Northern Word - Latest Comments

Re: Susan’s Rules of Contemporary Fantasy

Susan — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:08:47 -0000

I like those :)

Re: Susan’s Rules of Contemporary Fantasy

Arpana Mansfield — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:35:43 -0000

hum... rules...

1) every character with a name must have a secret, a need, a dream and a fear.

2) stereotypes are made to be broken.

3) Borrowing your #5: No talking animals.

Re: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Guthrie Theater – Theater Review

Susan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:42:42 -0000

Have a great time. Watch out for the monsters!

Re: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Guthrie Theater – Theater Review

Jessica Bakken-Kleven — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:58:42 -0000

Hi Susan! Nice to read your review, Nick and I are going to go see it on Valentine's day! Hope you are doing well! You have to post more pictures of your pets on here! :D
Talk to you soon!
~ Jess

Re: Cavalia – Live Show Review

Pat — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:58:38 -0000

I have now seen the Cavalia show and it is indeed spectacular! I really enjoyed the review. I wanted to mention that the many different backdrops for the performances were works of art in themselves on a large scale. As a lover of both horses and art this show was much enjoyed!

Re: Pondering the MFA

Susan — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:43:27 -0000

Yeah, I enjoy Neil Gaiman's blog, but few others. I think an author blog is only interesting if the author is talking about something more than just writing (which is why I'll always be putting up lots of pretty pictures).

Re: Pondering the MFA

dhosek — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:47:08 -0000

Re: Thought 2, while I'm not in an MFA program, never have been, and likely never will be, I came to a similar thought in blog-reading. I don't really read published author blogs since they have little of use to me. I prefer to stick with editors and agents (and occasional dips into author blogs, usually those of people at roughly your stage in life).

Re: Life for eBooks?

Susan — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:25:18 -0000

thanks for your comment, due to technical issues I didn't see it there when you posted. I'm really enjoying the kindle at this point - the ship has officially sailed on traditional books in my view, and there is really no turning back.

Re: Life for eBooks?

W-briggs Thompson — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:31:58 -0000

I resisted buying the Kindle 1 but I couldn't resist any longer when the Kindle 2 came out. And I'm so glad I caved in. I love this device. I'm still discovering all the ins and outs of using it.
Magazine and newspaper articles come to my Kindle every day or every week, depending. I bought over 100 books that were free or 99 cents, all the classics that I love, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, and on and on. I also bought a few new books, and some favorite books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, or The Glass Castle.
I read a lot and I will still use the library extensively as I can't afford to buy all the books I want to read, but the Kindle is great for the books I do buy, and once I got it set up with lots of reading material, I might now buy 1 or 2 books a month, at $9.99, which is no hardship.
I can surf the internet, though I haven't quite figured that all out yet, and I can put my own files on Kindle. I'm a writer and working on a book. I can put that on Kindle just to see how it reads.
I find the Kindle very comfortable in my hands, and easy to read. I sit in coffee shops reading it in the morning, and people sneak curious glances at it. I want to tell them, "It's great, you should buy it." I've had people come up and ask to see it. I'm glad to show it to them.
The $30 case that goes along with it makes it feel like a book and gives that added protection. The only drawback is that it doesn't stay closed, so I need to find a rubber band or piece of velcro to put around it, that is the only flaw I have found.
The Kindle is really fun to use and I'm having a blast learning to navigate it and how to use all its features. I can bookmark pages (the corner of the page actually "folds down" to look like a real book), highlight and save passages or quotes, which I can then put on my computer and send to friends to share. I have no regrets, it's everything I might have wished it would be.
ETA: I think some people don't understand that the Kindle doesn't have a backlight ON PURPOSE and I hope the engineers never change that. The e-reader is supposed to replicate the experience of reading a book, not a computer. A book doesn't have a backlight either. It's easier on the eyes not to have that light. I bought a $13 light that clips on (it's advertised with it) and that's great for lying down in bed or in darker places. But most of the time I have no trouble seeing the text in any light. It's also easy to make the font larger whenever necessary, like when my eyes are tired. And the lack of backlight saves on the battery. I can leave it on sleep for days and hardly ever need to recharge the battery. I can't say enough that I am so not disappointed in this product.

Re: The War of my Childhood Has Ended

M. D. Vaden - Tree Care and Re — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:15:44 -0000

Pretty good sharing.
Actually the whole page is interesting. I never dropped in on any redwood wars. But stopping at Hawg Wild in Orick last month, I listened to two guys sharing old stories at the bar. One was there dismantling the last mill in Orick.
MDV / Oregon.

Re: Writer Retreats

Brian Walker — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:05:14 -0000

Hi Susan,
I am Brian Walker, Sylvia Walker's (nee Toomath)son. Sylvia was the last of Richards 25 children. I have included the url of the Toomath Family website I posted. Love to hear from you some time.
...B

Re: Babe the Blue Ox and Paul Bunyan

Susan Brainerd McNerney — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:24:16 -0000

As both a Brainerd and a McNerney who has in fact visited Brainerd Minnesota I was blown away when I saw this site. Write on Susan!

Re: California Redwood Country: Carson Mansion

M. D. Vaden — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 01:37:01 -0000

Very nice photo of that mansion. It's way over the top compared to anything I'd ever desire in my own imagination. But I love old architecture like that.
MDV
Oregon

Re: St Paul’s Outside the Walls – A Week in Rome

John Lawler — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:34:12 -0000

I was in this church (St Paul Outside the Walls) in 2006 and one Italian man (spoke English) told us that above all the columns are round sketches of all the Popes (from Peter to Pope Benedict). They have a light on the current Pope and there is only room for one more Pope! Interesting when according to a prophecy made in the 12th century, there would be only 112 popes left. Pope Benedict is number 111. I just wanted to share this with you. John

Re: Letter to the Woman in the McDonald’s Drive Thru Line

Jessica Bakken-Kleven — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:09:03 -0000

You crack me up Susan! Great BLOG post! I sometimes wonder the same thing! You just say it so much better! :) Hope all is well!

Re: Writing Prompt: Precarious Paths

Carol — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:19:34 -0000

Walk in beauty along the precarious path of "pachacuti" space and time...change.

Re: Floral displays

maren Anderson — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:12:40 -0000

Pretty. :)

Re: Character study

Susan — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:39:06 -0000

"God, I don't know where it comes from." Their ass?

Re: Character study

maren Anderson — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:30:40 -0000

Hey Suz--
I get people from that universe all the time in my Writing and Lit classes. They take their definition of "irony" from Alanis Morissette and of logic from...God, I don't know where it comes from.
They don't have jaws that "lock," tho. :)
m

Re: Reading the Redwoods

Susan — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:55:55 -0000

Thanks for the tip on "Logging the Redwoods", I'll try to pick that one up. thanks for stopping by...

Re: Reading the Redwoods

M. D. Vaden of Oregon — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:06:10 -0000

Out web surfing forest stuff, and came across your redwood post.
Less than 2 weeks ago, I bought Logging the Redwoods at the Prairie Creek visitor center. Mostly old B&W logging pics, but fairly informative.
Have The Wild Trees on the shelf already, and been to quite a few of the redwoods mentioned. Even had a chance to meet and bushwhack with some of the folks written about.
Seems that some of the most marvelous redwood forest is off-trail in areas a bit more remote.
Cheers,
MDV
Oregon

Re: California Redwoods Itinerary: Getting There & Lodging in Arcata & Trinidad

Julie Olds — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:46:59 -0000

Hey, great guide - you're making me homesick! :) But one word of advice - there's not actually a direct flight to/from Portland anymore. You stop over briefly in Redding, let some people on and off the plane, and then get underway again. Not a big deal - it's still a very easy flight. And might I recommend Hole In the Wall sandwiches, Los Bagels and Patrick's Point State Park?

Re: Villains

Susan — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:56:58 -0000

Heh...post traumatic stress disorder can be a trial, can't it...

Re: Villains

Now-In-Rochester — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:55:35 -0000

I think I know who you are talking about....... Thanks for the tremors... I still go spastic myself from the after shock... Now that I've scraped myself off the floor and can add this comment. Hope all is well and perhaps nature itself will be the healing force of all evil...
Take care,
The Minneapolis transplant,
Amy H

Re: California Redwoods Itinerary

Susan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:44:59 -0000

Oh, great tip, thanks. I'll add it on my next update of the guide. Somehow I missed that one, even though I've been all over nearby.