Blogs by Shutta Crum at BigUniverse.com

Libraries and Children (Part II)

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

If you caught Part 1 of this posting a week or two ago, you know that librarians (and retired ones, as well) like to talk about their reference questions. In that posting I spoke of my favorite ...

Libraries and Children (Part I)

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

If you hang out with librarians, or frequent parties with librarians, eventually the topic of discussion rolls around to one of two subjects; our most memorable patrons (in good and bad ways)... ...

A Poem for Writers

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I hope you all celebrated National Poetry Month (April) in creative ways. Here I offer a poem of mine for all writers who worry about those adverbs and adjectives. Enjoy! by Shut ...

Finding Passion in the Spoken Word

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Like a lot of writers I started out writing poetry at an early age. In the 70s and 80s I participated in poetry readings, guerilla poetry (“taking it to the streets.”), and I contributed to small literary presses. ...

How the Light Gets In

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen, from “Anthem.” I’ve be ...

The Blessing of Boredom

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

There has been a lot of talk lately about how important unstructured play is for children. I, for one, am glad to join in the chorus of those chanting, “Stand back, Mom and Dad!” We need to let our k ...

Mama's got a brand new bag

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

How little it takes to make this writer truly happy! I have found Nirvana . . . or maybe, to be honest I should say, my back has found Nirvana. Every March hundreds, if not thousands of authors take ...

The Perils of Pauline’s Prose

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The Perils of Pauline’s Prose In the early 1990’s our house was broken into, and we were robbed. We live in the country and have no neighbors within sight of the house. Beautiful. However, we were a ...

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)*

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I awoke this morning with that famous opening line from Daphne Du Maurier’s REBECCA in my drowsy head. I’m not sure why. I haven’t reread it for some time, nor have I seen the movie lately. ...

My Un-naming Day

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Shutta is my real first name and Crum is my real last (maiden) name. [My husband has a boring last name, so I kept Crum—what else goes with Shutta?] It is not an ethnic name, or derived from any language other than... ...

Beowulf for Any Age

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Right now, I find myself reading in the round. That is, reading a variety of translations of one title—in this case, Beowulf. (I’m not sure if this is the correct term for this type of reading . . . ...

MUD!

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I lay down my copy of Discover magazine, and think back to the many hours I spent stomping around barefooted in our vegetable garden this past summer. ...

Lessons from the Cat

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Styx is old—not as ancient as the river, mind you, but old—19. That’s about 92 in human years! We’ve promised him a birthday party with all the trimmings (tuna cake and whipped cream frosting) if he ...

Lost in time: BC/AD, BCE/CE, or GE?

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

It used to be that the designations of the Anno Domini system for dating notational use was pretty much all there was—and there was a definite line between the BC and the AD portions. (Keeping in mind ...

A Little Justice . . . a Little Mercy

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

A favorite quote of mine from G. K. Chesterton is, “Children are innocent and love justice, while we [adults] are wicked and prefer mercy." I came across this quote while I was writing my firs ...

Poetry - and Putting the Garden to Bed.

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Recently, I taught a literary technique workshop for adult writers of poetry. At one point I stopped to ask this group of writers what a particular poem we were reading was about. ...

Huddling Against the Wall

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:00:00 +0000

I’ve just returned from a week “down South” visiting schools and speaking at the Tennessee Association of School Librarians’ conference. What fun! These are folks after my own heart. ...

"Com' on in! The Water's Fine."

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I was interviewed for an online piece to accompany an adaptation of one of my books into a reader’s theater script. During that interview I reflected upon the difference between writing picture... ...

Distorting the Time-Space Continuum

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:00:00 +0000

Recently an interesting question popped up on the Ask A Scientist Physics Archive. (I know. I must have been sleep-surfing!) Anyway, the question was “Is it possible to artificially distort ...

Manna in the Letter From Kids

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I plowed through the mail that piled up while I was away in Ireland—research you know—ahem! (After all, one does need to get the smell, feel, sound, and taste (?) of a castle if writing about castles. ...