Keeping it real is the write way to go

Written by Shelley Plett Tuesday, 10 May 2011 15:46

“For writers who knowingly lie, for those who substitute unbelievable human behavior for the way people really act, I have nothing but contempt. Bad writing is more than a matter of…fault observation; bad writing usually arises from a stubborn refusal to tell stories about what people actually do—to face the face, let’s say, that murderers sometimes help old ladies cross the street. —Stephen King, “On Writing”

 

The “nine old men,” named by Mr. Walt Disney, were the original animators at the Walt Disney Co. I was watching a documentary on Pixar, which talked about its history with the Disney Co.

The technology that transformed the original animation of Mickey Mouse into today’s animation of Nemo is beyond my...

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Wanting to simplify life? Just do it

Written by Shelley Plett Tuesday, 26 April 2011 15:44

“A little simplification would be the first step towards rational living, I think.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Simplify. You won’t find this word in the Oxford Dictionary’s list of the most commonly used words in the English language. But it has to be rising on the charts.

Simplification is the new black.

It’s the thing to do now that we’re being forced to make maddening choices like a tank of gas or a gallon of milk. A movie matinee or a box of Mike and Ike’s? This might be a slight exaggeration, but the blissful days of having both are vanishing. Unless you sneak your own box of Mike and Ike’s into a movie. But that would be wrong, so, ummm, yeah, you shouldn’t do that.

In everything except plasma astrophysics and...

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I get by (barely) as a handy person

Written by Shelley Plett Tuesday, 05 April 2011 14:56

“There’s nothing to match curling up with a good book when there's a repair job to be done around the house.” —Joe Ryan

 

I jammed my finger, trimmed two extra layers of plastic shims to force fit the strike plate, dropped and found the handle spring three times, had to remove and re-cut the length of the black plastic thing twice because pathetic as it is, I cannot for the life of me visualize how long 3/8 of an inch is on the first (or second) try, and I nearly lost the entire door in a big gust of wind.

Not unlike the birth of a child, all of this pain was worth it. Because in the end, I replaced an old storm door handle that wouldn’t catch with a brand new one that does.

Let’s get the minor details out of the way...

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Women who laid tracks for the train

Written by Shelley Plett Tuesday, 22 March 2011 14:27

“Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew someday, the train would come.” —Martini, “Under the Tuscan Sun”

 

I know a lot of successful people who have followed the rules laid out in front of them, did all the right things in the right order and never hit a hiccup along the way (that’s remotely visible anyway).

I also know a few who have come into their own by way of impossibly steep mountains. I don’t think they...

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