Quote from The Review of Disability Studies:
"This is an excellent book to explore feelings about death and disability. James does a good job in exploring the feelings of someone whose friend is deteriorating quickly. I would especially recommend this book for high school students."
Steven E. Brown Assistant Professor at the Center of Disability Studies at the University of Hawai'i. Editor at Review of Disability Studies.
Wednesday 31 July 2013
Friday 26 July 2013
Tidying Up, Letting Go, Moving On, Getting There
Why I’ve tided up my office
I’ve taken a week off from my day-job and used quite a bit
of it to give my study a thorough sort-out. I’m probably going to be moving into a shared office at work shortly. There’ll be less space for books so I’m
making space here so that I can bring back all of my books form the office.
I find quite often that anyway if I’m in the office the
books I want are at home and if I’m at home the books I want are in the office.
So this is a good strategy anyway. Besides, we’re going to have more contact
hours with students so that the office becomes a space that we use for small
snatches of time between lectures. We’ll all be located quite closely together
so some of that spare time will be used for meetings, both formal and informal.
There’ll only be time and brain space for quick bursts of admin work. The
studious desk-work will be completed in my study at home.
Thursday 11 July 2013
Can writers live without the internet?
Well, I’m pretty taken with it but others seem even more
attached. I’m not one of those people that are forever checking the phone for Tweets,
emails and Facebook messages. If I’m out and about or teaching, the world can
wait. However, at my desk or alone in a hotel or on a journey I’ll look at it
all at regular intervals and both my mobile and my laptop alert me when a new email
comes in – and my emails tell me if I have new Tweets or Facebook messages.
Tuesday 2 July 2013
New demographic? The New Adult
Thinking about this may have actually started four or five
years ago. When I met my final year student for the first time then one of my
students declared “I want to write for people our age. No one seems to write
specifically for us.” She meant people in their early twenties. She managed it,
in fact.
This particular student had been on my Writing Novels for
Young People course. She’d actually done very well and I had rather hoped she
would carry on with it. But no, she wanted to start on this new venture. She
did very well with this as well.
What might be the features of this new genre and what is a
“new adult”?
I would say “new adults” are more comfortable with their
adult status than the “young adults”. All of the shenanigans in the brain are
over. They would be living away from home in their first jobs or nearing the
end of higher education.
In stories written for them there may be a little less about
identity but much about further progression in the world. There may be more
outward –looking scenes. There will still be much about sex and relationships. What
will be the main types of stories told here? Perhaps amongst others there will
be stories of early career development. I watch the emergence of this new genre
with interest.
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