The Craft of Writing: 200 Most Common Words As Parts of Speech
(Beth Turnage Blog) It’s been nigh many years since the nuns at my Catholic grammar school made me memorize parts of speech at the age of seven and had me parse sentences at the tender age of ten. The funny thing is that my children never had to struggle...
The Craft of Writing: 200 Most Common Words As Parts of Speech
Two hundred words are said to comprise eighty percent of all English sentences. Here is the list broken down into parts of speech. Why? Because you should know what weapons you are hurling at an unsuspecting public. It’s been nigh many years when the nuns at my Catholic grammar...
Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge: The Incubus’ Tale
Chuck Wendig gave us ten titles, one thousand words and one week to post on his latest flash fiction challenge. Here’s mine: The Incubus’ Tale “Still, if some are occasionally begotten from demons, it is not from the seed of such demons, nor from their assumed bodies, but from...
Five Ways to Use #Twitter To Grow Your Author’s Platform (With Examples)
Ah. Twitter. One hundred and forty characters two hundred and eighty characters of writely goodness. When I started blogging, oh back in the dark ages of blogging seven years ago, Twitter was just a toddler. At the time I was signing up for every platform possible to get my...
Chuck Wendig’s Synopsis Challenge
We all have to do them sometimes. The synopsis, the story outline, plus some, that an agent or publisher or heaven’s forbid, a work for hire buyer, will demand. Chuck in his doubtful wisdom has demanded, with threat of bug zapping violence, that we produce them for our NaNo...
Scrivener’s Shot Gun Wedding With Pro-Writing Aid
My most useful writing tools are Scrivener and Pro-Writing Aid. Most writers have heard of Scrivener, a powerful word processing program that orders and organizes the screaming voices in your writer’s head, helping you to pump out your stories. There are too many features in this program to write...
Scrivener’s Shot Gun Wedding With Pro-Writing Aid
My most useful writing tools are Scrivener and Pro-Writing Aid. Most writers have heard of Scrivener, a powerful word processing program that orders and organizes the screaming voices in your writer’s head, helping you to pump out your stories. There are too many features in this program to write...
The Art of #Writing: How To Finish a Book
Now, not to disparage those writers that have spent the last four decades polishing their magnum opus, but there comes a time to finish a book. Like a relationship gone bad, it’s a bit ripe and it’s time to move on already. Aren’t there other stories you want to...
Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge: Merry’s Christmas Tale
Chuck Wendig’s challenge was to write a piece of holiday horror. Well, I’ve been busy, really busy, so I’m trotting out a piece I wrote last Christmas for someone’s call for flash submissions. It is the first piece about Merry, who we saw in my piece The Good Girl....
NaNoWriMo Update: Arekan’s War & Pizza Cake
Day 11 into NaNoWriMo at 9,500 words in I am seriously behind. Life happens. Kids have birthdays and there is pizza cake to make. Why pizza cake? It is a new thing. Some restaurant chain in Canada came up with the idea, and it spread into the U. S....