Book review: Comfort by Carolee Dean

Comfort by Carolee Dean

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is about a young boy dealing with the struggles of an abusive mother, poverty, an alcoholic father, and the inner turmoil that creates.
Kenny Willson loves to write and dreams of a bigger life outside of the small town of Comfort, TX. He dreams of breaking free from the shackles of poverty and lack of education.
With a mama who can't see past her own dreams to realize her son has some of his own, Keny has to fight for what he wants, has to fight to be somebody, and has to fight just to stay in school.
A coming of age story that is sure to bring a tear to your eye, fill your heart with memories of all the things you've dreamed of, and raise your hackles at the injustice of a self-centered parent of a kid longing for love.
With only a few people who seem to believe in him and his mama out to tie him down: will Kenny ever fulfill his dreams and learn the power of putting his anger and disappointment on paper?
Worth the time it takes to read. A really great book: well written with flawed, believable characters and a story that, even if you can't relate, pulls you in and fills you with all the emotions of a struggling, oppressed teenager on the verge of something better.

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PUNCT uate

I am a slacker. I realize this.
Life is more important than blogging.
or at least I try to tell myself that.

Do you ever wonder, however... if you submitted work using weird verging on the wrong punctuation it would be accepted as is? Like: if you used bad punctuation to get a point across if it would have to be changed because it is wrong.
Faulkner. Verbose. Lots of punctuation in order to have a Loooo-ooong sentence. Probably wouldn't fly if a sally simpleton submitted. right?
But. A lot of periods. Short, short, short sentences. I feel like they portray lack of feeling... sarcasm even.
Is it wrong?? Is it wrong in the sense that writing IS to communicate and it is difficult sometimes to communicate through written word as clearly as when you're speaking face to face. Why? Tone of voice. Simply that. If I raise my voice and say my dog died... I am blaming someone.
If I raise the pitch... but just at the end mind... I am asking... perhpas I am in denial.
If I say it dead pan perhaps I am sad. Or just don't care.
But.
My dog died! (yelling)
My dog died? (denial)
My dog died. (sad? Deadpan? Don't care? Sarcastic???) It is difficult.
see here:
If I say
My. Dog. Died. Puncutating (incorrectly?!) I am making each word hit home.
or
I can say
(in many more words)
Pausing after each word (or ennunciating after each word) she told him, "My dog died."
I am not NOT saying you should use poor language skills. I am not knocking grammar and proper punctuation. On the contrary!!! I feel it is extremely important to write and speak correctly. I am just saying: Language is fickle.
Rules are fickle.
In the world of so much written/texted communication we are getting creative. We want NO misunderstandings. We want to communicate and be sarcastic but so many don't want to peel their fingers off the keyboard to insure this. (Personal feeling: WHY EVER NOT?!?!?) So. We make language work for us. And why not? PLEASE use proper spelling and grammar!!!
Here's my cahllenge: Rather than thwarting the rules write a few sentences using PROPER grammar/ punctuation and portray your feelings, your tone. Okay? Okay.
Share if you so choose.

Write me a sentence. Use ?wrong? punctuation

Can you spot the error?????

Saw this ad. I am sure it was written by an adult... eek! So many people forget how to spell things korecktly.

"Very good condition get a head board and foot board. This is a Queen size. Does not come with side rails and is wood not medal. Will take an offer as "

Haiku to you!!!

As writers we want to stay accurate. At least as accurate as possible. To do this we have to research. I am not giving a BIG project but I do want you to attempt to write a haiku about somewhere you haven't visited. To do this:
I want you to think of a place you have never been and do some quick research on some of the weather conditions, major landmarks, etc.
Then write your haiku using some of the information you have gathered trying to capture what you think is the feel of the place.
5
7
5
!
Share it with us if you dare!

Hiatus

back from vacation....
week and a half long hiatus.
Isn't it funny how we always tend to need lots of rest and relaxation after a vacation??

Today I will throw out a simple writing prompt. Find a picture of yourself when you were a little, little kid on vacation and write the story of the vacation as much as you can from the picture using the background and facial expressions to add details. It doesn't need to be accurate and I think the exercise would work better if you didn't use a picture from a vacation you actually remember.

Happy writing!

Haiku YOU! Vacay.

About this time every year I get that itch... I wanna travel, explore... GETTHEHECKOUTTAHERE!!!
So.
While you are sitting at school, sitting in your cubicle, sitting on the couch I want you to take those imaginings of faraway places and all that you would do and write... you guessed it... a HAIKU!
If you are miserable and hot and sweating you maybe imagine a place where there are cool pools everywhere and you can just dip and dive as you please, or perhaps you imagine sitting solitarily on a fishing boat in the middle of the ocean surrounded by glaciers off the coast of Alaska... maybe you live in a place where summer has not gotten the memo that its time has come and you are imagining yourself in far off lands surrounded by the dusty dry heat of an African summer or are imagining yourself in your backyard two months from now.
Whatever your daydreams of vacation are, write them down, brainstorm, pick the one you feel most strongly about, the one you could describe the best and start composing.
Listen. I don't care if you've never written a poem in your life. TODAY IS THE DAY! Get out your journal, log onto your online journal, open a fresh word document and get writing.
Share with us what you wrote if you so choose. We always love to hear it.
remember a haiku is composed like so:
5 syllables
7 syllables
5 syllables

Happy Writing!

Blue birds sing softly,
Still gray fog rests heavily
Quiet ocean morn.