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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

  • A CASE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
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Barbara’s Riffs on Life

A Case of the Human Condition: When Your Six-Year-Old Wants to Talk Money

April 20, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A six-year-old boy dressed as a cowboy for halloween. Photo by Barbara Newhall

My six-year-old wanted an allowance. Jon and I debated. Fifty cents a week? 75? “Let’s not talk in cents,” said Peter. “Let’s talk in dollars.” Read more.

Writing Room: The Punch Line Always Goes Last

April 17, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Everyone knows that the punch line goes at the end of a joke, not the beginning. A mystery writer knows to set the story up and get all the necessary events and clues in place before revealing that the pizza delivery guy did it. The same is true of a paragraph and a sentence.

GodsBigBlog: Native American Tori Isner — Want to Find Holy? Go Look at a Rock

April 10, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Army vet Tori Isner traces her roots to the Eastern Band of Cherokee of North Carolina. She’s an adopted Lakota Sioux who currently lives in Texas. “Go look at the ocean. That’s Creator. That’s beauty.”

Simone Weil on Prayer — First, Pay Attention. Book Openers

April 6, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

retablo-chimayo-joseph

Simone Weil’s life was a short one, but her startling insights into the nature of God and God’s relationship to humanity pertain today.  Read more.

The Writing Room: Is Less More? Or Is More More?

April 3, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

What’s wrong with this sentence? “It was a letter from my lover; my heart thumped, my stomach sank, my breath stopped, and my hands shook as I opened it.”

The Writing Room: Two Must-Have Craft Journals for the Literary Writer

March 30, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

craft journals. books on shelf by john gardener, sands hall, strunk and white, noah lukeman, robert mckee, theodore m bernstein, stephen koch, susan shaughnessy. Photo by Barbara Falconer NewhallOf all the books and magazines that come my way each week, my favorites are the ones that talk about writing — like Poets & Writers and Writer’s Chronicle. Read more.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Maybe I Want a Facelift After All

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Facelifts that leave your cheeks looking like you’re facing into 100-mph headwinds are not for me. Or are they?  Read more.

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TO MY READERS

Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.

My Oakland Tribune columns, btw, are reprinted by permission of the Trib. With the exception of review copies of books, I do not accept ads or freebies of any kind. Click on the "Contact" button if you have questions. Enjoy!

 

DON’T MISS!

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My Old Stuff — A Little Moldy, a Little Dusty, but Unlike Certain People It’s Still With Me

An August sunset over Lake Michigan from a beach near Pentwater, MI. Photo by BF Newhall

On the Shores of Lake Michigan — Eagle Top, a Wild Place Tamed

JON-NEWHALL-EDITING-COPY

Widowed: Marriage Mistakes — If I Could Have a Do-Over, Would I?

A symbol in the lavatory of Shanghai airport indicating a Western-style sit-down toilet. Photo by BF Newhall

Travel Adventures: The Poop on China – And the Pee

MORE DON'T MISS!

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