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Blogs about: Writing

It’s rumored that Ernest Hemingway considered his best work a simple six-word quip: “For sale: baby shoes, never used.” Clever, huh? Few of us will match his greatness, but that doesn’t stop us. Writing — like all forms of communicating — is a universal urge. We write because we must, even if it hurts.

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How to Write a Broadway Hit
Regected Riter

A lot of people come up to me and say, Hey AG. You’re a playwright. And I say, That’s the rumor my MFA tells me, anyway! And they say, Wow. You paid money for that? SURE DID! A BUTTLOAD completely reasonable amount of money.  It was totally not COMPLETELY not worth it. And then they ask my favorite question!: So when are you gonna be on the Broadway? When am I gonna get to see you on the Broadway with the lights and songs and music? When are you gonna write a Big Broadway Musical ? And I say I am SO GLAD YOU ASKED THAT QUESTION!  Being a playwright does automatically mean I write musicals! Thank you for assuming! And then they ask why I’m talking so loud, wearing my graduation hat and crying into my diploma in a gutter on 42nd street. THE POINT IS, I know how to write a Broadway musical. I do.  And if you ever wanted to write a successful Broadway musical but just didn’t know how to get started, well, thank your lucky Google, this is the guide for you! Not convi

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Lies Your English Teacher Told You
Easy Tips for Business Writers

As a college English instructor, I continually have to remove writing myths from my students’ brains. These rules don’t appear in any grammar book, but they are taught year after year. You can’t end a sentence with a preposition. Yes, you can. The world won’t stop revolving, and your old English teacher can’t argue because there is no such rule. The problem started in England back in 1672 when John Dryden wrote a piece criticizing Ben Jonson for ending a sentence with a preposition. Dryden believed that since the construction wasn’t possible in Latin, it shouldn’t be possible in English. Clearly, this logic doesn’t make sense: English is its own language. But some people agreed with Dryden and spread the rule around. The issue became a subject of debate. Robert Lowth, a respected academic, wrote in the 1760s that ending a sentence with a preposition was acceptable in “familiar” or everyday writing but that avoiding the construction was “more graceful” for

The Latest Posts in Writing
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Post a Day: Does Technology Help You Write?
Brainstorms: How Epilepsy and Writing Connect

Image via Wikipedia Since I’m not an A student when it comes to technology, I am happy that I can compose on my computer. In fact, I’ve written two NaNo novels on Microsoft Word. There’s much I don’t understand about what could be helping me, but for now I’m content with being able to use my computer for writing.

First Entry at CHOICEPOSTS
zumpoems
Creative Writing: Discussing Manuals
Jessie Carty

I recently finished two creative writing manuals/handbooks/guides – whatever you want to call them so I thought I would review them in conjunction with each other. I’m not sure, however, which to tackle first . . . The Portable MFA (I decided to go with alphabetical order to review) presented by The New York Writers Workshop (and given to me by a dear friend (wink) isn’t my favorite writing guide. I think a lot of that has to do with the overall tone. The opening seems to say “read me” “believe me that you shouldn’t pay for an MFA” etc. And, while I know they are marketing a book, it comes across as a little condescending. Once you get past that “believe me” kind of phrasing there are quite a few good tips such as, on page 39, when they advise that there is something to learning technique but after a while you just have to play. True. Very true. I actually found the non-fiction section to be the most helpful in the book. It wa

That Was an Adventure
Richard Parks
Letters to my muse.
The Rivendale Review
Get Up.
makitownz
Rule the world
Marius' Blog
Willowdot21 (An insight to a heart mind and soul)
choiceposts
Reassurance
dianabaileyharris
Price Matters
Ann Bruce | The Not-so-deep Thoughts

(Ooh, double post today and hell hasn’t frozen over.) It’s not rocket science to know price is an important factor in buying decisions. What I didn’t know is that anything over 99 cents runs into a mental barrier for buyers. Ever since it was reduced to USD$0.99 on Amazon, Before Dawn has been selling at a nice, steady clip, unlike A Naughty Noelle and Rules of Engagement, which are priced at USD$1.49. And it’s not a few copies more, but ten to twenty times more. Even more interesting is that I’m selling more books on Amazon.co.uk than Amazon.com. Of course, I don’t know if genres make a difference because BD is a paranormal romance while the other two are straight romantic suspense. I wonder if other writers are noticing the same trend.

My Wedding Vows
Quota

Yesterday, I married my partner of almost 17 years, Doug Powers, in a brief, wonderful ceremony at the Hillcrest Manor in Corning, New York. I have plenty to say about the experience, of course, but for now, I just want to share the vows I gave to Doug for all of our friends and family who wanted to be there. We are now the Powers-Black family. As you know, Doug, I kind of resent this whole exercise of seeking societal approval of our relationship. For nearly seventeen years, we’ve persevered with no government support and little support from civilization’s other structures. I didn’t need society’s permission to fall in love with you within seconds of meeting you, nor did I need society’s permission to tell you how I felt only two weeks later. When you warned me not to make you choose between your love of theatre and your love of me, I got a life and worked hard to become less smothering. By being with you, I have discovered a more independent and fulfilled version of myself. So I’m te

Firms urge action on skilled Immigration Reform
World news with Frenki

WASHINGTON / SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) – When US restrictions on Work Permits barred Intel from moving Nearly 50 Finnish engineers to the United States this year, the microchip maker reluctantly em parked in a new research center in Finland. US multinational and FIRMS are chafing at delays and Difficulties That Effectively Securing visas require to keep 'em high-Skilled Workers Abroad INSTEAD OF Expanding operations in the United States. "Tech companies like Bear follow Where the Action Is and Where the talent pools are," Said Young Sohn, chief executive of the semiconductor maker Inphi. That trend puts pressure on President Barack Obama to set aside His plan for a "comprehensive" overhaul of USimmigration policies – at the risk of angering key Hispanic voters – and fix the system of Work Permits and green cards for the likes of engineers and programmers. "America Can not Afford to let high-skilled Immigration Reform Remain attach

O colors of my heart.
the ragamuffin diaries | katherine wallin

(or: love poem to a future husband) Here’s what I’ve got; 32 reasons why our marriage might will work: Because 1:08 reminds you of me. Because you leave everything better than you found it. Because you understand my negative association with vests. Because you associate with the boy at the grocery & the woman who washes the laundromat floor. Because you only let me dry the dishes after dinner parties. Because you don’t mind that I spend our money on travels & filling other people’s trunks. Because we dance to Foster the People.  In the kitchen. At four o’clock in the afternoon. Because you love my body & my brain. Because you let me sleep late in the biscuit on Saturdays & I mend your worn out soles. Because when we married, you wrote your vows on the back of your hand. Because you have strong hands. Because you’d rather be working for something than praying for the rain. Because you know when its wanderlust & when its real. Because you tuck me in bed before midnigh

This Blogger’s Prayer
wordtabulous

Oh my God, oh my God, please. Please let someone read it who gets it. Please let someone read what I wrote and say, “Wow, that is so [cool, right, inspiring, funny, ANYTHING.] Please let me not be just another asshat who is obsessed with being noticed, even though that is what it feels like I am. Please help me understand what it is I am doing or what it is I am supposed to be doing. Why do I keep feeling like putting words on a page? I mean, I am glad my mom and a couple of my long-suffering friends take the time to check in, but does this whole writing endeavor make sense? All this effort and angst for what? There is so much crap out there, God, have you SEEN all the crap out there? I don’t want to be putting out crap. I know I shouldn’t care about being liked, God, but then why did you build me so I care so MUCH about whether people like what I do or write? That is freakin’ mean, God. Harsh. To make me so insecure and so exhibitionistic at the same time, and

What’s In A Name?
Donna Newton's Blog

Last week I was listening to Heart Essex Radio and the realisation that many traditional names we once used are being abandoned for much more ‘funky’ ones. For example, David, Jean, Margaret, Sally, Theresa, John and Tracy are a thing of the past and being replaced with names such as Mercedes, Chantelle and River. This got me thinking about the names we, as writers, choose for our characters. Does the traditional ‘us’ stick with traditional names for our heroes, or like the totally normal named David and Victoria Beckham,  do we take this opportunity to go a little crazy and name our little darlings Brooklyn, Cruze, Romeo and Harper? Maybe he just found out what his name is. According to the Bounty Parenting Club, children nowadays are being named purely because their parents feel the wackier the name, the more their children will stand out. I gues that does have an element of truth to it. Afterall, look at movies such as the Step Up franchise and its leading me

When Dreams Come True
Count Only Sunny Hours

This week a cardboard box full of books will be delivered to my new home which proves that dreams really can come true. You may be familiar with my aversion to cardboard boxes  due to over exposure during our frequent international moves. This week, I will be delighted to open a cardboard box of delights and  hold in my hand my first published story and poem. Me, a published writer and poet, how cool is that!? The book is called “Turning Points” and is a collection of inspiring stories by some more WWW’s (this time Wonderful Woman Writers). No prizes for guessing what the stories are about as these amazing entrepreneurs describe a significant time when they faced a challenge head on and overcame adversity. It will be available on Amazon in three weeks time so watch this space for more details. I am “reet chuffed” as we say in Yorkshire with the privilege of being included in this unique project which I hope will help and inspire many others. I must confess

Sentences
Aimless and Purposeful
Ere Words Were
The Coming of the Toads

Woe were we when once we wooed wowed with words we would vow to wed where naught taught to tie the knot a language log in front of us saw how it was on a woeful wordful sea. To who in the waves of a spelling sea to whit her way through a sea wrack wood while I too hooed to walk saw you to a vowel moon owling out of a wood worded knot a sentence fraught with naught. Yet we should not set sail on too prim a presecriptivist sea wear not too tight the knot we tied for the knot does not mean our days of wooing must turn to stone washed vowels that we might say how we saved how we sawed. Woe the night full of guttural saws silver dreams of wordscaped naught woah the mirror that burns not its own vow merely reflects what it hears in a dark forest a bearingless wood of articulated knot. Woe to valor that ties a knot for one side up the other not this seesaw of giddyup and stop of hooah and woah she loves me she loves me naught how it was on the woo worn sea ere we enjoined the corseted vowels.