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Category Archives: Writing Life

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Susan’s Rules of Contemporary Fantasy

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There’s been many attempts to put down the “rules of magic” as they manifest in various fantasy novels. My favorite went around Twitter a while back and summarized how magic works in fifty different fantasy series. But those are the rules … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Process of Writing, Writing Life | Tagged fantasy, writing | 2 Replies

Writing Prompts: Faces at the Museum

Chinese lion from Minneapolis Institute of Art.Writing prompts with an ancient twist: recently I stopped by the excellent Minneapolis Institute of Art, one of those old-school museums full of art from every corner of the world. An Indiana Jones-style museum.  I found quite a number of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Art, Writing Prompts

MFA Tech: Top Technologies for MFA Students

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As an MFA student who also works in the tech industry, it seemed natural for me to incorporate various technologies into my writing process. And as the ebook revolution is finally upon us, a greater emphasis on technology for the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Tech Bits, The Process of Writing, Writing Life

Lit Fight: National Novel Writing Month

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Image via Wikipedia Ran into a couple of competing articles on National Novel Writing Month (awkwardly reduced to NaNoWriMo by afficianodos – say that ten times fast) and as I’ve long neglected the “Word” part of Northern Word, here you … Continue reading →

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Posted in Lit Bits, The Process of Writing

Writing Prompt: Fun with Tropes

Ran into the site “TV Tropes” via a Wired article about how to procrastinate on the internet. Both are relevant for writers, but the Tropes site is interesting for its huge catalog of tropes – devices or turns of plot which … Continue reading →

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Posted in Lit Bits, Writing Prompts

College cheating soars

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Image via Wikipedia Every year or so it seems I read an article about how cheating in college courses is on the increase, but this week’s New York Times piece on the subject seems both definitive and a bit shocking. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Writing Life | Tagged academic dishonesty, Cheating, cribbing

Hardball in the literary world: agent signs exclusive with Amazon

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As the owner of an Amazon Kindle I’m quite interested in the evolution of electronic distribution of literature, and how it may be changing the literary scene. This week one of literary fiction’s biggest agents, Andrew Wylie, a fellow known … Continue reading →

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Posted in Lit Bits, Writing Life | Tagged iPad, Kindle, Nook

Pondering the MFA

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As I near the last stretch of my MFA (Master of Fine Arts, or perhaps Asses, depending on the program), now seems the time to ask those probing questions I probably should have asked before I signed up – and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Lit Bits, The Process of Writing, Writing Life

Who do you “write like”?

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Ran into an excellent time waster today. You plug in a bit of your writing – should be real creative writing, preferably fiction, not some email or other casual thing – and it tells you who you “write like”. Apparently … Continue reading →

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Posted in Lit Bits, The Process of Writing, Writing Life

The Time Traveler’s Wife: a film without a central conflict

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I really didn’t think I’d ever find it. An entire film without a central conflict. Films are all about conflict – even the toy store-on-screen Transformers II had a central conflict (save the world from the aliens). But The Time … Continue reading →

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Posted in Lit Bits, Movies and Music

Trying to break into the Red Room

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Last year I signed up for Red Room, an online community for writers launched in January of 2008 from the San Francisco Bay Area. That’s about the time I signed up, hoping for a fun, writerly community online to augment … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Process of Writing | Tagged Media

Fiction: The Red Hand

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This short short is inspired by one of the originating myths of Northern Irish culture, the boat race and the red hand. My grandmother came from Belfast, as did most of the rest of my family at some point in … Continue reading →

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Posted in Fiction, Irish Studies

Thoughts on Julia/Julie

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Went to see Julia/Julie, the film about Julia Child and former Salon blogger Julie Powell. I take the time to point out she was a Salon Blogger (a blogger using the small community created by Salon.com in the early 2000′s) … Continue reading →

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Posted in Lit Bits, Movies and Music | Tagged 2003

Morbid Amusements

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I think I’ve seen this before, but this time I got a picture, and I am still not really sure that such a thing can exist. But there it is, at a local carnival (the Taste of Minnesota fair in … Continue reading →

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Posted in Minneapolis Area, The Process of Writing

Writing Prompt: The Very Bad Hotel

Hotel in Roseau, Dominica.I’m finding that hotel reviews can be a good source of writing ideas. That’s right, online hotel reviews.  Ever have trouble coming up with original detail in your work? Need a jump start on ideas for setting? Hit Tripadvisor, Expedia, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Caribbean, Writing Prompts

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About Susan

Welcome to Northern Word, the online home of writer/photographer Susan McNerney. Here you'll find nature and travel photography, thoughts on writing, travelogues, and theater reviews for the Twin Cities. Susan is originally from California's Redwood Empire and now lives and writes in Minnesota.

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Dramatic fall color in an old growth Maple forest near Minnetonka, Minnesota.

Browse Susan’s Topics

Susan on Twitter

  • On an unrelated note, we got sold out of a showing of "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." Seniors = moths. That movie is the flame. 1 day ago
  • No solar eclipse in MN, but I did get to watch a very fat man briefly eclipse Johnny Depp at the movie theater today. #NotTheSame 1 day ago
  • Can;t believe I'm just now reading "The Last Unicorn" by Michael Bishop for the first time, but I am, and I'm already sucked in. 2 days ago

Explore Northern Word

  • Susan’s Live Show Reviews
  • Susan’s Travelogues
    • A Week in Rome
    • A Great Southwest Road Trip
    • Caribbean
    • Dakotas & Wyoming
  • Writing Prompts
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Susan on Google+

What Susan's Reading

American Gods
0 of 5 stars
American Gods
by Neil Gaiman

goodreads.com

The Split Rock Lighthouse in Minnesota perches on the edge of a high cliff over Lake Superior. Don't miss Susan's travelogues - A Week in Rome and A Great Southwest Road Trip, both chock full of pics and travel details to Italy and the American Southwest.

And MORE travelogues here!

 

Grand Marais Harbor on the north shore of Lake Superior is clogged with giant blocks of ice in the dead of winter. Chunks of clear, crystalline ice pile up on the shore.

Recent Posts

  • Susan’s Rules of Contemporary Fantasy
  • A Walk to Roughlock Falls – The Black Hills Travelogue
  • The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Open Eye Figure Theater, Minneapolis – Theater Review
  • Now I’m on Pinterest!
  • End of the Rainbow – Guthrie Theater – Live Show Review
  • Rocks & Bones in the Black Hills – Black Hills Travelogue

Four Rivers Fountain

Four Rivers Fountain in Rome, by Bernini. Dramatic clouds in the background, drenched in sunshine.

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Literary Links

  • Book Riot
  • Magical Words – Writing Fantasy blog
  • Rain Taxi (Literary Reviews)

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  • Liz Stratton's Closing the Store – Online Novel

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An old growth redwood at Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County, California. Looking up from the base to the canopy 300 feet overhead.

The historic Minor Theater in Arcata, California has a brightly lit and perfectly restored turn of the century sign.

Want to use a photograph from this site for your publication? All photos are under a Creative Commons License and permission must be granted by the author before use. For most non-profit purposes there is no charge and higher quality versions are available for print use. To contact Susan email mackerelstreet (at) gmail (dot) com.

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Northernword.com by Susan McNerney is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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