A few weeks ago I was leafing through a back issue of Relevant Magazine that I'd picked up at a library book sale. In an article by Shane Hipps entitled "What's [Actually] On Your Mind?" I spotted a quotable quote that I wanted to share with my social media friends. I typed up the quotation, included the name that Hipps claimed was the source, and popped it up on … [Read more...]
Food on Fridays: We Are Real (and so is the food)
(smaller button below)Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you want to tell us about the first person who taught you to cook, that’s great. Posts like that are as welcome as menus and recipes. … [Read more...]
Imperfect Conditions
"If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done." (Ecclesiastes 11:4, New Living Translation) If I waited for the perfect conditions to develop my writing life, I'd still be waiting. Back in the early 1990s, I did manage to explore writing as my work, as a way of life. I wrote and submitted a few magazine articles and met with … [Read more...]
Destructive Criticism vs. Healthy Critique
Writers write to be heard, which means writers must brace themselves for input, whether it ends up being destructive criticism or health critique. J.C. Schaap describes this kind of input among students in his blog post "Witless Fear and Hug Lines." In it, he tells how scary it is for a student to lay out something he or she has written in front of her … [Read more...]
Food on Fridays: Go Greek with L.L. Barkat
(smaller button below)Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—your link could be a recipe like your favorite Colts blue Superbowl party dip, but it does not have to be a recipe. If it’s about shopping at Trader Joe's or your review of "Julie & Julia," go ahead and link up! Think of it as a virtual pitch-in where you can sample … [Read more...]
The Season of Getting, er, Giving
Well, it's starting: The season of getting—I mean, giving.I think it's hard to help our kids focus on giving when they're bombarded by commercials, window displays, newspaper inserts, catalogs and radio spots whose sole purpose is to awaken a desire to get.It's hard for us as adults to focus on giving, too, because we're bombarded with all those same enticing messages to … [Read more...]
What’s Your Story?
In the Steven Spielberg film "Amistad," there's a scene where John Quincy Adams (played by Anthony Hopkins) talks with a fictional character named Mr. Jodson (played by Morgan Freeman) about who the Africans on the "Amistad" really are. Someone published the dialogue from that scene in an essay both here and here, so I pulled from that source to post it. The interaction … [Read more...]
Plagiarism Avoidance in Blogging
I was asked to talk with the literature students about plagiarism. After introducing the topic and explaining a little about it, I summarized with the following statements: 1. Don't present someone else's ideas as your own—if you do, you're stealing his or her intellectual property. 2. You are welcome to share other people's insights, ideas and wording, … [Read more...]
Where in the World Wide Web is Ann Kroeker on 9-9-09?
If you have a few moments, I invite you to visit three places where I have had the honor of appearing:1. Queen of the Castle(photo credit: Queen of the Castle Recipes)At Queen of the Castle Recipes, Lynn has graciously allowed me to share a few thoughts on food and slowing down. I included two European recipes, because from my visits to Belgium and France, I get the idea … [Read more...]
The Speed of Social Networking
I posted about the speed of social networking over at NotSoFastBook.com.Would James recommend we be slow to tweet (or Facebook, or blog)?Don’t miss a word:Subscribe to annkroeker.com updates via email or RSS feed.Join Mega Memory Month for the month of July! … [Read more...]
The Mother Letter Project
By now you've surely heard of The Mother Letter Project?In case you haven't, here's the skinny:Inspired by the Advent Conspiracy, husband and wife agree to create presents for each other instead of buying gifts, and donate the difference to help others. The husband, God bless his creative, thoughtful soul, decides to collect a series of “open letters” from mothers, to … [Read more...]
This Ann, not That Ann
Someone recently mistook me for Ann Voskamp, of Holy Experience.For a few minutes, this person thought I was that Ann -- the Ann -- who makes us sigh, ponder, weep.For a short time, I was thought to be the Ann who writes heart-melting, soul-achy prose. The one whose blog is an oasis, a repose.This person thought I was the one who regularly pours out her heart, … [Read more...]
Monday's Meme-ish Musings
Having been tagged for a meme a while back by L.L. Barkat, I thought I'd tackle it today.Although I don't always jump at memes, I thought this might produce an interesting post. Maybe. She invented this particular meme, and that seems more "real" than the ones that get passed and passed around until they aren't really "fresh" anymore.So here are L.L. Barkat's rules for 5 … [Read more...]
From Chaos to Controversy to Gratitude to the Fonz
All of your responses to the original post about chaos and the follow-up post about being humbled have been helpful and insightful. Thank you for pondering and exploring this with me.One time I was explaining blogs and blogging (and my blog itself) to my sister-in-law. At the time, I had been following a couple of bloggers who seemed to generate tons of traffic and … [Read more...]
When We Text, Are We Really Communicating?
Oh, boy, I really want to write a follow-up to yesterday's post and explore it a little more (in shorter, digestible, Web-sized tidbits, just like we like 'em, right?).But I have to post this urgent link. In fact, I hope you can still access this article from the Wall Street Journal. It's entitled, "Thx for the IView! I Wud [heart] to Work 4 U!! ;)" (by Sarah E. Needleman, … [Read more...]
