Blog Posts for Stacy Ann Nyikos

The Book Review Club - Butt Wars

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:09:00 -0800

Butt Wars By Andy Griffiths Age Range: ? ? ? My seven year-old brought this book home. It was the party favor at a birthday party. She was disappointed. Butt Wars? It sounded so boy boy boy. I was puzzled. Butt in the title...of a middle grade? I had to read it. Right after I convinced her she should at least try it. It was outside her comfort range because of the boyishness. And ...

The Book Review Club - Butt Wars

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:08:14 -0800

Sustainability

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:03:57 -0700

I know. I know. Sustainability is actually one of the big millennia buzz words, usually referring to important things like, saving our planet. Recycle. Reduce. Reuse. I get it.But right now I'm really worried about sustaining my hair. It's all because of the gray. Gray changes everything. It makes your hair wiry. And changes the whole styling thing. It pretty much makes you reassess your haircut ...

Maunscript Diet

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:33:18 -0700

Have you ever had a manuscript gain an unsightly number of pages, so much so that you cringe at the cost of printing it out?I am usually a short writer. When I started college, I trembled at the thought of ten page papers. Ten pages? Who am I, Charles Dickens?When I wrote my dissertation and managed a whole 250 (including 25 pages of bibliography and tables), I was flabbergasted. I'd maxed out. ...

There is No Secret Handshake

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:24:00 -0700

The jig is up. There is no secret handshake. No magic formula. No deus ex machina for writers. Aghast? I was. Next thing you know, they'll be telling us there is no Santa Claus. Yeesh. Leaving the big red guy out of it for a moment, I have to admit, when I started out writing, I was certain there was a secret formula. All I had to do was figure it out and the bestsellers would flow from my ...

The Book Review Club - Horns & Wrinkles

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:09:50 -0700

Horns & Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson middle grade I have to say, I've had this book for a while. I picked it up. Put it down. Picked it up again. And then put it down. Finally, last week, I made myself read it. I don't know why I hesitated, but after reading John Gardner (yes, I am haunted by Mr. Gardner), Horns & Wrinkles was the perfect antidote. Funny. Insanely creative. Set up ...

Commercial Books - All Sugar and Sprinkles?

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:00:39 -0700

Mmmm...mmm....mm. Donut with sprinkles. Just thinking about one makes me want to ditch my blogging and find the nearest donut shop.Okay, no. No, I'm a big girl. I can resist the urge (for twenty minutes).But isn't that the effect commercial books have on our brains? Sugar rush pure. By commercial I mean dime store reads that make beach life perfect. I have guiltily indulged in them time and time ...

You Might Be a Writer If...

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:09:07 -0700

The kids are back in school. The dog has gone back to her full time occupation - sleeping on the couch. And I have the freedom to obsess about writing once again. Glee! I've hunkered down with John Gardner the last couple of days. Writer/professor/Breadloaf speaker, most known for his nonfiction works on writing skills - The Art of Fiction and On Moral Fiction. I am in an MFA program. There ...

Out on Good Behavior

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:00:52 -0700

The ivory tower is granting me a one day pass to go out and see the real world. The things good behavior will get you!GLEE!I'm being let out to speak at Oklahoma's school librarian conference, EncycloMedia. I'm excited. Thrilled. And a little nervous. Okay... a lot nervous. I'll be out with real people. I have to talk. I have to talk intelligently, in complete sentences, with no editing, about my ...

Sleeping with the...Scorpions?

Stacy Ann Nyikos — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:34:36 -0700

I couldn't help but break with my regular, frenetic, MFA writing/studying routine to post about this. I was lying in bed the other night, reading frenetically. Where the Red Fern Grows. A classic I've avoided because it suffers from the painful dead dog syndrome, actually two dead dogs. But, in the name of higher education, I'd decided to tackle it. I was just getting to the good part where ...