Deep Breaths… #DeleteFacebook
It’s an addiction. Back in the 1980s, early 1990s, I posited the idea of “online addiction” and got nothing but funny looks. Now, the inclusion of “Internet Addiction Disorder” is studied and its inclusion in the DSM is seriously considered (though as of this writing, it is not a defined psychiatric disorder – you can […]
deletefacebook, facebook, featured, instagram, internet addiction, online addiction, whatsapp
Spring Showers MAY Bring May Flowers to the Garden
Spring has sprung with a vengeance – flinging us from 40ºF to 84ºF in the blink of an eye. I have stare-downs from the kitchen table with the garden gnome. Is it just me, or has he moved since I last mentioned him here? I’m pretty sure he does that just to freak me out. […]
The It’s-Not-a-Book-Report Report
These are the books I’ve read or bought since I wrote “Curing the Reading Drought.” The cookbooks, Roger Ebert’s The Pot and How to Use it, and The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann will require a bit of creative adaptation; they have, in fact, inspired me to begin work, with […]
Weirdly Competitive
I am weirdly competitive. I thought it was just me, but my friend Allie mentioned being “highly competitive when it doesn’t count” and I just burst out laughing. Now I find that my friend Mitch has a little streak of it; he rose to the challenge of writing a whole blog post without commas. Just […]
commas, featured, no comma rule, rules for writers, writing rules
Curing the Reading Drought
The Reading Drought How does someone who loves to read, who considers themselves an avid reader, end up going through long, dry spells without actually cracking open a book? This feels like the unburdening confession of a dirty secret I’ve lugged around far too long. I should have Googled sooner: It’s not just me. Read, […]
Update on This Pain in the Neck
I’m referring to me, of course. I have no real pain in the neck (or shoulder, arm, or hand), anymore. Would You Let This Woman Drive? Two weeks post-op. My son’s as hopeful as I am about the possibility of my not needing a chauffeur much longer. I’m going a little stir-crazy, and he can’t […]
artificial disc replacement, cervical spine, disc fusion, featured, post-op follow-up
I Swear, I Wasn’t Asking!
Remember how I said, “Never, ever, ask“? Well, I swear I wasn’t asking! But Karma has a wicked sense of humor. A bit of background: First, I’m needlephobic. I’m pretty sure this fear is related to my fear of spiders, hornets, and venomous snakes. I can mostly control my reaction, meaning I no longer have […]
bone, cervical, DDD, degenerative, dexa, disc, disc fusion, disc replacement, featured, osteoporosis
Liebster Award
What is The Liebster Award? The Liebster Award is a tag which helps new bloggers get noticed, connect with each other and make relationships in the blogging community. I am not a “new blogger,” but I am, nonetheless, honored to be given the award by my friend Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D, E.A., whose middle initial […]
Ice and Dispassion
So, I bought the book. Yes, that book. I normally refuse to follow the crowd when it comes to “the most talked-about bestseller on the planet right now,” but when my husband asked me, over dinner, if I’d pre-ordered the book, I realized that it fit in nicely with two of my 2018 goals for […]
donald trump, featured, fire and fury, first amendment, free speech, potus, twitter
Never, Ever, Ask
Never, ever ask a writer, “How much worse could it be?” Because we can always imagine something… 2018 got off to a happy, auspicious start, for me, personally – I got to spend the holidays with family in Dallas. Even frigid temps were mostly cause for mirth; how often can you say it’s colder in […]
2018, cervical, DDD, degenerative disc disease, disc replacement surgery, featured
Resolutions 2018
I considered going back to my former, iron-clad resolution: “Make no stupid resolutions you have no intention of keeping.” My commitment – my resolve – has faltered, gradually, the last few years, and that’s one resolution I always managed to keep, till that day a few years ago when I decided to tempt fate and […]
Blogging & Social Media Tips, Humor
Fresh Perspectives Delivered FREE to the First 100 Subscribers! Deal Ends at Midnight!
You’ve heard that “nothing good happens after midnight.” Are you willing to risk it? Are you ready to be plunged into email darkness, unable to read A Fresh Perspective without a cheap flashlight? Don’t worry, I have no plans – now or ever – to turn off the lights here or to charge you to […]
Why I Left and Where I Am
She’s Gone! She’s Just Disappeared! I’m still alive. I’m still right here. Yes, I left Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram in a bit of a hurry. I’m sorry for that – there’s no nice way to quietly deactivate an account but leave a single post containing a forwarding address, or a “Gone Fishing” notice. It hasn’t […]
When Life Hands You Lemons… (#NaNoWriMo2017)
Our Story So Far… If you’re just arriving, you may want to start with the first chapter. Here is a table of contents: Chapter Six Beau was waiting for me in the school’s lobby. High school teachers don’t have offices, and the lobby at nine o’clock in the morning was more private than the teachers’ […]
Rumor Mill (#NaNoWriMo2017)
Our Story So Far… If you’re just arriving, you may want to start with the first chapter. Here is a table of contents: Chapter Four The sun streaming through the curtains made my head throb. “Never drink wine on a Tuesday night,” I muttered, rolling out of bed and blindly feeling my way to the […]
featured, nanonovel17, nanowrimo, nanowrimo17, nanowrimo2017
Bats in the Belfry (#NaNoWriMo2017)
Our Story So Far… If you’re just arriving, you may want to start with the first chapter. Here is a table of contents: Chapter Three Stewart opened a bottle of Prosecco, filled both our glasses to the rim with golden bubbles, then lifted his in a gesture of salutation. “To best friends,” he said. “Now […]
featured, nanonovel17, nanowrimo, nanowrimo17, nanowrimo2017
Ridiculously Easy (#NaNoWriMo2017)
Our Story So Far… If you’re just arriving, you may want to start with the first chapter. Here is a table of contents: Chapter Two I drove up the winding road to my little rustic bungalow in Juniper Woods. The windows were aglow with a warm, amber light. A shadow crossed behind the sheer curtain. […]
featured, nanonovel, nanonovel17, nanowrimo, nanowrimo17, nanowrimo2017
The Road to Hell (#NaNoWriMo2017)
Chapter One Joe Krebs and I stared at one another like two small dogs issuing a half-hearted challenge over an old ham bone buried too long in the mud. Neither of us could win, but it was a way to pass the time. I caught Scotty DeLuca cutting his eyes over at the clock, as […]
featured, nanonovel17, nanowrimo, nanowrimo17, nanowrimo2017, road to hell
Countdown to NaNoWriMo!
Some of you have already started writing, but for those of us in the United States – where NaNoWriMo got its “Na” – we’re still a good 45 minutes to launch. Getting excited? For me, it’s tradition to stay up till midnight an write, at the very least, “In the beginning…” More can wait until […]
Reasons NOT to Start Bullet Journaling
Between the blog and Google Calendar and my stash of $0.99 purple-covered composition books from Wal-Mart, I was doing just fine keeping up with the chronicles of daily life, various appointments, and the to-do list. I didn’t need a Bullet Journal. I didn’t want a Bullet Journal. I’d resisted the siren call to even return […]
bujo, bullet journal, bulletjournal, featured, humor, writebravely
Serial Blogger
Once you’ve considered the pros and cons of blogging your NaNoWriMo novel – or, anything, really – and have decided to go for it, how do you tie all the chapters or related posts together on the blog? Building a table of contents is a bit tedious, and requires extensive cross-linking and updates to be really reader-friendly.
Should I Blog the Novel-in-Progress? #NaNoWriMo #WriteBravely
There are good reasons to blog the novel during #NaNoWriMo, and there are excellent reasons not to. It’s entirely up to you, but you need to consider a few things before you commit to a decision: Copyright, Commitment, and Willingness to Fail.
Gnome’s-Eye View of My Herb Garden
Wow, speaking of a fresh perspective! A few weeks ago, my husband recycled the base of an old, rusted basketball hoop into a container garden for me. It wasn’t that I asked him to – I think he realized, finally, that showing me the second copperhead snake he found outside our door had deterred me […]
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Here, There Be Dragons – Plot Dragons!
My fellow Write Triber, Vinodini Iyer wrote, in a comment on my Plot Bunnies, Ninjas, and Tales of Derring-Do, “My plot bunnies sometimes start dragging a bit and I need to turn them into plot dragons to make worth a read.” Naturally, my plot dragons wanted to meet her plot dragons! Forever Friends My first plot dragon […]
Plot Bunnies, Ninjas, and Tales of Derring-Do
Have I convinced you to throw yourself into the fray? To sharpen the nib on your fountain pen, dip it into the purple ink, and write perspicacious prose in that delightfully madcap literary adventure known as NaNoWriMo? I hope so! Now, if you’re already addicted to writing, you know the drill. But if you’re still […]
action, chekhov's gun, featured, fiction, nanowrimo, plot bunny, plot ninja
NaNoWriMo Math
I remember thinking I’d never be able to break the 6,000 word barrier, let alone write 50,000 words during my first NaNoWriMo. I had something to prove, that first year – to myself. “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. What I’ve learned […]
October, or “NaNoWriMo Prep Month”
Some of us don’t like to color inside the lines, and November isn’t the time to start. At its core, National Novel Writing Month, or “NaNoWriMo,” is about writing fast enough to drown out the sound of the inner critic in the frantic clacking of fingernails on a keyboard. 50,000 words in 30 days, or […]
Always Look for the Helpers
I’m proud to live in Houston, Texas, and have never been more proud than now, in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. For over a week, the world watched images of the devastating Category 4 hurricane and the slow, drenching rains of “Biblical proportions” that engulfed our part of the state, covering large parts of it […]
Struggling to Find the Writer’s Voice
Struggling to “find your voice“ as a writer? How can it be that you’ve lost it? It’s like looking for the car keys clutched in your hand. What IS Voice? It’s helpful to define what “voice” is and what it isn’t. Jon Jorgenson wrote, “The artistic voice is a longing to create what does not yet exist, […]
