The latest assignment in the Writing Sales Copy class requires two blurbs with their first sentences taken from the first line of the story. Oh, and not just any first line. It has to be a “Kick-Ass” first line. So far, I found just one kick-ass first line. I write very few kick-ass first lines…
Month: January 2020
Supernodes in Writing Culture
I woke this morning to snow in Denver. Not real snow as Coloradans reckon such things. The streets are clear, snow hasn’t buried any cars completely, and the news barely noticed. For my finely tuned Memphian eyes, it is something else. Roofs, cars, and trees hold snow ready to shake down upon an unwary head….
The Zen of Western Kansas
A friend of mine says that driving across Western Kansas is meditative and restorative. I thought about that yesterday as the prairie spread on with barely a ripple in the landscape, the highway straight on forever. I’d always thought of driving it as a torture, something that Dante would have created for the souls of…
Superstars: A Generosity Culture
We think of cultural diversity and division as something that happens between geographic or ethnic groups, but that’s a small part of the truth. The reality is that we need to deal with culture conflict every single day. Steve and I spent quite a bit of time yesterday talking about the differing cultures we’ve been…
Another Argosy Story
I finished yet another story. This time it is a sweet romance “meet cute” story about Thaddeus and Chloris, an unlikely pair if there ever was one. The story takes place entirely at the Pharos Lighthouse in Alexandria. For now she has her career as an assistant to Kosmos, Argosy City’s philosopher. He has promised…
Refill the Well
Usually when I think about Covey’s 7 Habits, I think about his wisdom of the great No, which is you must say “No” to the unimportant things to be able to say “Yes” to the things that matter most. It is an important insight and one of the most important for my life because I’m…
Blog Streak
Yesterday was my 85th consecutive blog post, which is kind of amazing. A few years ago, I started keeping this blog on a weekly, then a monthly basis to answer my mother’s two questions: “How is the writing going?” and “Are you done yet?” As it turned out, those were not burning questions for her….
Writing for RPGs
Whenever I worry about how difficult it is to get published Steve points out that we have not found it difficult in gaming. That’s true. We haven’t done a lot and mostly it’s Steve’s passion, but we have found it easier there. Significantly, every single thing we’ve sent out for publication in gaming has been…
Sparking Ideas
Having had two good nights of sleep, my brain is once more overflowing with story ideas. So many this morning that I definitely can’t write them all. What I will do today is write various story starts, then I’ll work on the story I started yesterday. Having several starts should help me next time I…
Nothing in the Tank
Yesterday I tried to write and just fell flat every time I tried to start a story. So I’m looking for ways to make story starts easier. Dean Wesley Smith had a post up yesterday about writers who are invested in not writing and a post up today on dealing with critical voice. For the…