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Category Archives: Learning

Bronte’s Shirley

I just finished Charlotte Bronte’s SHIRLEY, which makes reference to mills, their owners and workers and strikers, in 1811-1812. I started it to learn about the history and thinking of that time, to use as reference for my new story, but ended up caught up in the story and the original yet universal characters. At [...]

Posted 07 September 2009 † nickyp § Books § Reading ‡ Comments (0) °

Machines and learning

Someday, socially engaging robots that provide an individualized curriculum for every student could transform the future of education, Terrence J. Sejnowski tells the Dana Foundation in an interview this week. Sejnowski founded Neural Computation, the top journal in neural networks and computational neuroscience, and has developed pioneering algorithms for decades. In this Q&A, he talks [...]

Posted 03 September 2009 † nickyp § Brain science ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

At RWA: ‘Readers for life’

On Wednesday, the Romance Writers of America national conference opens its doors to the public from 5:30 to 7:30 pm for its annual “Readers for Life” mega-autographing session. Buy books! Get them signed by one of 500 romance-loving authors! The money goes to ProLiteracy Worldwide. It is free (except for the books you buy, of [...]

Posted 14 July 2009 † nickyp § Books § Marketing § Reading § Writing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , ,

RWA: Nationals is local

This year, the Romance Writers of America holds its national convention in my own back yard. In less than two weeks, July 15 through 18, the happy horde will land in Washington at the Wardman Marriott Park Hotel for workshops, parties, industry panels and the big awards ceremony. First, there’s a huge public booksigning event, [...]

Posted 03 July 2009 † nickyp § Books § Marketing § Reading § Writing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Arts training changes your brain

Over at the Dana Foundation site, there’s a package of news and commentaries (with more coming) on “neuro-education,” the effects of arts training on the brain and the use of what we know about the brain to improve how we teach. Stories include: NEWS: Attention May Link Arts and Intelligence Arts education causes “profound changes” [...]

Posted 13 May 2009 † nickyp § Brain science ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

Update

Just got back from the busy, very friendly writer’s retreat with the Washington Romance Writers, this year in Leesburg, Va. Won second runner-up in the historical category in the Marlene contest, and pitched my manuscript to two agents, who both asked to see the first 3 chapters (a “partial”). Hung out with friends old and [...]

Posted 19 April 2009 † nickyp § Writing ‡ Comments (0) °

Pack, fret, arrive, enjoy

Heading to a romance-writers’ retreat in Virginia this weekend (not a writing-retreat, more an info- and inspiration-retreat). I am of at least two minds on these things; it’s so great to talk with other crazy writers about the details of what we do (really, who else cares about “compared with” v. “compared to”?) and to [...]

Posted 17 April 2009 † nickyp § Writing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Needs editing

This week, I posted three sets of things important to me: An online piece on cutting-edge neuroscience research, e-mails to corporate people of importance and a snail-mail letter to my grandma. Only one of the three had the benefit of editing—and the other two show it. Rereading some of the e-mails I’ve sent, I find [...]

Posted 04 April 2009 † nickyp § Brain science § Writing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

History of English, for no credit

The month and next, I’m walking through my current WIP (work-in-progress), scene by scene, and then line by line and, ideally, word by word. The story is set in England in 1815, and I need to rein in my modern-English tendencies. “Felicitations” is OK (first used in 1628), but not “sugarcoat” (1858), though it is [...]

Posted 30 March 2009 † nickyp § Writing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , ,

I touched a brain

OK, so it’s no big deal, whatever. But after we finished following the students doing a Brain Awareness Week tour at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, writer Aalok Mehta and I got to don the gloves and handle the merchandise just like the kids. The once-living-human brain was smaller than I expected and [...]

Posted 19 March 2009 † nickyp § Brain science ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , ,