Category: Status

Elisabeth and Merianna talk about when your writing is ready to reveal to someone else. They talk about the danger of releasing it too soon when you haven’t had enough time to mold it and shape it. They also discuss that if you put your writing out there too soon, then it’s going to impact the writing itself.

Show Notes:

• Cirque Du Soleil
• Star Wars Force Awakens
• Jaws
• Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft
• 3 Pillars of Reading

What are Elisabeth and Merianna reading?

The post Thinking Out Loud 94: There Are Sharks in This Water appeared first on Thinking.FM.

Support Thinking Religion

This week, Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson examine the When / Where / Why of the Nativity and discuss historical accuracies of the stories as we’ve interpreted them in our present culture.

Show Notes:

• 6 Misconceptions about the Nativity | The Blaze
• Crossan on the Nativity | BeliefNet
• The Nativity Story | IMDB
• Life of Brian Wise Men Scene
• Jupiter and Venus Converged to Create the Star of Bethlehem in June | CBS News

Thinking Religion is 22 minutes long.

Sign up for the Thinking Religion newsletter … delivered weekly and full of interesting tidbits, ideas, links, and thought provoking analysis that complements the show.

The post Thinking Religion 60: The When, Where, and Why of the Nativity appeared first on Thinking.FM.

Support Thinking Religion

Elisabeth and Merianna are reunited and it feels so good! They discuss finding reason, meaning, and purpose in writing in decisions we make as writers. They also discuss creating purposeful pauses rather than head-scratching confusion. They also ask how can I revise to achieve the effect I want in the reader?

• My Reviews Are Disappearing
• Amazon Reviews
• Chuck Wendig 1 Star Review of New Star Wars Book
• Aftermath
• Jane The Virgin
• Top Chef

What are Elisabeth and Merianna reading?

The post Thinking Out Loud 93: Working Out the Wrinkles as Writers appeared first on Thinking.FM.

Support Thinking Religion

Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson discuss domestic terrorists and the Carolinas, the myths of American Progressivism, creation stories, Trump’s views of citizenship, hate licenses, and the soft cultural underbelly of fear.

Show Notes:

• Why Franklin Graham says Donald Trump is right about stopping Muslim immigration | The Washington Post
• Jerry Falwell Jr. is the worst thing to happen to god in a while | Huffington Post
• Ted Cruz’s Plan for Toppling Donald Trump in South Carolina? Divine Intervention | National Journal
• The GOP Establishment May Need Religious Voters To Stop Donald Trump | FiveThirtyEight
• The Terrorists Among Us | Salon
• Trump Joins the War on Christmas | Daily Beast
• You’re worried about Trump? In 100 years, robots might be running for president | Washington Post

Thinking Religion is 22 minutes long.

Sign up for the Thinking Religion newsletter … delivered weekly and full of interesting tidbits, ideas, links, and thought provoking analysis that complements the show.

The post Thinking Religion 59: Trump and Symptoms of a Deeper Problem appeared first on Thinking.FM.

Support Thinking Religion

Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson discuss the issues involved with marketing and personal branding in an academic environment, whether academics and graduate students should blog, the demise of peer reviewed journals and scholarship, and whether or not MOOCs were ever a good idea.

Show Notes:

• My Female Students Don’t Seem As Impressed With Me As They Used To | The Toast

Thinking Religion is 50 minutes long this week.

The post Thinking Religion 58: Personal Branding and The Academy appeared first on Thinking.FM.

Support Thinking Religion

Thinking of how great it would be to add a member to your family?

Looking to have a baby soon?

Pregnant?

Buy one of these…

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite or Voyage.

Trust me.

Your friend… Sam, the newborn dad at 3am on a Wednesday morning.

Elisabeth is joined by author Stacy N. Sergent this week (Merianna is out for family leave) to talk about great pups, NaNoWriMo, writing as a lonesome experience and also a communal experience, the role of editing, and the psychological flow of being a writer.

• Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
• How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis
• Devil in the Details by Jennifer Traig
• Sleeping with Cats by Marge Piercy
• The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
• stacynsergent.com
• Stacy on Twitter
• Harrelson Press

The post Thinking Out Loud 92: Let’s Talk About Self-Editing appeared first on Thinking.FM.

Support Thinking Religion

We like to think pictures that we take (of ourselves and other things) digitally are eternal and won’t disappear into the digital abyss. 

However, is that true it will our JPGs and PNGs (not to mention associated metadata) slip into the digital dark age canyon we’re construction for our ancestors?

“If only they had used more permanent materials” our archaeologists lament about the past. I imagine that will be a similar lament in the future. 

Elisabeth is joined by UNC’s own Molly McConnell this week (Merianna is on maternity leave). They dive deep into the nature of reading, writing, and spicy beverages.

• Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic
• A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
• Ravens in Winter by Bernd Heinrich
• The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
• The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
• The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
• Michael Crichton
• The Handmaids Tale and Stone Mattresses by Margaret Atwood
• Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
• Blenheim #9 Diet Ginger Ale Review
• Ale-8-One
• Homemade Root Beer

The post Thinking Out Loud 91: Homemade Root Beer appeared first on Thinking.FM.

Support Thinking Religion

Elisabeth and Merianna talk about the importance of including and invoking emotions in readers. They discuss what they have to overcome as writers in order to cause suffering for their characters and create whole, full characters. Of course, they also talk about dogs, leaf blowers, and Baby Harrelson imminent arrival (who arrived on November 12, 2015 after this show was recorded!).

• Creating Emotion in the Reader
• Writing Beyond Good
• Why is Emotion Important in Writing
• Scrivener
• NanoWrimo

What are Elisabeth and Merianna reading?

The post Thinking Out Loud 90: Creating the Feels appeared first on Thinking.FM.

Support Thinking Religion