Aug 08
Lists, rankings and ratings eliminate some of the guesswork in life. For example, instead of chancing a bad experience, I check rating websites for a restaurant, a movie or even a church. Goodreads and other online forums allow readers to post comments and ratings about novels or collections of stories. How would the general population …
Aug 06
“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title, a list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.” — Jane Yolen Add writing contests to the list of ways to exercise your writing muscle. You may …
Aug 05
Have you ever wanted to play a certain video game but didn’t have the time or motivation to go for it? I know I have. I found an answer to this dilemma with YouTube. I started out by watching videos of entire games that I believed I would never play myself. Gradually, I discovered enough …
Aug 01
Sisyphus, from Greek Mythology, rolls a boulder uphill for eternity. With each attempt, the boulder rolls back downhill and Sysyphus must start the task anew. This is the author’s task once a book is published. Some authors think that the publisher does (or should do) most of the promotion to sell their books. They might …
Jul 23
Crow Story, Part Four. Sunday morning dawns chilly for the first weekend of summer. Swift, sporadic clouds rush overhead as Fred, our four dogs, and I appear to have the park to ourselves. The wind blows predominantly out of the West and slaps our faces as soon we’re over the footbridge. We start …