The Question --

I feel a great deal of gratitude to Char, who put this excerpt up on her Tumblr, because I was going to put this up. I read the essay over on CaptainAwkward.com. It's in question and answer format, sorta, and talks about recognizing Rape Culture, as we're now calling something that every woman alive knows, whether she consciously thinks about it or not. About several young women who are at risk of rape, are getting no support from people they mistakenly thought were friends, and what they should do next -- and how they should do it.

The essay is worth reading, and I recommend it. I also recommend reading the comments. I read every one that was posted up to the point I first read this essay. I sectioned out several astute comments to highlight, and I also sectioned out the story Char has put on her Tumblr.

Then the computer reset or crashed, as it does every couple of days, and I was having a bad week, and I took it as a sign that I was not the one destined to pull this story out of comments and broadcast it. So -- Thank you, Char. This is important, and you took the most important part and shouted. Thank you.
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Aspiring Writers Info: Writing a Sentence

So often we talk about "X things you need to know about writing Y." I think we often forget that first, you must learn to listen to your own voice.

Verlyn Klinkenborg writes about how the medium doesn't matter -- we have everything we need:

I’m repeatedly asked how I write, what my “process” is. My answer is simple: I think patiently, trying out sentences in my head. That is the root of it. What happens on paper or at the keyboard is only distantly connected. The virtue of working this way is that circumstances — time, place, tools — make no difference whatsoever. All I need is my head. All I need is the moments I have.

It's the NY Times, so the link will expire.