What if failure didn’t exist? No, I’m serious. What if it’s just a word someone invented because he was feeling down about his work and the word stuck. It’s not hard to imagine a time when this word didn’t exist. There was a time when none of the words we use today existed. But at...
Tag: books
You Can’t Say That Word!
A couple of weeks ago, the sitcom Black-ish tackled a subject I’d been hoping they would address, the n-word. If you haven’t seen Black-ish, it’s a clever, funny, heartfelt take on a modern African-American family navigating the tricky waters of diversity. It quite often brings up important conversations, including this one . . . when...
A Penny for Your Words
The Authors Guild recently released the results of their study on author incomes. They polled their nearly 1,700 members, most of whom are full-time or part-time authors. The results showed that 56% of respondents earn below the poverty level of $11,670 per year. And the medium income for authors has dropped 24% since 2009. They...
29,000 Words
I’ve written just over 29,000 words on this blog since I started it a year and a half ago. That’s the same number as you’ll find in my Home-Front Heroes children’s books! I’ve written 83 posts, each ranging between 300 and 450 words, in about the same amount of time it takes me to research,...
You Gotta Know the Rules to Break ‘Em
Last week I put up a post, “The Foibles of Self-exploration,” knowing full well that I was using the word “foible” incorrectly. It refers to a minor weakness in a person’s character, and cannot, therefore, apply to a practice. I knew some of my word-loving friends might call me on it, and one of them...
The Human Side of Celebrity with George Takei
Yes, this is a picture of actor/activist George Takei holding my children’s book, The No-No Boys! I heard him speak recently at the National Speakers Association convention. When he came out on stage, everyone expected him to talk about his role as Mr. Sulu on Star Trek or his pop culture persona or his enormous...
Know Your Genre
Okay, this post is mostly for my writer friends, but if you love to read, you may find this topic of interest too! Click below to view my newest writing video from my YouTube channel. This one is on understanding the difference between various genres in literature. It’s a confusing topic for new writers, but...
Founding Fathers Speak on Living Creatively
As you know, I’m an historian by training, and the American Revolution has always been one of my favorite eras to study. It continues to fascinate me that great leaps forward (and backward) in our world cultures seem to take place when a particular group of like-minded, ambitious people come together, and never was there...
Why Bad Art Matters
Most of the music enthusiasts I know would admit that Achy Breaky Heart is one of the dumbest songs ever recorded. Why is it, then, that whenever someone mentions that song, it gets stuck in my head for days?! And all of my writer friends agree that Bridges of Madison County is one of the...
Chasing Perfection
Anthony Doerr recently won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his World War II novel All the Light We Cannot See. And his book is not only noteworthy, it’s popular. It seems as if everyone I know has read or is reading that story, including one of my relatives, who is one of the sharpest...