We Write!
Here reader, reader, reader! Source: Pixabay Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay Alma T. C. Boykin I was reading a history book that had, to date, the least effective "hook" of a starting sentence I have read. The book is far better than the first line, but if that's what sells the story, this volume... Continue Reading →
[--- Karen Myers ---] That's an easy one for me to answer. I'm an obligatory reader. If my eyes are open and not otherwise occupied, I'm reading. It's always been this way. My older brother and I had organized conspiracies vs the parents, and so I wouldn't rat him out when he took their other... Continue Reading →
Pulling a Book Out of Stubborn Researchers? Author Photo, Swabisch Hall, Germany, June 2018. "Stop when you have what you need." It's the sort of advice that makes writers want to pull out any remaining hair, or to take a large, blunt object and apply it to the head or rump of the oh-so-helpful individual.... Continue Reading →
"Help, I need sources!" Ah, the plea of the desperate student/grad-student/fiction writer in search of material or confirmation of some nugget, or a replacement for something that suddenly won't work any more. Every so often the question arises about how to do research. Fair warning, I do/did this for a living for a while, and... Continue Reading →
I haven't been writing much recently, which is a result of my head being in too many directions at once to focus on a story. What I've been doing, in hopes that it will jog my muse into action, is reading. This can go one of two ways: I'll be inspired by really good writing,... Continue Reading →
I recently came across an article discussing how narcissism has become an increasing problem in America. In 2008, Twenge published a study comparing college students' scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory scale to scores from students in 1979, finding that levels of narcissism had risen roughly 30 percent. Additional research has evinced this increase. "59%... Continue Reading →
I have three items to share with you this week, one of which made me laugh out loud - but more of that later. First, Intellectual Takeout notes that "A Decline in Reading Skills Makes Geese for the Plucking". A teacher-friend of mine recently expressed sadness over the stagnation of her students. Before the pandemic... Continue Reading →
I'd like to highlight five news reports from the past couple of weeks that have a direct or indirect bearing on us as writers (and readers, of course). First, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reports on an interesting development where technology runs headlong into copyright law. Dymo’s latest generation of desktop label printers use RFID chips... Continue Reading →
It's dusk, and all I can see is tattered, shredded dark clouds against the last dusty orange-pink of a sky paling into purple blackness, with the flat line of a dark sea and the silhouette of dark cape thrusting out into it, with a solitary point of light near the end of it. Working, as... Continue Reading →
Proofs... I think I'd rather write about alcohol. I always fancied the gunpowder method of testing proof - and think setting fire to my own proofs would test them... At the moment I am wading (and I mean wading - chest deep I reckon) through proofs for Cloud-castles. Now, don't get me wrong, proof-readers are... Continue Reading →
Mad Genius Club 