... said the editor: anthology 2022

The #book ... Said the Editor: Anthology 2022, created by Ava Safran, is an #anthology on #editing, in which several #writers and #editors have shared their knowledge and experience in the form of tips, essays, and instructions, on #writing and #editing. It holds information about #grammar, usage, POV, and #style, all valuable to any #writer who intends to #publish. 

... Said the Editor: Anthology 2022

https://www.amazon.com/Said-Editor-Anthology-2022-ebook/dp/B0BR5ZN6YD/

... Said the Editor: Anthology 2021 

https://www.amazon.com/said-editor-anthology-2021-ebook/dp/B09PFHYKDT/

Em Dash / En Dash

Dash

A dash is a little horizontal line in the middle of a line of text. 

In this post, I will explain how to use dashes — em dashes and en dashes.

In this post, I will explain how to use dashes—em dashes and en dashes.

I worked on this post for five hours — from 6 to 11 this morning.

Sections 1–2 are a kind of introduction.

Sections 3–4 explain the uses of dashes.

Read sections 1–4; they’re all important.

Dash versus Underscore

Note that I said “in the middle” and not at the bottom. The line that goes at the bottom is called an underscore. 

A dash looks like – or —, but an underscore looks like _. 

Dash versus Hyphen

A dash is longer than a hyphen, which is used to separate parts of a word. 

A dash looks like – or —, but a hyphen looks like -.

Types of Dashes

There are two forms of dashes commonly used — em dash and en dash.

Note that I used an em dash in my sentence, between the words used and em dash.

First, I want you to pay attention to the way I put space between my words “used” and “em” and the em dash. That’s one way of writing it. Many people prefer to write this same sentence like this: 

There are two forms of dashes commonly used—em dash and en dash. 

Whether or not you use space around your em dash depends on your style guide and your choice. Both are correct. Whichever you choose, make sure you’re consistent throughout your text.

Second, I want you to know that I could have used a colon in this sentence instead of an em dash.

There are two forms of dashes commonly used: em dash and en dash. 

Both are correct. I personally prefer to use an em dash instead of a colon unless I’m writing an academic paper.

The em dash has the same length as the letter M (—), and the en dash has the same length as the letter N (–). These dashes don’t just differ in length, though; they also serve different functions in a sentence.

Em Dash 

Em dashes can replace commas or parentheses that separate information that is not essential to understand the sentence. 

She asked her instructor, Noosha Ravaghi, to explain this grammar feature.

She asked her instructor (Noosha Ravaghi) to explain this grammar feature.

She asked her instructor — Noosha Ravaghi — to explain this grammar feature.

Once he finally gathered enough money to buy the laptop (four months after he first saw it) he no longer needed it.

Once he finally gathered enough money to buy the laptop — four months after he first saw it — he no longer needed it.

When she found the errors in the text (all thirty of them) the editor decided to proofread the manuscript once again.

When she found the errors in the text — all thirty of them — the editor decided to proofread the manuscript once again.

Em dashes can replace a colon before an item or a list of items.

There are two forms of dashes commonly used: em dash and en dash. 

There are two forms of dashes commonly used — em dash and en dash. 

Em dashes are often used in pairs, unless they separate information that is at the end of a sentence; in that case the punctuation mark at the end of the sentence will signal the end of that piece of information.

I like to go swimming in the summer — my favorite season.

In the winter — my least favorite season — I stay at home and read.

When em dashes are used to mark a break in a sentence instead of a colon or even a semi-colon, they are often used for emphasis or to signal a change in tone. Keep in mind that using dashes is less formal that using other punctuation marks, so em dashes should not replace other punctuation marks in academic writing or any other formal text.

In a conversation, an em dash can be used to show an abrupt break whereas an ellipsis might indicate trailing off.

My dogs are little monst—

Some may use an em dash before an author’s name in a quote.

"You should never have more than two em dashes in one sentence."

— Noosha Ravaghi

En Dash

En dashes are slightly shorter in length than em dashes. Also, en dashes have an entirely different function. The en dash is used between numbers (dates, page numbers, etc.) and means to or through.

Albert Camus (1913–1960) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.

I told my students to do exercises 2–6 for tomorrow.

Make sure to use en dashes, not hyphens, for numerical ranges like these.

Also, in phrases such as from… to… and between… and…, it’s important to keep the word “to” or “and” instead of using an en dash, because it will affect the parallel structure in the sentence.

She lived in this town from 1995 to 1998.

Between 5 and 7, I was watching a movie.

The en dash is also used in the meaning of to or and to show relationships, scores, or directions.

The teacher–student connection is important.

They won the game 4–1.

The Paris–Rome train leaves in 30 minutes.

Typing the Dashes

Typing the dashes can be a little tricky.

Here are two simple options:

1 - Copy them from here and paste them where you need them:

em dash = —    en dash = – 

2 - Type your text in a Google doc. 

Google doc makes typing en and em dashes easy:

Use two hyphens back to back for an en dash.

Use three hyphens back to back for an em dash.

Four Years Later

Four years ago today, on December 21, 2018, I started a big project, building a cabin. Today, I am happy to announce that I finally finished it, all of it, including its sunroom. 

Everything between 2018 and 2022 is in my memoir Reflections: A Journey of Transformation (by Afarin Rava).

I had to learn, every step of the way, what to do and how to do it because I had no previous knowledge about construction. For this reason, I consider building this cabin one of my longest projects and biggest accomplishments.

For Freedom

Over the last few weeks, as most of my friends in the writing community on Twitter know, I've spent countless hours tweeting, retweeting, and translating tweets from Persian into English so that my non-Iranian friends — and strangers — can understand what's going on in Iran, the country where I was born. 

Reading these tweets and articles has been emotionally exhausting for me because I feel everything, and I can't detach myself from the events, but I can't stop either because writing / translating is the least I can do to help my sisters and brothers who are fighting the Islamic Republic terrorists in Iran. In fact, this is all I can do. 

I've always been clear about where I stand. I am with the people of Iran and support them in every way I can. Why? Because I've lived in occupied Iran, and there's nothing good about it. The Islamic Republic government is made up of a bunch of nobodies who, in the weakest moment of Iran, nearly forty-four years ago, found an opportunity to invade the country and reign over the land and its people.

The Islamic Republic regime, a theocracy, has never had any respect for life and/or human rights. It has especially taken away women’s rights. A woman in Iran is not allowed to wear what she wants; she must cover her hair and her body. A woman cannot get divorced unless her husband wants a divorce, and good luck to any woman who wants to get custody of her child(ren). In a court of law, two women’s testimony counts as one man’s testimony. A woman cannot travel without a man’s permission; if a woman is married, her husband decides whether or not she can travel; if she is unmarried, her father makes this decision. 

The Islamic Republic regime has destroyed Iran’s economy. While most people have been struggling to provide a shelter and other basic necessities for themselves and their children, just trying to live a normal life, the corrupt government officials have been seizing people’s properties and stealing the country’s riches, transferring these stolen goods out of the country, and filling their Swiss bank accounts for themselves and their offspring, who mostly live in other countries because — irony — Iran is no longer a good place to live. The economy is generally bad, and it gets worse with each step the terrorist government takes: Once any official’s actions affect other countries, sanctions are imposed on Iran — sanctions whose impact is only on the Iranian people, not on the corrupt officials responsible.

The Islamic Republic regime’s judiciary system is a joke. They make up laws all the time — laws for the people — and none of these laws apply to them. They arrest, torture, rape, and murder anyone they want, anytime they want. If any official — or any relative of an official — breaks the law, they will not be prosecuted, but if anyone outside of their family breaks the law, the most common verdict is the death penalty. In court, if they don't feel like it, they won't allow attorneys. People are killed daily for practicing a religion other than the regime’s version of Islam, for being gay, for fighting any injustice, and sometimes for nothing at all. It's basically the law of the jungle, and the government officials have all the power. 

Over the last four decades, the people of Iran have started protests against this corrupt regime several times, and each time, the Islamic Republic government has murdered a large number of protesters. The last time was three years ago, and that number was 1,500 people — in a matter of days — in November 2019.

This year, specifically in September 2022, a young woman named Mahsa Jina Amini, from Saqqez, Iran, went to Tehran, the capital, for a visit. The Islamic Republic forces — the so-called morality police (I’m not making this up; that’s what they call themselves) — arrested her because her hair wasn’t covered properly. Three days later, she was dead. The people once again stood up and spoke out in protest, and this protest was different — different because it was led by women, mostly young women and teenagers, and because the people never stopped. People’s protests started on September 16, 2022, the day Mahsa Jina Amini died, and they still continue today, November 25, 2022. Two weeks after it all started, people knew this was no longer a protest: It was a revolution.

Since September 16, 2022, over a thousand people, including over fifty children, have been killed. Thousands have been injured. And over fifteen thousand people have been arrested. The arrested protesters have been — and are still being — raped and tortured in prison. The prisons in Iran are now full of writers, artists, journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, and students. Many people have been abducted from their homes and taken to unknown locations. Many people have been killed in their homes. All these victims’ family members are being threatened by the terrorist state to keep their silence; they are being coerced to give untrue statements to the media about how their loved ones died. Some still tell the truth, and bad things happen to their families.

The regime’s forces steal people’s dead bodies and charge their families obscene amounts of money in exchange for the bodies of their loved ones, and the families have no choice but to pay because they want to bury them and give them proper funerals. They do many unspeakable things. There is no limit to the Islamic Republic regime’s atrocities. I am in the process of putting together an outline for a book because it is my responsibility, as a writer, to tell these stories — and I’m sure many other people are finding ways to tell the world what happened.

The government has all the power because they have weapons. People try to protest peacefully but get attacked — shot at, beaten with batons, thrown from buildings, etc. — at every turn. They have to fight armed terrorists, a.k.a. the Islamic Republic regime forces — also called “security forces” — with their bare hands. The only weapons people have are the rocks and stones they find on the ground and a few household items. In Iran, people do not carry weapons; there are no stores that sell guns; regular people do not have access to guns. Many of these “security forces” wear plain clothes and walk among people with the sole mission to identify the protesters so that the forces can later go abduct them or murder them in their homes. It’s stones against guns and military weapons. It’s innocent protesters seeking basic rights against evil terrorists.

The government also has agents in other countries, including the United States. Shortly after the revolution in Iran started — toward the end of September — I started tweeting about it. Since then, many people have contacted me, asking me to translate, write, and edit pieces of writing for various websites and social media platforms, all in the name of helping the people of Iran. Of course, some Iranians living in the US are, in fact, trying to help the people in any way they can, just like I am. However, there are also said agents, like the people affiliated with NIAC, an organization that supports the Islamic Republic and uses the media to distort the truth and hide the regime’s crimes. 

It’s hard to tell who contacts me and what their intentions are, but to anyone who has reached out to me, and there have been quite a few, I have made it a point to immediately and explicitly state that the people in Iran should stop being peaceful and start killing the terrorists because this is war. I know this puts me in some danger, but when it comes to corruption and injustice, I want to be as clear in my private conversations as I am publicly in my tweets, and I want to be loud. This regime must go, one way or another. Whether the officials stay in Iran to kill more people and end up being killed or leave Iran to crawl back in the hole they came out of almost forty-four years ago, the regime must and will go. Those who flee must know that we the people will eventually find them and hold them accountable for the crimes they have committed.

The people of Iran fight, knowing they might get killed. They are sacrificing themselves for democracy, mostly for their children and future generations. They are ending this violation of human rights at any cost. Victory is near.

Indiana Joes

The #book Indiana Joes is now available on #Amazon, in both #Kindle and paperback!

https://amazon.com/dp/B0BMTHBWJ9

This book is a short #memoir about COFFEE & PIE, the drink and not the baked dish but the Program for Intensive English at Indiana University, where I taught for six weeks in summer 2022, my students, and their project.

Saadi Shirazi

Human beings are parts of each other, 

For in creation, they are from the same gem. 

If hard times cause one part pain, 

Other parts will not restful remain. 

You who are indifferent to others’ suffering 

Are not worthy of the name human.

                                                        Saadi Shirazi

Be Their Voice / Say Her Name

Women and men are protesting side by side in the streets of Iran to get their country back from the current government, a.k.a. murderers. They are fighting for freedom, for women's rights, for a normal life. They have named their revolution #WomanLifeFreedom. All they ask of us, the rest of the world, is to share the events happening in Iran, so that said murderers see our brave women and men are not alone.

All of this started with the murder of #MahsaAmini by the "morality" police (don't get me started on the irony here).

Each one of you can help. The simplest way is to retweet the following song, by #ShervinHajipour, a young artist who got arrested because he collected people's tweets, tweets that stated why they joined this revolution, and sang it. We don't know if Shervin is alive or dead, but his song has now become the song of the revolution. It's called Baraye, which in Farsi means "For"... as in For Freedom.

You can hashtag the artist's name: #ShervinHajipour
Or you can hashtag the name of the revolution: #WomanFreedomLife
Or you can hashtag the name of the twenty-two-year-old innocent girl who got beaten to death that started all of this: #MahsaAmini

Or you can hashtag all three, along with the retweet of the song:

#MahsaAmini
#WomanLifeFreedom
#ShervinHajipour



Here's the song with its lyrics in English: https://youtu.be/FAeNCddonTc

#MahsaAmini

I'm writing for the thousands of people, mostly women, who get beaten, raped, and murdered every single day by the savages who call themselves the morality police, a branch of the corrupt government police supporting those who invaded Iran nearly forty-four years ago and have reigned over the country the last forty-three years.

Mahsa Amini was just one of these girls. This twenty-two-year-old had come to Tehran, the capital of Iran, with her family, to visit the city. The morality police arrested her and told her family she would be released after a re-education. She died in the hospital because of her injuries less than three days later.

In Iran, every single day...

women get brutally beaten for not covering their hair properly or for wearing makeup, or clothes the morality police deems inappropriate, or nail polish, or even a smile; 

gay men get hanged; 

anyone who speaks up against anyone in the government gets sent to prison and no one ever sees them again;

lawyers who defend anyone who has been wronged by anyone with ties to the corrupt government get arrested;

any person who expresses their thoughts in any way gets taken away and killed;

...

These things happen in Iran every single day. 

Mahsa Amini is a symbol. Her death on September 16 sparked a revolution in Iran... for life, for women, for freedom. And more people are dying. This time, people may not back down until they take back their country from these murderers. Thousands of people all over the world have been protesting against this corrupt regime, supporting those who are fighting inside the country.

So... Mahsa Amini... Say her name. It's not about one girl you or I don't personally know. It's about all the women in Iran. The women in Iran are strong. For forty-three years, they have quietly resisted. Today, they're done being quiet. 

#MahsaAmini

Book Review: Get Thee to a Bakery

I finished reading Get Thee to a Bakery by Rick Bailey. I enjoyed this collection of anecdotes, many of which I found relatable. What's not to like? Music, food, words, ..., and life in general. I liked Bailey's writing: simple and beautiful. I recommend this inspiring book with five stars and look forward to reading more from this author.

A Strange Month

August turned out to be a strange month for me. Things were going well the first few days of the month: My classes at Indiana University ended well, my car recovered from surgery, and I felt excited about my return home. 

I knew a lot of work was waiting for me at home: I needed to clean everything because I had activated three bug bomb foggers right before leaving, the sunroom still needed to be built, the frame of the old cabin still had to be removed, and I wanted to paint the floor of the cabin. All this was physical work, though, and I looked forward to completing all these tasks. 

I arrived home late afternoon on Sunday, August 7, to a dead plant on the porch. I had left my jasmine outside so that my neighbor could water it. There were two jugs containing questionable liquids next to it. I smelled them: One was obviously bleach and the other I couldn't tell. My neighbor said it was Miracle Grow. I asked why there was bleach near my plant and he said he didn't know. 

Inside, I scrubbed a small area of the floor near the door, where I made a temporary bed for the dogs and myself to rest that evening until I could work on cleaning the rest of the cabin in the morning. 

The next morning, I started cleaning and unloading the car at the same time, and since I moved things around to clean under them, I began to paint the floor, little by little, waiting for one part to dry before moving things back and painting the section next to it. With high temperatures outside, I didn't paint too much because I didn't want the smell of paint to bother us. The dogs and I went for short walks, and I even let them stay cool in the car with the air conditioner and music on while I applied a second coat of paint.

It took two days for the bedroom to be ready, and we could finally sleep comfortably in our beds. I continued to close off small sections of the floor and paint them. The dogs and I continued to go out for fresh air.

As I went in and out of the cabin, I noticed the large windows I had left leaning against my small shed were both broken. It looked like someone had just kicked them really hard. I hoped whichever one of my neighbors had done this felt better now. I would have to buy new windows for the sunroom. 

I decided to not pay attention to the negative stuff and go online to chat with someone I considered a trusted friend, just to remind myself that I can focus on good things when something bad happens. This trusted friend sent me pictures she had taken of me after I had specifically asked her not to take my picture. This upset me much more than seeing the broken windows had. Maybe she thought she was being funny, or maybe she did it to hurt my feelings... Whatever her intentions were, I felt betrayed. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that no matter how much I loved her, I could no longer be myself around this person. 

As I continued to clean the cabin, I noticed other things that had gone wrong during my absence. To make things worse, some mail I was expecting never arrived, a few of my book reviews were deleted, new people I met online deceived me with their lies, my friend's sister died, my laptop completely stopped working, and I found out I have several new health issues. 

I am still trying to find the lesson, or lessons, I am supposed to learn from these incidents that occurred one after the other in one month. I'm grateful to be here, to have my dogs by my side, to have a shelter, and to be able to manage. I hope September will be kinder.

Book Review - Tripping

Ilya Gutlin, a traveler, takes us with him to the "university of backpacking," where he learns about one culture after another as he crosses cities, countries, and continents. In his memoir, Tripping: Diaries of a Travel Junkie, a must-read, the author illustrates his encounters so vividly that the readers feel his experiences are their own. I recommend this book to anyone who loves traveling, is curious about other cultures, and enjoys good storytelling. 

Reading & Writing

I'm home after a seven-week absence. I traveled to Indiana to teach four six-week ESL classes:
Structure in Use 3, Structure in Use 6, Reading 7, and Writing 7.  

In my writing class, I had seven students. I gave them a huge project on the first day: Each had to publish a book on Kindle. I explained that every assignment in the class would help their final project. By the last week of class, all seven students published a very short Kindle book. 

Here are their blurbs:

In Nourishing Experiences: Volunteering, the author takes her readers on a short trip across three different volunteering experiences and explains how volunteering offers us a different perspective of socio-relational dynamics and how it helps us to improve the lives of not only others but also ourselves by connecting with our inner child and exploring new sides of ourselves.

In Failures as Teachers, the author explains his causes of failure in various situations and how he learned from his mistakes. This book helps readers use their past experience of failure for the betterment of their future life.

In Expectations: Sadness and Anger, the author speaks out against the stresses of ordinary life, describing his own stressful situations, and provides advice on how to live a more stress-free life and how to know oneself better.

The book Understanding Others is about one Japanese girl’s experiences in intercultural environments. She shares her experiences, creating new perspectives for people who don’t know about other countries’ cultures.

In his memoir Adventures & Advantages, Pedro writes about the sequence of events that took him to six different cities in the last eight years and how living in each place helped him gain new perspectives and achieve self-improvement.

In The Power to Change, the author gives readers a clear understanding of their capacity, encourages them to believe in themselves, and leads them to find their own way to success.

The author uses her own experiences to explain, in a simple way and with clear instructions, the path to becoming a lawyer in the United States. How to Become a Lawyer… Again bridges the gap between practicing law in a foreign country and pursuing that practice in the United States.

When I first told them about the final project, these students, all international students from various countries learning English as a second language (ESL), didn't believe they could write a book. Some did better than others, of course, but they all did it. They are now all published authors, and I am so proud of them! Two of these students have shared with me that they will use their published Kindle book as a base and continue to develop their writing until it's ready to publish as a paperback.

House Versus Home

A house is a building that serves as a shelter for animals, including humans; it's a living space, a place of residence. It can be made of brick, stone, stucco, wood, block, glass, ...
The word house is a concrete noun; it can be felt with the five senses. What about home?

The word home can be used as a concrete noun in some of its definitions, but in comparison with the word house, it is an abstract noun; it cannot be felt with the five senses. 

As with most abstract nouns, home can mean different things to various people. To me, home is where I feel safe, where I feel at peace, where I get to be comfortable. No matter where I am, whether or not I am in my house, my furry companions are my tiny social unit, my family, and when I am with them, I feel I am at home.

I just read another thought-provoking article by Philip Anderson, a remarkable lesson on perspective and gratitude:
https://www.independentliving.co.uk/philip-anderson/seeking-refuge-yearning-for-home/ 

I wonder what home means to others.

Reflections

When I published my first memoir, Languages & Life Lessons, I wrote this blog post:

I started writing when I learned to write, but I started writing every day in 2016.

It was meant to be therapeutic. I wrote what I couldn't say.

Over 5,000 pages later, in 2019, after I got settled in my cabin in the woods, I started organizing my notes to turn my writing into a book.

This process alone took over a year, and by the end of 2020, I finally had about 200 pages.

The editing didn't seem to get anywhere for a while...

One day, working on the manuscript, I realized this was going to be three books, not one.

When I divided my work into three sections, I began to make progress with the editing.

Languages & Life Lessons (by Afarin Rava, my pen name) is one of those three books, the first to be published.

https://www.amazon.com/Languages-Life-Lessons-Afarin-Rava/dp/B09HG6KHB3

My pen name is the last part of my first name and the first part of my last name:

noosh(afarin rava)ghi

My second memoir, Reflections: A Journey of Transformation, is currently available on Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/reflections-journey-transformation-Afarin-Rava/dp/B0B3QDW9C7

I am now working on the third book...

A Few Updates

1) I want to congratulate Chris Palmore. The second volume of his journal, Gratitude Journey, is out today, on his mom's birthday, and is available on Kindle. The paperback will soon go live as well. 

2) I will go on a road trip tomorrow and will return at the end of summer. I look forward to getting away from all the bugs and this heat.

3) I want to thank friends who send me goodies (chocolate, books, cards, and other wonderful surprises). The post office will hold my mail until my return. I won't get my mail until mid-August. If you have already sent me something, thank you; I will get it upon my return. If you haven't, please don't send anything until I get back.

4) I'm very excited: A few book projects are in the works... I will give you more details soon.

On Appreciation

Many years ago, someone I worked for told me something about appreciation that stuck with me. At first when I heard it, I was shocked... and I never shared it with anyone because, when illustrating his point, my former boss didn't use nice words and his example sounded vulgar, but I now realize sometimes that's the best way to describe something. He said, "Someone who is used to tasting honey can't eat shit, and someone who is used to shit can't appreciate honey."

I know my former boss's words are not polite, but they sound much better than the words that are running through my head right now. 

Now, I'm going to just put this link here:

https://concernedscientists.org/2020/05/international-astronomy-olympiad-winner-jailed-in-iran/

The Death of My Grandmother

When I was four, my maternal grandmother died, and my parents told me she wasn't there because she was travelling. My four-year-old brain knew better. My grandmother couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom by herself; she needed help every time she wanted to get up. How could she be travelling? I knew she was dead, but I didn't know my parents were lying to me; I thought they just didn't know, so I let them think that my grandmother was travelling. I felt sad that she was dead, and I couldn't talk about it with anyone. I was a little disappointed with my parents, too. How could they be so stupid? Didn't they know Grandma couldn't go anywhere alone?

So what prompted this memory from 47 years ago? 
https://www.independentliving.co.uk/philip-anderson/being-mortal/

In his thought-provoking article, Philip Anderson writes about euphemisms and introduces ways to talk to children about death: "It is far better to talk openly about death with children, and there are several books which can be helpful."

Why Make Things Worse?

The English language has many irregularities that make it difficult to learn for people speaking other languages. These irregularities have to do with the changes of words over time and often date back to a long time ago. 

A few days ago, I came across the phrase box spring and thought How are English learners supposed to know what that means? Thankfully, box springs are not really used anymore... 

Today, I came across another phrase and my thoughts, once again, went to my students and learners of English in general. The phrase ice chest, referring to a chest full of ice to keep foods and drinks cold, makes sense. The word cooler also makes sense because it keeps things cool. However, now I see the words are combined in an inexplicable manner, both online and on store signs, and the phrase chest cooler is in use. Why would people call it a chest cooler when they can call it simply a cooler? It doesn't cool the chest! Why create incorrect phrases, make them commonly used, and confuse English learners? 

Nowruz

I've been posting tidbits about Nowruz on my other blog, afarinrava.blogspot.com. 
If you've missed these, here they are in the order I've posted and published them:

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/nowruz-is-coming.html

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/haftseen.html 

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/my-haftseen-2021.html

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/happy-nowruz.html

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/day-6.html


There is so much more information about Nowruz that I'd like to share...
and maybe someday I will write a book about it.

This morning, I came across a fascinating piece that I'd like to share with you. 
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/overheard/article/nowruz-and-the-night-sky

Enjoy!

Gratitude Girl... 52 Weeks

www.gratigi.blogspot.com

 

Update

I wrote several pieces in January and several more in February, but I never edited or posted them because I was busy with other projects. I'm simply behind on my blogging. I'll start editing my pieces and posting them in the next few days, in the order they were written, backdating each to its original date.

Gratitude Journey - Volume Two

Chris Palmore invites you all to share a gratitude story as we are collecting pieces for the second volume of his anthology Gratitude Journey, an annual publication.

Gender

Writers who use #PenNames and all #Writers of #fiction... and even nonfiction: 
Check out the #book Gender in Fiction: A Collaborative Exploration, a small collection of perspectives on gender, not only the gender of characters but also that of #authors and the name(s) they use.

Book Review: Imagine That

Imagine That: The Magic of the Mysterious Lights, by George Yuhasz, is a book for children. What Evelyn discovers at a young age is something most adults don't learn until much later in life. I recommend this wonderful little book on the power of thoughts and dreams to all children and adults who have anything to do with kids.
#parents #teachers #tutors #children #kids #thoughts #mind #imagination

#BookReview: ... said the editor: anthology 2021

With a foreword by Denis Shaughnessy, the mastermind behind Marco Ocram's Awful Truth series, the #book ... said the editor: anthology 2021, created by Ava Safran, is an #anthology on #editing, in which several #writers and #editors have shared their knowledge and experience in the form of tips, essays, instructions, and letters on #writing and #editing. It holds information about #grammar, usage, #style, manuals, and #querying, all valuable to any #writer who intends to #publish. 

Get it now, read it, and take notes. If you want to write #books, you need to know this stuff. This is the link to #Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/said-editor-anthology-2021-ebook/dp/B09PFHYKDT