TV Shortens Your Life....

...so go read a book!

A new study says watching TV over the age of TV can cut up to 5 years off your life! Wow.

Researchers believe it's probably due to activities related to television (overeating, lack of exercise) than the actual TV itself, but it's still worth investigating.

Other studies have shown mentally curious people who read daily are less likely to get Alzheimer's, than those who don't, so here's yet another reason to ignore the plasma screens and pull a classic off the shelf!

I Snagged Mine on Saturday

If you haven't perused the most interesting part of every contemporary bookstore - the magazine section - then you might have missed The Atlantic Monthly's 2011 fiction issue. It's always a mix of new and established writers, often covering issues of faith.

For a snapshot of current short fiction, I find this the most reliable available. (Maybe because The New Yorker too often relies on established writers sticking to the famed New Yorker style, while The Atlantic Monthly has no such limitations.

Or check it out on The Atlantic's site.

London Rioters Ignore Bookstores

Another sign of the Apocalypse: the UK rioters hit every type of store possible - except bookstores.

Maybe that proves the rioters weren't Pentecostal..?

Words to Live By: Creating Your Future

"Goals are the way we time travel into the future that we want. You can drift, or set goals and get to where you want to be." -Kennon Sheldon, professor of psychological sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia.

So what type of future do you want to live in every day?

If it's writing related, then it will include writing daily, creating an adequate support group for your efforts (local or via the internet), sources of inspiration, moving out of your comfort zone to attend local author visits and writing conferences, reading author interviews for tips, and finding internet sources for regular feedings.

Words to Live By: Circumstances

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." -George Bernard Shaw

So what do you want your circumstances to be soon? Whatever it is, I guarantee it will push you out of your comfort zone to achieve it!

Appendix A: Favorite Summer Reads

Despite the sun setting on Summer 2011, Maud Newton (whose thoughts are not to be missed) & others of note share their favorite Summer reads.

I'm wracking my brains as to what I would include in this list (most of which I've never even heard of, much less read), and so far have come up with nothing.

Do you have a suggestion to add?

FFW: It's All About the Awards

The latest on the "shouldn't-be-missed" Festival of Faith & Writing at our sister site Collideoscope.

If you're wanting your writing to include Christian themes, then follow FFW.

On The Pretensions of Poetry

Am I pretentious because I know the names of two living poets and enjoy their works? Or am I pretentious for pointing it out? Or am I just a passionate reader who’s willing to share his passions even if the passion happens to be poetry (ewww!) now and again?

Whatever the case, Scott Cairns is a former Baptist who is now a Greek Orthodox. His work carries more formal properties (to my mind), while Christian Wiman is the former atheist who was raised by fundamentalists and now finds himself amazed to believe in God. Wiman has a new book, Every Riven Thing, that’s quite amazing (and accessible).

There’s a great review here and an audio interview here.

If you write, you can learn from anything – even poetry. (Wiman’s precise word images can startle you alive.) If you haven’t given poetry a shot lately, try it now. You might get to know the name of a living poet.

Appendix A: We've Lost the Ability to Tell Stories

Screenwriter and former nun Barbara Nicolosi has a brilliant post on storytelling on her blog, that begins an interview. It starts like this:

"My opinion is that we have nearly lost the ability to tell a good story.

Don't miss the rest.

Your Writing: Give It a Chance to Exist

If there isn't a reader, the text doesn't exist: that's the premise of reader-response criticism. It's fun to think of all the books in the world that don't exist because I haven't read them, starting with most of the books on the list "100 Greatest Non-Fiction Titles." (Thanks, Kent!)

But what about your text? Is what you've written being given existence by others? There are several stages at which existence can be thwarted.

For those of us who have trouble transmitting the text from our brains to the page, a group of other committed writers may help. You know they're going to ask you about your project; it becomes easier to work on it than it is to dodge the questions. It also helps to know that you have an immediate audience. Granted, your text at this point is still in the embryonic stage, but it does exist because what you've written has been read by other eyes.

Others of us abort our text at the publication stage. You've written something, your writers' group has helped nurture it, but you haven't delivered. Publication can be scary. You have to accept that the editors might hate your child and throw it back at you. You have to give your baby a chance to live.

If there isn't a reader, the text doesn't exist. How are you giving your writing a chance to exist in the world?

Photo Credit: My amazingly intelligent niece at four months