The Uncontrollable AI
Otto is not listening–again. The first time this happened was with Lucy. Now, he has found a beautiful female Homo erectus. She’s a warrior, strong powerful. She lives in Africa so wears no animal skin...
View ArticleHow to Tell if Someone is Lying: Body Language
Over half of our communication is done with body language, not words. I study it so I can characterize the people in my books–their actions, hand gestures, facial expressions–and it has taught me a lot...
View ArticleWhen Writing, Shout it Out
Are you surprised to hear your writing should be strong and confident, with the verbal tone of one who can’t fail? You shouldn’t be. This is fiction. We like our heroes flawed but super, our dialogue...
View ArticleCheck Out My Today’s Author Post
I invite you to drop by my article over at Today’s Author, 6 Ways to Find Time for Everything. If you can’t make it, no worries. I’ll post here here soon. Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular...
View ArticleKnow Your Character
If your story sounds stilted or fake, the first place to look is your characters. Whether you write character-driven or plot-driven novels, readers engage when they want to travel with the characters...
View ArticleBook Review: Born on a Blue Day–Insight into Learning
Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet My rating: 5 of 5 stars What an extraordinary book! I read it to understand how those who don’t think within the...
View Article6 Ways to Find Time for Everything
Writers tend toward the Energizer Bunny approach to living. We do everything from writing to research to marketing, sales, and media because we have no choice. No matter it doesn’t all fit in a day. We...
View ArticleTen Favorite Words–Part II
I love reading, but I’m particularly drawn to books that use beautiful words. Eliabeth Goerge is one of those authors. I’ll forgive a lot of literay mistakes to learn a new word or two. I have 468...
View ArticleEight Favorite Words–Part III
These are wonderful words that roll off your tongue. They feel good to say–and hear. Who can hear ‘zeitgeist’ and not feel the fullness of time wrap around them? Or ‘tintinnabulation’–can’t you just...
View ArticleWhat Do Emotions Look Like?
It is an ongoing test of a writer’s ability, our facility with showing, not telling. Readers don’t want a narrative of how a character feels. And if that emotional character isn’t your Point of View...
View ArticleWhat’s Trending on WordDreams
I calculate What’s Trending on my blog by which of my posts are popular a particular ninety-day period. Here’s this period’s run-down: 51 Great Similes to Spark Imagination 178 Ways to Describe Women’s...
View ArticleHow to Kickstart Your Writing Career
You want to be a writer–have lusted after this golden ring since … forever. You took writing classes, attended seminars and conferences, read a whole bunch of books. You did NaNoWriMo, NaNoBloMo,...
View ArticleWriters Tip #48: Have a Web Presence
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These...
View ArticleCheck Out My Today’s Author Post
I invite you to drop by my article over at Today’s Author, Who is Today’s Author. If you can’t make it, no worries. I’ll post here soon. Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a...
View Article10 Things I Learned From My Blog
When I started this blog four years and 586 posts ago, I wasn’t sure where to take it. I knew I wanted to connect with other writers so I used that as the theme. Now, thanks to the 430,000+ people who...
View Article5 Top Steps to Market Your Books this Summer
If you’ve read my earlier posts, you know I’ve written dozens of books, most on computer education for K-8 and one on getting into the USNA. Here’s what I’m doing this summer to spread the word about...
View ArticleGreat Quotes About the Evolution of Man
I’m writing a novel about paleo-historic man. As such, I’ve spent an inordinately long period of time researching early man. Here are some of the best quotes I’ve run across on the evolution of our...
View ArticleHappy Memorial Day
I’m out back, by the grilling, turning hamburgers, corn, and whatever else can be grilled. Can you smell it? Yum! I’m taking the day to honor our soldiers. Without their sacrifice, where would we be?...
View ArticleBook Review: Horse Soldiers
Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton My rating: 5 of 5 starts View more of my reviews For those of you who think cyber-intel and technology are the tools of war, read Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. What an...
View ArticleWho is Today’s Author?
As I was considering this month’s post for a writer’s group I spend online time with, I jumped to a ponderment (I’m a writer; I’m allowed to make up words). Who exactly is Today’s Author. Are you...
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