https://babyboomertales.podbean.com/e/ep-159-the-tractor/ A great reminder to Never stop trying: At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA.At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.At age 27, Vincent …
Read MoreAnswers worthy of an A
Thought you’d get a kick out of this. I did. Students in an advanced Biology class were taking their mid-term exam. The last question was, ‘Name seven advantages of Mother’s Milk.’ The question was worth 70 points or none at all. One student, in particular, …
Read MoreDo You Need an Editor?
I’m constantly amazed at writers who come to our writers group or any group with a story they’ve written to have it critiqued. From the first it’s easy to tell whether they’ve really serious about having others opinions or they just there to have their egos stroked. They sit …
Read MoreThe Adverb Crutch.
Amateur writers wind up succumbing to at least one major pitfall, the use of adverbs in dialogue tags. Adverbs are those pesky –ly words that modify verbs. For example: happily replied. said angrily. quickly asked. pensively said. In fiction, adverbs tend to weaken your writing. …
Read MoreTwo Bits Worth 25 Writing Tips from Fiction Authors
Writing success boils down to hard work, imagination and passion—and then some more hard work. Here are 25 writing tips from some best selling fiction authors. Print a copy to put on your desk, home office, refrigerator door, or somewhere else noticeable so you can …
Read More5 Senses—How to Invoke Them In Your Writing (Denice Whitmore)
We all use description in our writing. We describe characters and settings, actions and reactions. Most of what we write is description of some sort. By using the 5 senses, we can broaden our descriptions from a list of attributes to an experience for our …
Read MoreYour Book Cover
A popular idiom “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” might be true in an idealistic sense, but it usually refers to judging people by their appearance. There is a reality for publishers and the book industry in general. For the vast majority of readers the …
Read MoreDeep POV and How it’s Used.
Deep POV is the third-person subjective taken a step beyond the normal third-person subjective. Deep POV shows your story through the eyes of one or more characters—one at a time please, avoid any head-hopping. Deep POV goes into the head and heart of a character, taking your readers beyond the …
Read MoreThe Theory of Ordered Colonization
John Fray’s thesis, “Theory of Ordered Colonization” received wide acclaim on Asperia, just as the scientist of that world rediscovered the trans-dimensional drive. An advanced technology lost when their world fell into chaos. Now exploration of the stars could begin anew. The Home World’s Central …
Read MoreRetired and Bored
After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target. Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women – she loves to browse. Yesterday …
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