Monday, May 3, 2010

Logorama (the oscar winning short)

saw this at the theater
along with the other oscar nominated shorts
i kind of hated it
mostly because i thought it didn't have heart
but clearly i missed something because it won
what do you think?

Friday, April 30, 2010

the children have spoken... (+ they LOVE piggies!)

BEING A PIG IS NICE
is indeed VERY nice
just heard... it's on the CBC/IRA 2010 Children's Choice list! (The CBC/IRA Children's Choice List is a collection of approx 100 titles chosen by CHILDREN each year.)

No better judge! (in my book).


Oh. Look. Here's the trailer...



QUICK! rush and get your copy

More info about the CBC/IRA Children's Choice List: here.

Embrace Life!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Monday, April 26, 2010

writing, like praying, is listening...

"Books surprise me. They don't do what I expect. They know more than I do, and my job is to listen. Not to control or dominate or manipulate, but to listen: listen to the story in the same way that when I pray I try to listen to God--to get out of the way and to listen." 
Madeleine L'Engle

Do you write a story or discover it? Are you the one in charge of the characters or are they in charge of you? 

Believing as Madeleine L'Engle does that it's not about control and more about trust, I think makes you bolder, braver, more able to take risks--and makes writing more like faith. You step out not knowing where the path leads but seeing enough of the path to take the next step and the next one and the one after that. Terrifying. Thrilling. Mysterious. And most of all magical.

And liberating. It's no longer about you and what you can do. You become servant to the story. And it's cleverer and bigger than you. Your job is to get out of the way and let it through.

What a relief.

Posted via email from s@lly l-j

Friday, April 23, 2010

Bonhoeffer--The Thriller


Here's a new biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young Lutheran theologian in Hitler's Germany who was an early and constant voice of resistance against the Third Reich and who was executed for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler. It's called Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Not only is it completely brilliant, but it reads like a thriller. Not only that, but it also happens to have been written by my dear friend, Eric Metaxas.

It's already being critically-acclaimed. And little wonder. Eric has used his incredible gift of storytelling and employed primary sources to bring the story vividly to life--painting scenes so real that you feel as if you were actually there.

Take this (totally creepy image) for instance:
"... Schlabrendorff" Eric writes "recalled the grim spectacle of Hitler at table: 'To see Hitler eat was a most disgusting sight. His left hand he placed upon his thigh, while with his right hand he stuffed his food, consisting of all sorts of vegetables, into his mouth. As he did so he did not lift his hand to his mouth, but kept his right arm flat on the table and brought his mouth down to his food." (p.427)
This incredible biography that reads like a thriller that is written by my good friend is at the same time theological deep and sophisticated.

It's getting stellar reviews in the WSJ and ... (drum roll) a starred review in Kirkus. And THAT'S saying something!

(I haven't yet read the entire book, just portions of it--I'm saving it up for my summer reading! Can't wait.)


Wednesday, April 21, 2010

working or making a living?

"Work is not primarily a thing one does to live but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker's faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God."
—Dorothy L Sayers

Posted via email from s@lly l-j

where AM I?

back to my site?
back to twitter?

back to my super duper blog?
Blog Widget by LinkWithin