Open post
Smartphone

When Did Touch Become Non-tactile?

Random thoughts seem to hit me at the oddest of times, and the other morning was no different.

My husband's alarm decided that it wasn't doing a good enough job in getting my husband's attention, so it decided to wake me up instead. Yes, this inanimate object has decision-making skills. Curse you, Siri. So, there I was groaning internally, barely able to function because I went to bed way too late, wondering when the hell my husband was going to turn off his alarm.

After a good solid minute of the disgusting attempt at serenade music—perhaps it was less, but I couldn't tell—I rolled over to give him a good shove, only to discover that he wasn't there. He must have been in the shower or in the lounge having his breakfast, but wherever he was, he left his rude phone on the bedside table.

Grunting with effort, I dragged myself across the bed and grabbed his phone, expecting to see the same type of thing that my phone does when an alarm goes off—swipe circles. Nope. It turns out that iPhones don't work the same way Androids do. So, I activated the screen and touched the off button.

Then it hit me. When did touch become non-tactile?

Read More

Open post

Be a Good Reader of the Pre-published

There is a mantra among many writers: to be a good writer, you need to be a good reader. Many have taken this to mean that you need to read widely, reading every published book you can get your hands on. Some insist that you need to read at least a book a week while others spout that it’s one a month. However, is all that reading of the published works really doing your writing any good? Let me explain.

Read More

Open post

Books could almost be immortal

I have seen many debates over that last few years about whether the introduction of the eBook has killed the publishing industry. Many have asked whether books are a thing of the past. It's a valid question, but this is not the first time the question has been asked.

Think about all the old doomsday stories. In many of them, society has been left to flounder, and the knowledge of the past is frequently lost. Reading becomes a lost skill or something that only a select few know. Languages evolve and unless certain knowledge is passed down from generation to generation, history becomes this mysterious thing that none of us understand.

Read More

Open post

Bios: One Size Won’t Fit Me

While writers are often into their own worlds of fire-breathing dragons or sexual encounters with that dark knight, there is one topic that many writers struggle to write about: themselves. It's ironic... Here we are, words flow easily on the page when discussing some fictional character, but writing about the one person that we know the best... You have got to be kidding.

However, writing a bio is not something that a writer should shy away from. There are so many ways to spinning what might seem like a boring hum-drum life and making it sound glamorous. We're writers. We can do this, right?

Read More

Open post

Length matters, but story matters more

Every writer that is serious about publishing, particularly those attempting the traditional publication path, will know that agents and editors put a lot of weight on word counts. The acceptable limits vary depending on the age category and genre of the book.

(By the way, Young Adult is NOT a genre. It's an age category. And Fiction is NOT a genre either. You can find more information about the various age categories here. More information about the main genre classifications can be found here.)

It's incredibly important to have a good understanding of the average word counts for the type of story that you are writing, but it's just as important to understand word counts are not an excuse for poor storytelling.

Read More

Posts navigation

1 2 3 … 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 … 39 40 41
Scroll to top