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Category: Uncategorized
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Power punch: use strong words to set mood!
Check out this opening paragraph from Anthony Doerr’s short story, “The Deep”: Tom is born in 1914 in Detroit, a quarter mile from International Salt. His father is offstage,unaccounted for. His mother operates a six-room, underinsulated boardinghouse populated withlocked doors, behind which drowse the grim possessions of itinerant salt workers: coats the color ofmice, tattered…
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STRONG STARTS: Dawn Miller’s “Howl”
STRONG STARTS: Dawn Miller’s story “Howl,” in The Things We Leave Behind Storytellers are sometimes tempted to do the “James Bond”—start with a chase scene, an explosion, something quick and frantic to get the heartbeats going. Truth is, the opposite is often more effective. Early on, it’s important to include detailed description so readers can…
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Ways to Get Back in the Saddle
Okay, it’s long overdue that I revive this web site. I may do a major overhaul if my computer geek son builds a new one for me, but in the meantime, as Rafiki would say, “It is time.” Things have been crazy, and as many of you know, I went a bit “hermit” during COVID…
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SIWC Countdown: 6 Days: Find a Muse to Light Your Fuse!
6 Days Away: Find a Muse to Light Your Fuse! This is not your average keynote. No PhD dissertations here. No academic hoohah. At SIWC, a keynote address is motivation and inspiration, pure and simple, like Robert Dugoni’s now-famous “This Day We Write!” speech, which had the SIWC crowd take up arms against blank pages…
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Picture it #004: Blessing in Disguise
Sometimes it’s good that we don’t get as much as we want as soon as we want it: Try this: Write about a time when you didn’t get what you wanted…and it was a GOOD thing!
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Picture it #003: Feeling useless? Kamprani SHOWS it!
Katerina Kamprani knows how to build and show THOSE days…take a look:
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Quotation Inspiration #001
I love how minimalist art says so much with so little. It’s poetry, really. So here’s your quotation inspiration courtesy of Edison today!
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Picture it #002 . . . MEOWLS? Fantasy writers, get a move on!
Ok, a MEOWL is, of course, a cross between a cat and an owl, which really does confuse the heck out of me–I mean, wouldn’t meowls have an overwhelming urge to eat themselves? In any case, after seeing the photoshopped pic above, what other creations can you dream of???
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Picture it #001…a photo to inspire your writing!
Ok, so it might lead to some angst, but just look at this image by Brooke Shaden–a girl in white falling into a dark abyss–and you’ll see that there’s a poem waiting there for you to write!