15
05, 2012
Choosing the perfect name for your baby (or villain)
The Social Security Administration recently released the top baby names for 2011. I know this because I can’t NOT click on an article about baby names.
1
05, 2012
In defense of the dabbler…or…why getting published might not be all it’s cracked up to be
In an earlier post, I defined a dabbler as someone who has yet to write one million words while simultaneously implying that the one million words benchmark might be less of a milestone than a state of mind.
24
04, 2012
Writing presents an endless series of gambles
I’m not a master poker player by any means, but while reading through the first draft of my latest novel, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Friday night card games from my high school days.
16
04, 2012
A very different kind of ‘Hunger Games’
While weighing the pros and cons of offering sample chapters of my as-of-yet-unpublished works of fiction on this website, it occurred to me that there could be little harm in posting a short story that could never be published anywhere other than a blog.
10
04, 2012
Friends and family of writers, beware
Joseph Epstein said, “Every writer is a thief, though some of us are more clever than others at disguising our robberies.” He was referring to minor counts of plagiarism—an apt description, a novel turn of phrase, a treatment of syntax that (with a minor tweak) we could pass off as our own brilliant invention. However, the thievery doesn’t end there.
28
03, 2012
Is ‘finger exercises’ metaphor a stretch?
An old man once stopped at a rummage sale I was holding and asked, “Who’s the writer?”
20
03, 2012
Finding time to write
At a recent guest lecture on self-publishing, a fellow attendee asked the featured speaker if she had any advice for someone who is working full time and doesn’t have four to six hours a day to devote to writing.
19
03, 2012
One million words…in theory
A few years back, the English language spawned its one millionth word. Since words are the tools of a writer’s trade, one might assume the ever-expanding nature of vocabulary would result in greater creativity for the wordsmith. Sadly, this is not the case.
13
03, 2012
Why I hate(d) blogs
I’ve never made my enmity toward blogs a secret. As a serious writer, I snubbed web logs (as “the kids” used to call them) precisely because “the kids” were using them.