November 2014 archive

Vacation Suspense – Part 2

Television producers try to get you to come back for more by showing scenes from “the next exciting episode” of whatever program you’ve just watched.  Writers have to do the same thing sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, and chapter to chapter.  Suspense is one of the tools of the author’s craft that helps pull …

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Paper’s First Mass Extinction

The digital age is upon us, it’s everywhere we look today. Literally, no industry is safe when doctors can now print 3-D parts for a heart valve repair minutes later. What possible chance do printed books have by the year 2025? Slim to none, sorry to say. By then, publishers will only print Limited Edition books that …

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Costco’s Looking Out For You

I was so pleased with myself. I felt I had really gotten through. I’d spent a long time writing my letter explaining things. I thought the phone call went well too. But, it was his last remark that stayed with me. Now I wonder… I live in Ann Arbor. A little over a year ago, …

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Writing: Promises or Priorities?

They say timing is everything.  I agree. So is letting go.  That’s why I say to whomever “they” are that I’m extending my 10-hour book publishing challenge to December 18. Why?  First of all, it’s my blog challenge and I set the rules.  (And my blog editors said it was okay.) Second, I felt overwhelmed by …

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It Couldn’t Be More Personal

During my childhood, my grandmother taught me little lessons. I learned how to fold and crease a sheet of paper over and over until it resembled the expanding membrane of an accordion but wasn’t constrained by the edges of a musical instrument. My creation could be waved in the air to blow away summer heat. …

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