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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
  • MY EVER-CHANGING FAMILY
  • WRITING & READING
  • MY ROCKY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
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On Writing & Reading

Here you'll find author profiles as well as mini – and not-so-mini – book reviews. I’m a writer who loves to talk about writing, so if you like to write I hope you’ll stop by now and then for some writing tips and to chat about the writing life.

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.

Book Openers: Green for God

March 27, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A review of two new books that explore the confluence of spiritual and environmental concerns, “Holy Ground: A Gathering of Voices on Caring for Creation” from Sierra Club books, and “The Green Bible: Understand the Bible’s Powerful Message for the Earth” from HarperOne.

Writing Room: Ending Paragraphs and Sentences with a Bang

March 20, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A stack of books on getting published in the library of author Barbara Falconer Newhall. Photo by Barbara Newhall

The most powerful place in a paragraph is its last sentence. More precisely, the most powerful place in a paragraph is the last few words of that sentence. Read more.

Book Openers: The Emerging, Emergent Church — What’s Up Next for Christianity?

March 13, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

“About every five hundred years the Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale,” Phyllis Tickle writes in her new book, “The Great Emergence.” In the two thousand years since its founding, Christianity has reinvented itself several times.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

When a Grown Daughter Doesn’t Call — Or, How to Overmother a Twenty-Something

Christina Newhall with cell phone. Photo by BF Newhall

Christina hadn’t called. We had dropped her at the airport hours ago. The flight to Burbank takes only seventy minutes. She should be home by now. But Jon and I still hadn’t gotten the, “I’m home. The plane didn’t crash. My roommate remembered to pick me up, and we didn’t get mugged in the garage,” phone call. 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!

 

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I’m Not Going to Rant About the Election Results. Here’s Why

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The Fourth of July — With Liberty and Justice for All

The mother of the bride contemplates the figure flaws she'll be showing off at her daughter's wedding. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Six Ways to Look Dreadful at Your Daughter’s Wedding — A Mother-of-the-Bride Moment

Writer Barbara Falconer Newhall wears a khaki Mao hat with numerous Mao buttons in Beijing. Photo by BF Newhall

Xi’An to TX and Mao to LBJ — I’ve Been Traveling and I’m Back

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