Helen Mallon's Blog
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Jun.27.2011
Today's post comes from Seth Godin, uber-sales guy. What sets him apart from the slick and slimy is that he shows actual respect for human beings. (Among his zillion book titles, my personal favorite title is Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?)
His message is for us, writer tribe....
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Jun.11.2011
Following through on writing projects (or any other endeavor that's not "necessary" to life) is a common problem for people who really DO want to write, or paint, or learn to refinish furniture. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting a series on how to deal with it.
Time can be a bear...
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May.28.2011
Nowadays when I get stuck on a writing project, I'm learning to move my attention away from the problem I'm trying to solve. I close my eyes and pay attention to what's happening in my body as a result of being stuck. Where's the tension located? I take time to feel it. Is there sadness beneath...
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May.24.2011
There's quick-turnaround writing, and then there's the slow roasted variety.
Blogs are in the first category. No matter how long the writer spends on a post, the reader's click and scan are very fast. Not interested? Click somewhere else. To compete in the boundary-blasted crazy virtual world...
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May.07.2011
Since May is my son's birthday month, here's one way I'm celebrating: With a tale involving short stories...
May is also National Short Stories month. NSSM was started by Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network and Dzanc Books. (Thanks for the cool logo, Dan!) In a guest post at Fiction...
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May.02.2011
You can learn useful things about yourself when you're lying awake in the middle of the night not doing anything. Things that might make a difference the next time you find yourself awake when you don't want to be. For me, it's the most mentally chaotic state to be in--my mind pings from one...
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Apr.24.2011
My creative writing students recently asked me about my work process. I was flattered. It made me feel like an authority. The funny thing is, although they seemed to be interested in what I said, I can't REMEMBER what I said.
The truth is, that process (whatever the heck it was) has been...
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Apr.20.2011
The above is too long for a tagline, so I've settled on this (for now):
WritingNurture: Work. Balance. Sanity.
What do you all think?
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Apr.18.2011
I'm happy with the new title of my blog. The next step is a tagline--a short phrase, maybe three words, that appears right after the title and clearly promises what the reader will find.
I don't want to appeal only to people who self-identify as "Writers." I'd like the tagline to make...
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Mar.31.2011
Jennifer Connor, editor of Books to Go Now, kindly offered to feature my essay on how artists keep going in the face of rejection, discouragement over one's perceived inabilities, etc...(etc. etc. ad nauseum!)
Writers, Don't Give Up!
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Mar.13.2011
I'm thrilled that my new story, "Did You Put the Cat to Bed?" is available for download onto either ereader or computer. It'll set you back by $1.99.
Did You Put the Cat to Bed?
from BookstogoNow
It's also available for Kindle on Amazon.
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Mar.04.2011
The first official protest against slavery in North America was written by four Quaker men in Germantown, Philadelphia in 1688: "And those who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike? To bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we...
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Feb.17.2011
Apparently, the King of Bahrain recently attempted to squash protest in his domain by giving each family among his subjects $2,650.
I don't think it worked. Bahrain, which hosts a fleet of the U.S. Navy seen as as safeguard against Iran, has been rocked with demonstrations. Maybe the...
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Feb.06.2011
I'm lucky. This week I took a few days away at Pendle Hill, a Quaker retreat center near Philadelphia. I have about an hour before lunch, then it's back to real life.
But hey, dummy this is real life!!Some things I've gotten from my time here (in no order, with no particular evaluation of...
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Jan.27.2011
My daughter had school on Wednesday. It wouldn't have been unusual except that snow had been falling for hours when we got up, which usually sends Philadelphia into a tizzy. Three hours later, she called from school to say the place was shutting down.
On the tortuously slow drive in, I joked that...
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About Helen
Here's what some of my editing clients have to say: "You are the best reader I have ever had." (A published fiction writer working on a short story collection) "Helen perfectly combines engagement with distance in her editing. She throws...
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