Clear and Windy With a Chance of Writer's Quotes

As you can tell, I rearranged the blog this week. I turned 16 on the 16th, so I figured something a little new might be fun. =)

As I was working on the header, I looked up quotes... and found a lot that I liked! I used one by Audra Foveo-Alba (because we share the same first name), but I thought I'd share the other ones that I would've loved to have used.

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. 
 ~E.L. Doctorow

The wastebasket is a writer's best friend. 
 ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. 
 ~William Wordsworth

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. 
 ~Vladimir Nabakov

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. 
 ~Anton Chekhov

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. 
 ~Mark Twain

I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork. 
 ~Peter De Vries

Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. 
 ~Gene Fowler

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.
 ~Francis Bacon

Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum. 
 ~Graycie Harmon

Ink on paper is as beautiful to me as flowers on the mountains; God composes, why shouldn't we? 
 ~Audra Foveo-Alba

The only cure for writer's block is insomnia. 
 ~Merit Antares

You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke. 
 ~Arthur Polotnik

If I'm trying to sleep, the ideas won't stop. If I'm trying to write, there appears a barren nothingness. 
 ~Carrie Latet

Write your first draft with your heart. Re-write with your head.
 ~From the movie Finding Forrester

If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams. ~Danzae Pace

You can't wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club. 
~ Jack London

Until the next clubbing,

Audra E.

Cloudy With a Chance of The American Patriot's Almanac

365 reasons to love America!

The fife and drum of history mark the time of each passing day. And within their cadence, personalities, conflicts, discoveries, ideas, and nations peal and fade. American history is no different. From the starving time of Jamestown during the Winter of 1609, through the bloody argument of the Civil War, and to today, the United States is a tale best told one day at a time.
Best-selling author and educator Dr. William J. Bennett is a master of the story that is the United States. And in The American Patriot's Almanac, Bennett distills the American drama into three hundred sixty-five entries-one for each day of the year. Fascinating in its detail and singular in its grasp of the big themes, Bennett's Almanac will make anyone a fan of history, assembling even some of the most obscure details. Even better, it will make of everyone a patriot.

________________________

My review:

When I saw this book, I was very excited to get the opportunity to learn more about the history of my country. I thought this would be a great way to learn about the heroic and courageous things that people have done so that I can live in the U.S.

This book definitely helped bolster my patriotism. Because I read all 365 entries in a period of several months, it tended to drag at times, just because it was so much reading. But for something short to read once a day, this is wonderful. I really can't say just how much I enjoyed reading this book. As well as short blurbs on different people, places, etc., at the end of each month, there are "essays", I suppose you could say, that tell about different things - reasons to love our country, the history of our flags, fifty all-American movies, etc.

The only thing that bothered me were the few instances of profanity. I've never been one to want to read profanity in a book. However, people in history were just as flawed as we are today, and I understand the reasons the authors kept the quotes completely intact.

Overall, I suggest this book. It's great to get to read a little about our country's past every day.