100 Blog Post Game

Researching Stories is Fun…Sometimes

I would have to say that as a fiction author I have a love/hate relationship to research or at least a like/dislike one. One thing I dislike about research is that it can be a nearly bottomless pit into which I can lose myself spending far more hours than I want when what I most want to do is just start writing. On the other hand, I very much like it when in the process of [...]

2020-12-04T18:24:51+00:000 Comments

My Favorite Question to Ask Readers (Part 2)

So, remember, my favorite question to pose to readers is: “If you could go on a mission with the Eco-team of Ra-Kit the magic cat, Sampson, the flying dog, and young Zak, what mission to help the animals of Earth would you choose?” As I mentioned in the last posting, this question has also spawned some interesting results already. One young girl who participated in one of the first Readup said she’d want to go on [...]

2020-11-29T21:12:22+00:000 Comments

My Favorite Question to Ask Readers (Part 1)

This past year, two life-changing events came together in one of those perfect storm scenarios that unfortunately don’t seem to happen enough in my life as a writer. Both would be what most people would consider ‘bad things.' Certainly, the COVID-19 pandemic ranks right up there with bad things in my life, though fortunately so far I’ve not lost any friends or family members to it. The second ‘bad thing’ was a growing level of frustration [...]

2020-11-29T18:34:58+00:000 Comments

When Inconsequential Moments Become Pivotal (Part Two)

Did you miss part one of this article? Then go here. Let’s fast forward a few years from that summer in 1960 when my next-door-neighbor librarian, Mrs. Crabtree bought me a stack of books that would transform me into a joyful lifelong reader. But before we teleport ourselves forward in time, let me explain what I mean by the term, joyful lifelong reader. In this country and throughout much of the world, it’s inevitable that most [...]

2020-11-25T19:42:42+00:000 Comments

When Inconsequential Moments Become Pivotal (Part One)

There are moments in our lives that at the time appear inconsequential, just something that happened in the course of our daily life. It may be years or even decades later before we realize how pivotal those moments were in retrospect. For example, my father passed away from a massive heart attack while fishing just two weeks before my seventh birthday. Now, don't worry, I knew at the time that was a major deal, a pivotal [...]

2020-11-25T18:32:28+00:000 Comments

100+ Blog Posts Game (Part 3)- Purposeful Persistence

Yep, this is part 3 of the 100+ Blog Game. So to start, I acknowledge I've been terrible at blogging. I don't mean the content so much as the regularity, and the 100+ Blog Game has not changed that. This is why I'm writing Part 3. 100+ Blog Posts Game (Part 1) was written on Feb. 11, 2019. 100+ Blog Posts Game (Part 2)100+ BLOG POSTS GAME (PART 2) – A Breakthrough in Progress was written [...]

2020-11-22T15:55:01+00:000 Comments

Don’t Wait to be Inspired to Write

I recently received a nice email from an aspiring writer who complimented me on my work and then asked a few questions. I thought I'd share my responses here in case there are others struggling to find their voice. Thanks for your message. I'm happy to hear my writing has inspired you in some way. I'll do my best to answer your questions briefly in this email and I'd be happy to go more in-depth with [...]

2020-11-20T19:48:12+00:000 Comments

On Becoming a (Homeschool) Teacher

Some years after we’d completed the job of homeschooling our daughter, Amber, I asked my wife, Ann, her recollections on how we’d come to make such an important decision in our only child’s future. I learned that Ann’s recollections were almost completely different from my own. At the end of the conversation, we agreed that while our paths had been different our final destination had been the same. We realized that homeschooling Amber was consistent with [...]

2019-09-21T21:19:25+00:000 Comments

Canine Candy Striper

For weeks we listened to the news about the devastating effects wrought on New Orleans and the Louisiana coast by Hurricane Katrina. Being a former veterinarian I was particularly sensitive to the horror stories I heard about the thousands of displaced pets. My gut would not let me rest. I felt compelled to do something but what? I remember awakening in the middle of the night with the clear message: "go help the displaced pets." I [...]

2019-09-19T23:41:38+00:000 Comments

Charm House – A Suspenseful Tale with a Twist

One of my fondest and clearest childhood memories is of sitting on one of the many wraparound porches so popular in the South, eating watermelon, listening to the grownups debating various topics. On such lazy summer afternoons, a favorite question often bantered back and forth was which came first? Was Charm House named after an original family whose surname was Charm, that then resulted in the family modeling the house to match its new name, or [...]

2019-08-16T22:14:30+00:000 Comments
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