Author, keen blogger (since 1998), writing teacher.
Adelaide, South Australia
Joined April 2007
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Angela Booth retweeted
Hilaire Belloc explains why you need to read old books:
“There is no habit more dangerous to a man's active intellectual life than that of reading only modern books. The contemporary writer is usually not yet judged by time. He writes under the pressure of fashion and opinion. But the old books have survived. They have been tested. They come to us stamped with the approval of generations. To read them is to breathe a larger air.”
Which old book are you immersed in right now?
Angela Booth retweeted
Porque los seres humanos, sin importar cuántos siglos pasen, somos los mismos y estamos atormentados por las mismas cosas. Por eso es tan importante leer los clásicos, para entender que el mundo no empieza ni acaba con nosotros.
“If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer … (If) you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market … you are not being yourself.”
- “Zen in the Art of Writing” by Ray Bradbury.
“Put them together any way you wish. WORK· RELAXATION· DON’T THINK, Once separated out. Now, all three together in a process. For if one works, one finally relaxes and stops thinking. True creation occurs then and only then.”
- “Zen in the Art of Writing” by Ray Bradbury.
“Your best thought comes embedded in chunks of your worst thought … Write a lot. Think “quantity.” Think “word production.” Think of yourself as a word and thought factory.”
From “Accidental Genius”, by Mark Levy.
Yes. Slop isn't new or innovative. It's determinedly average because that's all it can be. If you're a writer, write YOU. Be confident. Write. Your insights, ideas, and words, matter. Write on. :-)
Writing and rewriting …
“Once you know that everything you write will likely need rewriting, you’re free to write without judgment. And when you write without judgment you can start to write without fear.”
From: “The Comedy Writer's Companion” by John Vorhaus.
“Writing is a tool that enables people in every discipline to wrestle with facts and ideas. It’s a physical activity, unlike reading … for getting our thoughts on paper.”
From “Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All”, by William Zinsser.
Keep writing …
“Be frivolous. Be arbitrary and contradictory. Change your mind. Start over. But above all, keep writing. Nothing else matters. Not quality, economy, efficiency, marketability, logic or sense. Only writing. Only that.”
- Creativity Rules! by John Vorhaus.
Relax and write…
“Rather than approach your writing with your teeth gritted, demanding instant, virtuoso solutions from yourself, loosen up and ease into your best 90 percent effort.”
Quote from: “Accidental Genius” by Mark Levy.
Try freewriting: “Frequent freewriting exercises help you learn simply to get on with it and not be held back by worries about whether these words are good words or the right words.”
From “Writing With Power”, by Peter Elbow.
Writing fiction: begin with the story
“A story is how what happens affects someone who is trying to achieve what turns out to be a difficult goal, and how he or she changes as a result.”
Quote from “Wired for Story”, by Lisa Cron.
Yes. I no longer do book editing. Today it's mostly AI slop slapped together. Author has no concept, no insight, nothing new. Makes editing impossible. It's not an EDITOR'S job to tell an author what to think and say.
Angela Booth retweeted
Every book is evidence that somebody once had an entire world inside their head and somehow found a way to let strangers into it. The characters, the conversations, the places, the heartbreaks, all of it began as something that existed only in someone's imagination.
Do you capitalize when using “Google” as a verb? As in: “I Googled that.” Gotta admit I do. Reason: “Googled” is a proper noun, used as a verb. It’s imprecise to use “Google” for any and all web searches. BTW, this argument re capitalizing trademarks has been going on for years.
Angela Booth retweeted
“Today, the Big Five publishers are staffed almost entirely by women. According to the most recent data, more than 70 percent of staffers are women. More than 70 percent of editors are women. Even 70 percent of all interns are women. At the executive level, more than 60 percent of leaders are women. In 2026, American publishing looks like lululemon.”
Is the "boys don't read" problem a matter of supply or demand?
More than 70 percent of staff at America's Big Five publishers are women, as are more than 70 percent of editors and a majority of executives.
Adam Szetela argues this is the single biggest transformation in the history of American publishing, and that an industry recruiting almost entirely from elite universities has narrowed what reaches the shelves.
quillette.com/2026/10/23/why…
How to journal?
Ideas include: “Lists, portraits, maps of consciousness, guided imagery, altered point of view, unsent letters, and dialogues …”
From Tristine Rainer in “The New Diary.”
