Monthly Archives: January 2016

Something Wonderful

There is still snow piled high just below my window, but this sweet poem makes me think of spring: Nurse’s Song When the voices of the children are heard on the green And laughing is heard on the hill, My … Continue reading

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Compassionate Critiquing

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” Jean-Jacques Rousseau Just the other day a friend of mine asked me to help her fine-tune some comments she was planning to give a fellow writer during a critique session. … Continue reading

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Comfortable Crafting

“My mantra is ‘Get it down, then get it right.’ Things tend to gel for me as I write…voices, situations. It means a lot of revision down the line, but you can’t revise what isn’t there to begin with.” “If … Continue reading

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Work Ethic

Even when he’d reached the top of his field, playing for the Celtics. Larry Bird’s daily training program was legendary: a long-distance run, practice games with his teammates, sit-up sessions, and short-distance runs – all of which were sandwiched in … Continue reading

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Beautiful Girl

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. ‘Pooh!’ he whispered. ‘Yes, Piglet?’ ‘Nothing,’ said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. ‘I just wanted to be sure of you.’” The birthday card with this little story sits in a spot where I see … Continue reading

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Self-publishing Alert

Whatever your genre and theme, there are more and more avenues available to gain exposure and recognition for your self-published book. One of best-established and most reputable competitions is coming up: the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards. It’s open to … Continue reading

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Something Wonderful

A snowy day, here where I am, and perhaps where you are as well. The perfect time to curl up with enchanting stories as our hero does in this lovely poem: Picture-Books in Winter Robert Louis Stevenson Summer fading, winter … Continue reading

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Trade Tricks

Sometimes we need a few tricks up our sleeves to keep our stories moving when they stall or feel as if they’re adrift. In a lively Writer’s Digest feature, Renee Rosen, author of White Collar Girl and three other novels … Continue reading

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Radiant Rhetoric

Not surprisingly, Martin Luther King’s amazing “I Have A Dream” speech is still making news. Writer’s Relief, a favorite site of mine, analyzed the speech from a literary angle by identifying eight rhetorical techniques it employs so masterfully and which … Continue reading

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Fighting Through

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the … Continue reading

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