Tag Archives: Maria Grace

Remembering What I Don’t Know

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A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which relatively unskilled persons suffer illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than it really is.   Today I’d like to offer a corollary: The more I think I know, the more I don’t realize what I don’t know. Huh? Hang in with me just a second and with any luck here, this will make sense. Sometimes the problem is not that we don’t … Continue reading →

Thoughts on Love and Friendship, or Just who did Jane Austen hang out with?

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Lady Susan, the Jane Austen novella recently adapted into the file Love and Friendship is unique among all of Austen’s works, for many reasons. Not the least of which is that it’s something of a Regency train wreck. You just can’t tear yourself away from the awfulness that is Lady Susan. Don’t get me wrong, I love the original novella, and I thought the movie was excellent. But, man does it leave me wondering who … Continue reading →

Some advice about advice

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My son and his wife are expecting their first child. (And I’m trying to wrap my poor head around being a grandmother—but I digress.) They are awash in advice about EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. And they are confused. Maddeningly, head swirling with conflicting opinions, ready to *headesk* confused. So my dear son turned to me and asked how to sort through all the advice they were getting. Dear child knows me and knows I’ll … Continue reading →

But it’s easy for you…

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Sometimes stupid things fall out of people’s mouths and you’re just left slack jawed, wondering how do I respond to this—without smacking them upside the head, ‘cause, well, that’s just not nice. Often well deserved, but not nice. So now you’re going to ask me why I bring that up now.  Blame my son, he just graduated from college. He just graduated cum laude with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Mama bear is super proud—I … Continue reading →

How is writing a book like skinning a cat?

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New year’s is always a time for reflection and planning. I love setting goals and planning how to get there. I love to research how to do those things well. The trouble is when those who know can’t seem to agree on the right way to do something.  In fact, so much of the advice to writers is contradictory, it’s crazy-making. How Many Ways to Skin a Cat? Yesterday in the span of an hour … Continue reading →