Renee Nicholls, Writing Coach: Editing & Proofreading Services

02/08/2023

https://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/dumb-things-july-2023

Let's try to think before we post in August, folks.

14/05/2023

So clever and fun!

Leroy Anderson: The TypewriterIceland Symphony OrchestraBernharður Wilkinson, conductorSteef van Oosterhout, soloist on a typewriterÆvar vísindamaður, presen...

08/01/2023

22/09/2022

Fun way to recycle old books!

Need a creative way to repurpose your old books? Try this DIY BOOK PUMPKIN craft. These rustic-looking pumpkins are perfect your fall decor.

05/08/2022

It's not every day that Yahoo! delivers a heavenly horoscope.
Your emotional state is making life a lot weirder -- and not just for you! The god news is that this is precipitating a major change that should make life a lot better for everyone concerned.

04/08/2022

Hi everyone,

I realized a long time ago that most people love to hear happy, feel-good stories. Maybe that realization dawned on me after the enormous success of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. It is always nice to hear the good going on in our world.

I wanted to create a space where you can tell your story if you have one you'd like to share. A feel-good story is great whether it happened today, or decades ago.

If you have one you'd like to share, please join us on the new Group page that was just published. Just click here - Feel-Good Stories

Your story may be what someone needs to see today.
Dustin

Feel-Good Stories

02/08/2022

Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love my tsundoku.

01/08/2022

:)))) Watch out Manchester... looks like there's a flash freeze!

Something must be wrong with that sensor ;)

30/07/2022

“What if we use the same tools that someone might use to disrupt an industry to actually reinforce it?”More than half of all book sales now happen online. Fo...

28/07/2022

Every day counts ..
Every book counts ..

26/07/2022

I’ve read a couple of great books this year and wanted to share some of my favorites so far. What have you been reading this summer?

22/07/2022

Unintentional but probably true typo caught before going to air... 🤣

21/07/2022

https://www.inquirer.com/news/meet-authors-with-philadelphia-ties-working-diversify-childrens-books-20220714.html

Kids' books are confronting scary topics including mental illness, sickness and death. And many of the illustrated characters feature children of diverse backgrounds.

13/07/2022

Our old book barn is getting a bright red coat of paint. Once the white trim is done all the way around, it'll look as good as new!

11/07/2022

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220407-the-best-books-of-the-year-2022

Memoir, poetry and time travel stories are among the BBC Culture picks, write Rebecca Laurence and Lindsay Baker.

05/07/2022

Any comments on this list?

See the list here.

02/07/2022

https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2302-goodreads-members-top-72-hit-books-of-the-year-so-far

We’re halfway through 2022—that seemed awfully fast, didn’t it?—so it’s time once again for our annual check-in of Goodreads’ most popular new books ...

23/06/2022

https://broadwaydirect.com/the-best-new-theater-books-of-summer-2022/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_campaign=BD477&mcid=b2MyZnE4b0EwZEk4ZCs3NmJqMkdVMnVIS1c5L3ZIL1E%3D
More summer reading ideas!

Theater is alive and happening all over the country. High school productions, community theater, touring shows, Broadway — it’s all there for enjoying. And once you’re attending the theater again or putting on theater again, the desire to talk about it and think about it and read about it come...

21/06/2022

Feel free to share here also!

30/05/2022

Heather Cox Richardson writes meaningful posts today and every day. Stay informed. Honor Beau’s memory. Speak up. Do good. Vote.

May 29, 2022 (Sunday)

While there is a lot going on in the country and the world today, it seems as important as ever to honor Memorial Day, the day we have honored since 1868, when we mourn those military personnel who have died in the service of the country—that is, for the rest of us.

For me, one of those people is Beau Bryant. I have written about him before, but this time, there is a new ending.

When we were growing up, we hung out at one particular house where a friend’s mom provided unlimited peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, Uno games, iced tea and lemonade, sympathetic ears, and stories. She talked about Beau, her older brother, in the same way we talked about all our people, and her stories made him part of our world even though he had been killed in World War II 19 years before we were born.

Beau’s real name was Floyston, and he had always stepped in as a father to his three younger sisters when their own father fell short.

When World War II came, Beau was working as a plumber and was helping his mother make ends meet, but in September 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He became a staff sergeant in the 322nd Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, nicknamed "Wray's Ragged Irregulars" after their commander Col. Stanley T. Wray. By the time Beau joined, the squadron was training with new B-17s at Dow Army Airfield near Bangor, Maine, and before deploying to England he hitchhiked three hours home so he could see his family once more.

It would be the last time. The 91st Bomb Group was a pioneer bomb group, figuring out tactics for air cover. By May 1943, it was experienced enough to lead the Eighth Air Force as it sought to establish air superiority over Europe. But the 91st did not have adequate fighter support until 1944. It had the greatest casualty rate of any of the heavy bomb squadrons.

Beau was one of the casualties. On August 12, 1943, just a week before his sister turned 18, while he was on a mission, enemy flak cut his oxygen line and he died before the plane could make it back to base. He was buried in Cambridge, England, at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, the military cemetery for Americans killed in action during WWII. He was twenty years old.

I grew up with Beau’s nephews and nieces, and we made decades of havoc and memories. But Beau's children weren't there, and neither he nor they are part of the memories.

Thinking about our untimely dead is hard enough, but I am haunted by the holes those deaths rip forever in the social fabric: the discoveries not made, the problems not solved, the marriages not celebrated, the babies not born.

I know of this man only what his sister told me: that he was a decent fellow who did what he could to support his mother and his sisters. Before he entered the service, he once spent a week’s paycheck on a dress for my friend’s mother so she could go to a dance.

And he gave up not only his life but also his future to protect American democracy against the spread of fascism.

I first wrote about Beau when his sister passed, for it felt to me like another kind of death that, with his sisters now all gone, along with almost all of their friends, soon there would be no one left who even remembered his name.

But something amazing happened after I wrote about him. People started visiting Beau’s grave in England, leaving flowers, and sending me pictures of the cross that bears his name.

So he, and perhaps all he stood for, will not be forgotten after all.

May you have a meaningful Memorial Day.

[Photo by Carole Green.]

23/05/2022

Creative Guts is pleased to announce a call for art and writing for a youth zine this summer. As a nonprofit and a podcast, Creative Guts aims to stimulate and inspire creativity by telling the stories of those who are brave enough to put themselves out there. Oftentimes the bravest are the youngest among us, harnessing creativity and imagination through self-expression. This edition will be a platform for youth to display their work and be part of a creative community.

The zine will be available for free on our website, CreativeGutsPodcast.com, in late summer 2022 and participants will receive one free copy of a printed edition thanks to the generous support of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

ELIGIBILITY: Artists from the ages of 0 to 17, from any country, are welcome to apply with visual and written works in any medium: painting, drawing, sculpture, digital art, printmaking, fiber, photography, mixed media, poetry, short story (400 words maximum), etc.

FEE: It is free to submit work! Young creators may submit one to three images of individual artworks or writings. Participants will receive one free copy of a printed edition

SUBMISSION: Submit one to three images of individual artworks in .JPEG format, or a text document of poetry/prose to the Google form on www.creativegutspodcast.com/zine.

DEADLINE: Friday, July 17th, 2022 (11:59 PM - Eastern Standard Time)

QUESTIONS? Reach out to us at [email protected] or via CreativeGutsPodcast.com.

20/04/2022

Maybe not what the dr. intended when urging more fiber:

"One of the sisters removed a towel from her waste..."

10/04/2022

Say it isn't so! But, it is.

25/03/2022

From 2016: The joys and embarrassments of Cleary’s characters—of Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby—helped so many of us understand who we are and what the world is.

21/03/2022

So what's your type?