There are hundreds – if not thousands – of books on the art of writing. Not all, however, offer a clear and constructive path to getting your first novel on the page. Karin Adams’ The One Week Writing Workshop provides an interesting method of building a story from scratch and…
Tag: Writing
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Banned Books Week 2024
Yesterday kicked off the start of Banned Books Week here in the U.S. It’s an annual event held by the American Library Association (ALA) as a way to bring attention to book censorship. I’ve written about it in the past as I feel it’s an important topic. Not only because…
Creativity
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Writing Fiction – Dealing with Rejection
Oh, I’ve had my fair share of rejection over the years. Being a writer means you have to develop thick skin. I’ve dealt with feedback I’ve disagreed with, bad reviews, publications that didn’t like my stories, and people who disparaged my choice of profession. Yet, I persist. When I first…
Creativity
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Writing Fiction – The Pain of Editing
Arguably the hardest part of being a writer is editing your work. For me, it’s like having a pile of puzzle pieces and trying to sort them into a coherent image. Or filling in the blank on a Mad Lib. There’s cutting, slicing, and rearranging. I toss aside lines and…
Creativity
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My Foray into Podcasting
A few years ago – 2019, to be exact – I decided to try my hand at podcasting. I’d been listening to podcasts for a while and wanted to give it a shot, see what it was like. I’ve done voice work over the years – narrating marketing videos, interactive…
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Writing Fiction – Showing Vs. Telling
I’ve been reading and reviewing a lot of books lately. I’d say that roughly half of them have been well-written and engaging. The other half, well, the authors were in need of a good editor. Not that the ideas were bad. No, the problem I’m seeing most often is that…
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Review – Where We Land by Donald Osborn
The review was originally published at Reader Views. Many people think the life of an airline pilot to be nothing but amazing travel adventures, exotic locales, and rubbing shoulders with famous passengers. Donald Osborn has seen some of that, but he’s also seen the hardships that go along with the…
Creativity
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Fiction Writing – Finding Inspiration in Darkness
I recently had some catastrophic weather blow through my area. Three confirmed tornadoes hit, two of them fairly close to my house. The local officials are saying it’s the worst natural disaster our city has ever seen. Luckily, I didn’t see any damage, just a lot of debris and no…
Creativity
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Writing Fiction – A Favorite Time to Write
As a professional writer, one has to always have words at the handy, cocked and ready to fire onto the page. Doesn’t matter the time of day or what else is on my plate, if a request comes in I’m ready to respond. But as a fiction writer, I can…
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Writing Fiction – Talking About Dialogue
One of the little irritations I have when reading fiction is stilted dialogue. What I’m referring to is that written dialogue that, when I hear it in my head, sounds stiff and unnatural. Here’s an example: “Hey,” I said. “Hey,” he replied. “I am going to the store. Would you…