I woke up late this morning, and feeling drowsy and satisfied with life in general, I thought I'd amuse myself and you, dear readers. What follows are a selection of writing memes that I've saved over the last little while, for inspiration and to chuck at my writer friends when they need a laugh. A... Continue Reading →
Kitchen Duty
As I was peeling potatoes this morning, I cut myself. As you do. I managed not to drip on the food, and to find a bandaid in the dark (everyone is sleeping), contemplated why I don't have a first aid kit in the kitchen (knives are in the kitchen, why not bandages?), and finished my... Continue Reading →
Choose Laughter
When life is dark, and all your plans are falling by the wayside... choose to laugh instead of cry. Pick yourself up, dust off your rump, and show a grin. Life can always get better. After an eight month separation while the house in Ohio was worked on and sold, my dearly beloved and I... Continue Reading →
Laugh out loud funny
I doubt there's anyone here in the US who couldn't use a good laugh right now. Beween Covid-19 and some serious cases of cabin fever and the upcoming election, we're being inundated on all sides with bad and worse news. I keep waiting for someone to start yelling "The sky is falling!" Oh, wait, Neil... Continue Reading →
New Release: Cracked an Eggscellent Chicken Anthology
So a while back an author whose social media presence often involves various critters from her farm (which I hugely enjoy) threw out an idea. Quarantine is boring. Life is stressful. We should do something. Being authors, she proposed we write. With chickens. And humor. I was all in. What came out of that prompt was... Continue Reading →
A Writer’s Letter to Santa
"Oh dear," the elf on Christmas letter rotation sighed. "What this year?" Writers always wanted the impossible. "Dear Santa," the letter, written in tidy cursive on creamy 40 bond paper began. "I have been very good this year. I did not scream at my editor, nor have I said unkind things about other writers, unless... Continue Reading →
Trying too hard: How to lose the reader before she opens your book
I am not sure whether this is a rant about one of my personal bêtes noires or good advice about what not to put in a blurb. I guess that will depend on how many people share my jaundiced reactions to the examples. The particular style of “trying too hard” I’m thinking of today is the... Continue Reading →
Nothing to See Here…
I'm sitting here racking my brain for something to write that will entertain and enlighten (what? Well, it might!) you all. So far I'm coming up empty. I thought about editing, but that's been done a lot. I'd been asked by a friend how I would recommend starting in this Independent Author thing, and I... Continue Reading →
Scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people
I suppose I don't really write books that are just one thing. Maybe this is my problem... well, besides being a silly monkey with a penchant for lost causes and taking on hell with a fire-bucket, and living so far beyond the black stump you have to crawl three more days after the last camel... Continue Reading →
Framing your characters
"It's not what you say, it's how you say it" "The frame is as important as the picture" You've all heard things like this, but have you actually stopped to think about what they mean? Don't worry if you haven't: human nature keeps things like this comfortably in the background until you get smacked with... Continue Reading →