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Fearing the mind – some thoughts on “The Politics of Experience”
My background in psychology hasn’t included readings on psychotherapy so I’ve started checking out books on the topic and just finished R.D. Laing’s The Politics of Experience. A few points that jumped...
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On Becoming a Person, Chapter 1 – What does acceptance mean?
When hearing people argue for ‘acceptance’ and ‘accepting others’ I’ve usually gotten the sense that they’re supporting a lazy relativism – all viewpoints are equally valid, all opinions have merit,...
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On Becoming a Person, Chapter 2 – How do therapists foster personal growth?
What’s the best way to help someone develop intellectually and emotionally? In Chapter 2 of On Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers writes that it’s a mistake for a psychotherapist to relate to a client as a...
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Deficits in working memory – but not ADHD
The go-to diagnosis for kids who have trouble learning, focusing and following directions in school is ADHD. Even leaving aside official diagnoses, when we look at the way parents and teachers talk...
View ArticleNarrative Point of View (POV): A Lesson From Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones
Let’s say you’re writing a novel. What POV should you choose? Should it be a first-person narration (the “I” or “we” POV)? Or some form of third-person POV (using “he/she/they”)? There are many reasons...
View ArticleDealing With Regret: Insights From an Australian Novel
“There’s always a chance to start over!” You typically hear this encouraging message when wrestling with what you’ve lost. And the message does contain truth. People often do rebuild their lives, find...
View ArticleAn example of reducing redundancy in fiction writing
I recently read The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters, a novel written in first-person POV about a newly minted detective who investigates a suspicious death. Sounds like many other crime novels, but...
View ArticleA mix of hopeful and bleak: the ending of If I Had Your Face
The endings of some novels are unambiguously happy, while others are overshadowed with tragedy. What about endings that occupy a more ambiguous space? I recently read If I had Your Face by Frances Cha,...
View ArticleA Window Into a Surveillance State
I recently read Stasiland: Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder. Several years after the wall was torn down, Funder went to Germany to talk to people who had lived in the East German...
View ArticleThe E.R. and Society
I was talking recently to someone who works in an emergency room as a nurse, and she told me about all the non-emergencies at the E.R. – among them, people seeking drugs, people sleeping off...
View ArticleElla Minnow Pea: Anti-Censorship and Prompts for Creativity
I just read Ella Minnow Pea, a novel set on a fictional island where the High Council has begun to ban the use of different letters. Along with its humor, there are two main reasons I like the novel:...
View ArticleWant to learn how to write flash fiction? A book rec
Flash fiction, which generally refers to short stories under a 1,000 words, pose an enjoyable challenge. You need to work within the tight limits on length to create a memorable story. If you want to...
View ArticleThree good novels with old characters
One reason I recommend these novels is because they show some of the absurdities and terrors of old age while giving the characters dignity too. The authors, who are all English, mix humor with...
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