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DORK LIFE? GO AHEAD AND LIVE IT UP

I met my eventual mother in law before I was in the ‘potential partner’ picture. Her daughter was on my radar, just not the other way around. It was familiar territory. Since I had time to play the long game of love, I kept the heat turned down. To an objective outsider I was just […]

WRITING CONFERENCE UPDATE FROM CHUCK SAMBUCHINO

How the writing conference update started: Hi David, Chuck Sambuchino here (formerly a long-time editor with Writer’s Digest and the GLA). The GLA is the Guide To Literary Agents, a book I’ve bought. I follow Chuck on Twitter. He sent me a message, which is different than a notification. This is Chuck Sambuchino:

READERS HELP CARRY THE WRITING LOAD

Readers help writers with comments on their work and it opens new doors. Like this: BoomerPDX – thank you once again for sharing your perspective in a way that almost always, no actually always, broadens mine. Your humor, honesty, colorful language and passion make these blogs the most interesting to read. I don’t get to […]

WRITING COACH PUMPS UP ALPHABET: FOLLOW THE GAME PLAN

Every writing coach, or anyone who calls themselves a writing coach, has a similar goal: Get something down on paper, on a screen, a phone, just get it down. It can be good, bad, indifferent, it doesn’t matter. Just get it down. A good writing coach doesn’t emphasize the difficulty. Between coach and player, they […]

LIFE STORIES: WHEN PERSONAL HISTORY IS NOT ENOUGH

Life stories come in every form and flavor from hot to cold, bland to sassy, truthful to made up. Tell the same stories long enough to the same people and they start to wonder: “How many times have we heard this stuff?” “Do they know they’ve told the same story over and over?” If you’ve […]

HEMINGWAY LIFE STORY BEST OF ALL TIME

The Hemingway life story by Ken Burns is a sure sign, but of what? That he grew up in what amounts to a fundamentalist family? With a mother that logged all of her sacrifices for him? Then held it against him? Add a father with well defined ideas on how to behave. And Ernest disappointed […]

WRITING ROOM: FROM FAMILY ROOM TO SICK ROOM AND BACK

A writing room is any room where writing is done. It’s a bedroom, a classroom, or living room. It could be a bar or coffee house; a bus or train. Some writing rooms belong to writers who need ‘consistency of place’ to be productive. How can you be sure your writing room is right for […]

STORY CATCHER IN THE WRITING ROOM NOT SO WRY

J.D. Salinger was a story catcher who wrote books. One of them sells like new today: Approximately 250,000 copies of The Catcher in the Rye are sold each year – which is almost 685 per day! The Catcher in the Rye was first published in 1951. That’s quite a record for keeping readers coming back. […]

MARATHON LIFE RULE: START STRONG AND FINISH

I lived the marathon life rule in my twenties. At twenty-nine I took the plunge in Seaside. The image is at the start of the race. No, I’m not a giant, but maybe in this crowd. One does not simply ‘run’ a marathon without consequences, not if you plan on a one and done event, […]

LOSER LIFE? DON’T BE A SUCKER FOR THAT DEAL

What is a loser life, and who gets permission to judge one from another, the winners and losers? It starts by agreeing with the sharp people who define winners and losers. If it’s not a coach, a judge, or your mom, then a loser life is just an opinion, even if it comes from a […]