Author Archives: lizshine74

About lizshine74

Liz Shine wrote and read her way out of small-minded, small-town doom. We’re not talking about riches here. We’re talking about how a practice like writing can save a person. How it can give hope, shape identity, and ignite purpose. She hopes to write stories and poems that move readers the way certain works have made all the difference to her. She lives in Olympia, WA in the USA. She believes in the power of practice and has been practicing writing since some time in the early 90s when she became an adult in the rain-soaked city of Aberdeen. Writing began with journaling, as a way to understand a confusing, sometimes violent coming-of-age. She writes mostly fiction, some nonfiction, and poetry, and holds an MFA from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writers Workshop. She has published in Shark Reef, Dual Coast, and Blue Crow Magazine. She is a founding editor at Red Dress Press.

"Babylon Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I’m not sure what to make of the title, except that maybe it refers to the change in the main character and how visiting the city he spend his youth frivolously in causes him to reflect on the change.
This is a sad story. Even with films like Mr. Mom to pave the way for change, we still live in a society that is slow to forgive the sins of fathers and reluctant to entrust them with nurturing tasks. I was annoyed at the end when the fact that the aunt had a headache prevented Charlie from gaining custody of his daughter and that he didn’t try more desperate measures to get custody.

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone

"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane

I love this story! Crane’s portrayal of life’s irony and the wit and care he takes to portray it makes this story thought-provoking and affecting.
One of my favorite lines is: “The injured captain, lying in the bow, was at this time buried in that profound dejection and indifference which comes, temporarily at least, to even the bravest and most enduring when, willy-nilly, the firm fails, the army loses, the ship goes down.” The mocking tone of this line makes dejection absurd. Silly humans with our silly notions of invulnerability!

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone

Ode to Winged Words

Ode to Winged Words

Oh Odysseus, it was not
yours that did me in
not yet
but some others I underscored
and mouthed
Madeleine
Walt
Erica and Tom
Leonard Cohen
Joni Mitchell
Thank you
for urging
my ballpoint pen
sometimes afraid to fly
to move shameless
across the page
over and over
until it began
to make
sense

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone