Ira Glass (one of my favorite modern media storytellers) has a few short snippets up about creating good stories.  Good stuff.

Krista and hannah arrived last night, so now it’s on to vacation!  4th of July parade and fireworks today in the big city of Oshkosh, NE; then on to Denver and Scottsbluff for a while.

People are descending on the ranch for the next few days, so I’ve moved out to “the motorhome.” That’s right Clark, that there’s an RV.  Only this one is much nicer.

I’m quite impressed by the mac app I’m using to write this thesis.  It’s call Scrivener and it was designed from the ground up for long-form writing projects.  The right tool for the job helps a lot – I’ve always felt like using traditional word processors for long-form projects is like using adjustable pliers to assemble that Christmas Eve toy – sure, it works, but stuff gets mangled on the way and frustrations tend to run a bit high.  Scrivener’s multi-paned layout, built-in outliner, and reference stack alone are a leap forward, but it also packs a lot more features (like notecards, synopses, and a great full-screen mode)  that make writing a long form project (like a thesis, book, or screenplay) seem not so “scroll-y” and frustrating (a la Microsoft Word).

Not much to report today.  Lots of reading, not much writing.  But, that’s all part of the process.

Looking forward to Krista and Hannah’s arrival on Friday!