A writer inspired by nature and human nature

Writing Advice And Inspiration

10 25 13

Advice from great authors! ~ Bette

fcmalby's avatarF C MALBY

download‘A story needs rhythm. Read it aloud to yourself. If it doesn’t spin a bit of magic, it’s missing something.’ Esther Freud

download (6)‘Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.’ Will Self

Nobel-Prize-Literature‘I always have to know my characters in a lot of depth–what clothes they’d choose, what they were like at school, etc . . . And I know what happened before and what will happen after the part of their lives I’m dealing with.’ Alice Munro

download (7)‘Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. This sounds easy, but in practice is incredibly difficult… Common phrases have become so comfortable that they create no emotional response. Take the time to invent fresh, powerful images.’ George Orwell
images (10)‘Protect the time and…

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Writing Tips

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Peregrine Falcon, New York City, poem by Robert Cording

10 25 13

Inspiration in the midst of day-to-day humdrum! ~ Bette A. Stevens

silverbirchpress's avatarSilver Birch Press

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PEREGRINE FALCON, NEW YORK CITY
By Robert Cording

On the 65th floor where he wrote
Advertising copy, joking about
The erotic thrall of words that had
No purpose other than to make
Far too many buy far too much,
He stood one afternoon face to face
With a falcon that veered on the blade
Of its wings and plummeted, then
Swerved to a halt, wings hovering.
 
An office of computers clicked
Behind him.  Below, the silence
Of the miniature lunch time crowds
And toy-like taxis drifting without
Resolve to the will of others.
This bird’s been brought in, he thought,
To clean up the city’s dirty problems
Of too many pigeons.  It’s a hired beak.
 
Still he remained at the tinted glass
Windows, watching as the falcon
Gave with such purpose its self
To the air that carried it, its sheer falls
Breaking the mirrored self-reflections
Of glass…

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Nature, Photography, Poetry

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PURE TRASH by Bette A. Stevens: BOOK GIVEAWAY

10 23 13

Winners selected November 11th:
Ten (10) author-signed copies of PURE TRASH, The Story by Bette A. Stevens available to winners!

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ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18344664-pure-trash

“Pure Trash is a worthwhile, meaningful, beautifully written story I’d recommend to readers of all ages.

“Pure Trash is unlike any story I’ve read. At first, it reads like a memoir from Reminisce Magazine, but as the story unfolds, I connected with the characters at a deep level. The author explores prejudice, class division, alcoholism, poverty, injustice, and bullying. It’s a story all audiences over the age of ten can enjoy. While reading this story, the reader will experience the joy of a carefree Saturday and the blistering pain of feeling not quite good enough.” ~ Tricia Drammeh, AuthorsToWatch

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Books, Fiction, Literature

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POVERTY & PREJUDICE: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

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Author BAS White Text

POVERTY & PREJUDICE: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

You’re invited to read my blog post on Is History The Agreed Upon Lie?

As a baby boomer that grew up in an average middle-class family in America during the 1950s and 1960s, poverty was not something I had to dwell on or even think about as a child or as a teen. For me, poverty was an unknown concept.

Poverty in America during the 1950s and 1960s was simply ignored in our wealth-burgeoning society. I was not alone in my ignorance. “[In fact, it’s been more than 50 years] since Americans, or at least the non-poor among them, ‘discovered’ poverty, thanks to Michael Harringtton’s engaging book The Other America.” (Twisting the Phrase “Culture of Poverty” Barbara Ehrenreich March 16, 2012).  Read it all at… POVERTY & PREJUDICE: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I look forward to hearing from you.

Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com

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on 10/19/2013

Windy Nights, poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

10 19 13

Poem perfect for a windy autumn night! ~ Bette A. Stevens

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silverbirchpress's avatarSilver Birch Press

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WINDY NIGHTS
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Whenever the moon and stars are set,
            Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
            A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?
 
Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
            And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
            By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again. 

PAINTING: “Windy Night” by Marilyn Jacobson, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Prints available at fineartamerica.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A fascinating project about Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) is currently in the works — a film about his life in San Francisco, with a screenplay by G.E. Gallas. Find out more at gegallas.wordpress.com.

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ART, Poetry

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Rhapsody on a Windy Night, poem by T.S. Eliot

10 19 13

Love T.S. Eliot. Just right for a windy night… Bette A. Stevens

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silverbirchpress's avatarSilver Birch Press

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RHAPSODY ON A WINDY NIGHT (Excerpt)
by T.S. Eliot

Twelve o’clock.
Along the reaches of the street
Held in a lunar synthesis,
Whispering lunar incantations
Dissolve the floors of memory
And all its clear relations,
Its divisions and precisions.
Every street lamp that I pass
Beats like a fatalistic drum,
And through the spaces of the dark
Midnight shakes the memory
As a madman shakes a dead geranium…
***
Editor’s Note: “As a madman shakes a dead geranium” — what a stunning line! T.S. Eliot never ceases to amaze…

Read “Rhapsody on a Windy Night” in its entirety at poets.org.

Painting by Mike Grubb, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Find more of the artist’s work at fineartamerica.com.

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Meet The Archies

10 17 13

Remember when?
OCTOBER is ‘BULLYING PREVENTION MONTH’…
Lots to remember now and then! ~ Bette A. Stevens

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Enough time

10 16 13

Poem perfect! Bette A. Stevens

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ART, Photography, Poetry

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Fall, poem by Edward Hirsch

10 16 13

silverbirchpress's avatarSilver Birch Press

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FALL
by Edward Hirsch

Fall, falling, fallen. That’s the way the season
Changes its tense in the long-haired maples
That dot the road; the veiny hand-shaped leaves
Redden on their branches (in a fiery competition
With the final remaining cardinals) and then
Begin to sidle and float through the air, at last
Settling into colorful layers carpeting the ground.
At twilight the light, too, is layered in the trees
In a season of odd, dusky congruences—a scarlet tanager
And the odor of burning leaves, a golden retriever
Loping down the center of a wide street and the sun
Setting behind smoke-filled trees in the distance,
A gap opening up in the treetops and a bruised cloud
Blamelessly filling the space with purples. Everything
Changes and moves in the split second between summer’s
Sprawling past and winter’s hard revision, one moment
Pulling out of the station according to schedule,
Another moment…

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Dawn Is Coming!

10 13 13

Picture perfect. ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com

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ART, Photography, Poetry

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