
“Each of our children offers us opportunities to confront the dark and dusty corners of our minds and hearts, creating just the right conditions to call forth the kind of learning that can liberate us from old paradigms, allowing us to lead more expansive and fulfilling lives.”
Susan Stiffelman
“By looking at why your child’s behavior triggers you so deeply, you have an opportunity to heal something from long ago and grow into a more healthy and whole version of yourself.”
Susan Stiffelman
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
by Rachel Toalson | On My Shelf
On my shelf this week:
Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, by Christina Katz
Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination, by J.K. Rowling
The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman
This week I’m looking into raising a writer career (I already know most of this, as a freelance journalist, but the reminder and intentional practices has been good), an inspirational speech-book by J.K. Rowling and a historical fiction book recommended to me by my librarian mom.
Best quotes so far:
“Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear has been realized, and I was still alive…”
J.K. Rowling.
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
J.K. Rowling
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.”
J.K. Rowling.
“The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.”
J.K. Rowling.
“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation; in its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, ti is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
J.K. Rowling
“We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already; we have the power to imagine better.”
J.K. Rowling
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
by Rachel Toalson | On My Shelf
On my shelf this week:
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
Motherhood Comes Naturally (and Other Vicious Lies), by Jill Smokler
Create Your Writer Platform, by Chuck Sambuchino
The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin
The first is a book club read, and it’s fantastic. Ransom Riggs has himself a new fan. Great writing, great story and great characters (even if they are a little creepy). I don’t usually read horror, but after this one, I might have to get into it! I know I’ll at least read the rest of the Home for Peculiar Children books. I’m also reading another from Jill Smokler (creator of Scary Mommy), another business book from Chuck Sambuchino and a book that’s been on my shelf for a very long time (The Happiness Project). Gretchen Rubin has a new book out, and if it’s anything like this one, I’m sure it will be on my shelf in the coming weeks.
Best quotes so far:
“If you don’t have a proven ability to promote your work and sell books, editors won’t even consider your idea, no matter how clever or timely it may be. If you want to write a nonfiction book, you must have a platform in order for editors to consider your work. If you’re writing fiction or memoir, a platform isn’t mandatory, but it will certainly help your chances (especially with memoir)—and it translates to more book sales and money for you once your title is released.”
Chuck Sambuchino
“Although we presume that we act because of the way we feel, in fact we often feel because of the way we act.
Gretchen Rubin
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
by Rachel Toalson | On My Shelf
On my shelf this week:
Creating Short Fiction: The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction, by Damon Knight
Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne
What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read with Your Child—And All the Best Times to Read Them, by Pam Allyn
This week I’m reading one of the masters at short fiction, one of the masters at science fiction and one of the masters at advocating for children’s literacy. All of them are fantastic.
Best quotes so far:
“Your first job is to find out your strengths and weaknesses, and your second is to learn to get the most out of what you have.”
Damon Knight
“You ought to be a generalist—you ought to have a scattered general knowledge of all kinds of things, in order to be able to see the broad relationships that are often invisible to a specialist.”
Damon Knight
“The most valuable thing you can learn is how to use your own experiences to help you project yourself in imagination into the lives of other people. Write what you know, by all means, when you can, but fill in the spaces by finding out what you need to know.”
Damon Knight
“In every classroom, there is one unfailingly successful tool for unlocking the door to literacy for all children, and that is the read-aloud: the book that is read by the teacher to her students: the shared experience.”
Pam Allyn
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
