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The Belgian animated pic "Robinson Crusoe" has been retitled for American audiences as "The Wild Life."

The post ‘The Wild Life,’ Yet Another Talking-Animal Pic, Slated for Fall Release appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

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From new visions to revivals of lost wonders, next year's incoming animated features reach far and wide. But how far?

The post 47 Animated Features to Look for in 2016 appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

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As I pack away my Christmas tree for another year, I took stock today of my Christmas haul of books. I’m planning on reading more classics in 2015 and was fortunate enough to receive a few beautiful clothbound editions for Christmas. I hope you too were lucky enough to receive a book or two at Christmas time, […]

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"Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by friday." - Author Unknown

What is your favorite way to procrastinate writing?

Here is a list of my personal top 5 methods of procrastination:

5. Reading novels – I debated whether or not to include this on the procrastination list. I read somewhere that reading novels, for a novelist, is like an apprenticeship. So by reading novels, I'm contributing to my overall writing-life experience. But it also keeps me from writing, and I often read specifically to avoid writing. This is what I call productive procrastination and makes me feel less guilty.

4. Going out to lunch – I write from home, which means my schedule is “flexible.” I don’t have to sit at my desk and write for eight hours a day, right? I can go to lunch with friends or my mom or grandma, right? Right, but…how often do these lunches turn into afternoon-long catch-up sessions or evolve into shopping trips? Hmm…almost always.

3. Working out at the gym or pool – It’s very important have a healthy, active lifestyle and I’m lucky enough to be one of those people who loves to work out, go to the gym, go for a swim or a quick run. A regular workout routine is, in my opinion, essential. I, however, often go to the gym or the pool as an excuse to stay away from my desk and computer. Exercise is healthy, but in my case, definitely a tool for procrastination.

2. Cooking and baking – Everyone has to eat, right? Yes. But in my case, I find myself in the kitchen needlessly baking double-batches of chocolate chip cookies or mixing an exotic blend of fruits in my juicer when I really don’t need these foods, aren’t even hungry for these foods, and know I should be writing.

1. facebooking, Tweeting and other forms of social media – Getting sucked into the black hole of social media is by far the easiest way to procrastinate. I'm not entirely sure how it happens. I get on facebook to check for messages, make a status update, check some friends’ updates, and then suddenly it’s three in the afternoon and I have written nothing more than a witty wall post that maybe a half-dozen people will read. Yes, social media is increasingly important for writers and a necessary part of the writing business. I, however, need to curb my social media urges, unplug my Internet connection, and just write.


If I’ve learned nothing else this summer it’s this: when you don’t have a set writing schedule, it is exceedingly easy to procrastinate and not write. Every night before I go to bed I tell myself, “I will write something tomorrow.” And then tomorrow comes and I find myself pumping iron at the gym and then baking a tuna casserole, and then what do you know, it’s bedtime and I'm in bed reading a good novel.

If I jot down my writing goal on my calendar, I am much more likely to meet that goal. For example, I might write: “write from 2pm – 4pm” on Wednesday or “write 1000 words” on Thursday. This helps. Usually.

Help me to stop procrastinating! What are your favorite forms of procrastination,

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Purdy, Director of Publicity

In my youth, I was often attracted to books with high sea adventure: Treasure Island, Moby Dick, Old Man and the Sea, and of course Robinson Crusoe. Of these books, I found Crusoe both familiar and disturbing. In a society of one, how do you stave off madness and create a meaningful existence? In my self-imposed isolated existence—no one understood me, the real me, therefore I am alone—I wrestled with faith and belief in God, or a higher power. I questioned the moral superiority of my parents, my teachers, the U.S. government (it was the 80s). Those days are far behind me now, but I suspect I’ll be revisiting these ideas again when I host author Rebecca Chace at the Bryant Park Reading Room.* Below is an article Chace wrote for Fiction Magazine that explores other famous writers’ reactions to Robinson Crusoe.

*You can meet Rebecca Chace today, July 27, at 12:30pm in beautiful Bryant Park.  The outdoor Reading Room is just off 42nd St, between 5th and 6th Avenues in New York City. There, she’ll lead a discussion (free and open to the public) on Robinson Crusoe–and all registered attendees get a free copy of the book!

Looking for Robinson Crusoe

Shipwreck:
But it wasn’t.
It was much more mundane, though no less violent.

“Lie Like the truth” –Daniel DeFoe

Why do I need to circle around and invent, when a list of facts could do just as well or better:  On an evening in October, your father dies suddenly of a heart attack.  Eight weeks later, you find that the reason your husband has been almost completely absent through this abrupt shock into mourning has not been because of his work.  Turns out he has another life in another country and another language.  A woman with her own daughter the same age as our youngest. What he doesn’t have is an income and apparently he hasn’t had one for quite a while now.  Turns out he is in love.

Turns out you are not so much in love, anymore.

I will always know the exact date and approximate time of these events.  Time of death is something that strangers write down.  It is often not so exact in a marria

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Yes, indeed, guys, we're in a hot game now! I've just received 3 reviews from three new friends. Dakota T, a reader guy at SMS Guys Read, our brother guy-book blog, is the first:

0 Comments on The Competition Heats Up! as of 3/8/2010 12:54:00 PM

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