Week 6 Internet assignment available NOW. Now that Week 6 has begun, the Week 6 Internet assignment is also available (the Internet assignments from now until Week 12 cannot be completed early; they are available starting on the first day of each week, Tuesday). This week, you'll be commenting not just on some Storybook coverpages, but also reading the Introductions. You'll find detailed instructions at the Internet assignment page. The assignment is available now, and everybody should have published their Introduction already. If someone does not have their Introduction yet, you do NOT have to wait for them. Go on to another Storybook that is ready for you to read! You will be reading and comments on four different Introductions this week.
Writing Tips - WOW, what a great list! There is a fantastic article in the London Guardian with writing tip lists from some famous writers, including Elmore Leonard and Margaret Atwood. One of my favorites is this one: Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need. Plus, I really like this one about how the rules for writing and the rules for life probably have a lot in common: The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.
Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in before noon on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on or Monday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. It is really important that you check to make sure your assignment is in the stack. Every week, at least one or two emails are mysteriously gobbled up by the OU email system, leaving no trace - and the sooner you can let me know about that, the better!
Hanuman: Monkey Legends Radio Show. Thanks to Kelley in Indian Epics for letting me know about this! At the WGBH website for the "Sound and Spirit" show you can listen to their latest broadcast: it's all about monkeys and includes Hanuman, a character familiar to everybody in the Indian Epics class now. So, visit the Sound and Spirit website, and click on the Listen to this program link: "From Hanuman the Hindu monkey god and other divinely associated simians in Egyptian, Greek and Chinese Buddhist lore, to Taoist and Jewish fables and negative depictions of monkeys in Christian and Islamic tradition - Sound & Spirit explores the fascinating myth, legend and folklore about monkeys." Here is a statue of the mighty Hanuman from Bangalore, India - and meanwhile, check out the Sound and Spirit broadcast if you are curious about Hanuman and other great monkey legends!
