Life: Journey, Battle, Pilgrimage, or Race

Source: http://www.aklanon.net/opinion/life-is-a-matter-of-choice.html
Life is currently described in one of four ways: a journey, a battle, a pilgrimage, or a race. Select your own metaphors, but the necessity of finishing is all the same. For if life is a journey, it must be completed. If life is a battle, it must be finished. If life is a [...]

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Crowd Control

Source: Far from the madding crowd – Mind Hacks
Need to write a crowd? This article turns what we thought we knew about crowds on its head. Crowds behave differently than is generally known.
I know I learned something.

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Book Signing Checklist

Source: Book Signing Pizzazz ~ with DiAnn Mills – Novel Journey
DiAnn Mills is a true professional. She put together an excellent checklist for authors who want to do a book signing right. The post above includes a short interview with her expounding her thoughts on book signing. It’s worth reading in additon to using her checklist. 
I post [...]

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Tom Swifties, Adverbial Avoidance Advice

Source: Tom Swifties Adverbial Puns
Who knew this list existed? There are some good Tom Swifties and then there are others:
“I’ve been a baaaa-d boy,” said Tom sheepishly.
Remember, these are the dialogue equivalent of a double-negative in grammar. So never use them in writing unless you mean to write puns intentionally. This comprises a good list of [...]

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Voices In My Head

It seems all the blogs I subscribe to have recent posts on voice, that most elusive trait of good writers.

Oy Vey: Voice, and Also Twilight and FAQ #9 (I think?): Questions About Voice from Brooklyn Arden
Omniscient Voice Part I and Part II from Forensics and Faith

I think voice arises first and foremost from culture and home life, then region, education, [...]

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Writing Deceptive Dialogue

Source: BYOD: How to Detect Deception, Part I – The Keyboard Detective
Source: BYOD: How to Detect Deception, Part II – The Keyboard Detective
Tony Bridges, the Keyboard Detective, has two great posts up on detecting deception. They constitute a great overview and introduction for writers who need to write deceptive dialogue. There are some good links included with the [...]

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Text Bridges in Writing

Source: BYOD: How to Detect Deception, Part I – The Keyboard Detective
Tony Bridges, the Keyboard Detective, has a great post up on detecting deception. While it’s a great read for writers who are writing deceptive dialogue for characters, I see another use for one part of the information. That section refers to something called a “Text [...]

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