Their Rules: Flipping Pages

I guess what I really mean when I say, “Never Listen to Them” is don’t spend your precious writing time adhering to someone else’s rules—follow your own good sense instead. You’ve read a lot of books in your time (of course you have) and you work hard at your writing (of course you do). Do you really need to put somebody else’s wheels on your bike? Trust yourself. Give yourself some credit. Read your work aloud and judge for yourself. If, like me, you’ve spent any real time on the web tracking down blog articles about how to be a good writer, you’ve come up against the rule that I’m addressing...

An Angel Comes Home

Last Tuesday I was wakened at 7:30 in the morning (7:30!) by Nettl, who knows never to wake me for any reason  (especially on my birthday) when I plan on sleeping late because I've been up all night. Usually, these all-nighters are spent in writing, but this time I'd stayed up farting around online and watching old TNG episodes on Netflix. Man, life gets heart-stoppingly exciting after 60...

Time for Change

Lately, I'm constantly reminded of how much easier life is when I just exercise the little bit of effort it takes to get out of its way. That's not easy for me. Since I was a wee toddler I had to learn that life isn't Disneyland. Not all of the attractions have safety belts and very few of those that do have been tested. But that's what life is about, basically. No one ever said it would be the Dumbo ride all the time...

The Virtual Life of a Real Writer

Since my laptop's breakdown and unhappy demise, I've had time to think about things that concern blogging and being on the internet in general. The old Dell warhorse I'm using is slow. It can't handle more than two tabs open at the same time and certain graphics and flash apps frustrate any real time I try to spend online. A new laptop is on its way and should arrive in the next day or two. Let us be exceedingly glad and give thanks...

The Windows Seventh Seal

I was just finishing a week of 12-hour work days, giving one of my clients a brand new website. It has been a long, involved, and complex project that has been in the works for two years. A period of stops and starts, interest and non-interest. All I had left to do last Monday night was create two small graphics, upload all of the files to the domain, and email him with the happy news that the site was at last finished...