General

Let’s revisit one of my favorite old posts, shall we? One that explores what is still my favorite analogy for Civility. We’re All Traveling Together I have a book called Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy by Stephen L. Carter. It talks about the collapse of basic manners,…

Independence Day is coming up fast, and it’s important to remember what that means–and what better way than to listen to the words of our founding fathers?

When I started this blog almost ten years ago, I said: Punctuality is not just about making meetings on time, but about being exact. It’s about doing what needs to be done at exactly the time it should be done. To me, that’s an issue that transcends mere punctuation. That…

I need to tell you about my friend Rachael Herron’s new book, Splinters of Light. (And yes, full disclosure, I do consider her a friend, even though I’ve only met her in person once.) Anyway–I’m digressing. She’s got a new book coming out, Splinters of Light, and in an effort…

Okay, raise your hands if you .. … Wish you had more time to write. … Wish you were a better writer. … Wish you could get other people to read your writing. … Wish writing came more easily. … Wish you had more ideas. … Wish you had time…

If you didn’t see it, I’ve got a guest post up at The Whine Seller. The Importance of Saying What You Mean: aka The Difference a Writer Can Make.

Let’s talk about business cards, shall we? It’s true that a lot of business is done electronically, these days, and it’s not like we pay polite visits that require calling cards anymore. (Though, let’s pause a moment and reflect on a society that used to have time to ramble from…

Here’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. If I were doing something else, what would it be? Or, how about: If I could do anything I wanted, what would it be? Sometimes life imposes changes that you have to make, and this can be hard and frustrating.…

Physician Heal Thyself: The Writers’ Edition How can you call yourself a copy-writer if you can’t sell yourself? Here’s a nice little catch-22 for you. How many copy-writer freelancers do you know? People who write sales copy (and other things) for their clients? More importantly—Are they promoting themselves? Everyone is…

I never thought I would love Weird Al Yankovic, well, at all, but right now? I think he’s wonderful! If you haven’t seen/heard this yet, you absolutely must. No, seriously. You must hear this!

So, say you’ve been writing for years. You’ve pretty much mastered the niceties of punctuation, you know your grammar and can parse a sentence with the best of them. Your vocabulary would blow away the SAT people, and you read, read, read just like all the writing books recommend. Yet,…

I was watching Downton Abbey the other night, and there’s a scene where the Dowager Countess, played by the wonderful Maggie Smith, is trying to work her wiles on a bureaucrat via telephone, and at one point looks at the receiver and says something* like, “Is this a a communication…

Where did my Mojo Go? Have you seen it? I’ve been looking all over for it. For whatever reason, I seem have lost all my motivation to write. I put it down before the holidays because I was so busy with other things and now I can’t remember where I…

Has writing gotten harder? In those halcyon days when you were younger (last month, maybe?), it all seemed so easy. You sat down with your computer or your notebook, positioned the cursor or the pen at the ready and … words flowed. You didn’t have to work at them, you…

You might not know, but I have a site where I review knitting books. So, imagine my surprise when I got this co-written email the other day. As a “LYS owner” we are thrilled to read your messages about upcoming books and your reviews. It helps us to stock our…

Do you love what you do? I mean, sure, some people jump out of bed every morning, a happy whistle on their lips, in anticipation of the day of joy and satisfaction ahead of them. I think we can all agree that most (normal) people don’t do that. Most people…

Thanks to the handy-dandy random number generator (known to my friend Jenny as “Randy”) … comment #10 wins! sprite I love reading interviews with people that actually make me feel like they’d be interesting to talk with. Thanks for asking great questions, Deb! So, Sprite, come on down and claim…

Welcome, Sara! I’m so excited to have you here—not least because I’ve been looking forward to your book for months, and I’m delighted for your sake that it’s finally here. Q: If I’m this excited, how must you be feeling about your first book being published? Are you going to…

(Scene opens to show Deb curled up in a red chair, eyes on the book in her lap.) COMPUTER: Psst. Deb! Over here! DEB: What? I’m reading. COMPUTER: But you haven’t written anything in days. DEB: Sure I have. Don’t you remember that email? And I wrote a couple posts…

Here’s a special opportunity for you! I’ve got an ARC  (that’s Advanced Reader’s Copy) of Sara J. Henry’s new book, Learning to Swim and YOU COULD WIN IT! Not only that, Sara is going to be coming here for an interview on her blog tour. I read her blog all…

Okay, here’s a wonderful example of great marketing. This box from SitStay.com arrived at our house today. They have the BEST shipping material. Really. Check out what it says on the top: “WARNING: For your own sake, please do not stand between this box and your dog. Dogs have been…

I just read this quote on an Amazon book review: “Although the point of view shifts between many characters (with even the Coleman’s maid and cook getting their say, sometimes unnecessarily), Falling Angels is essentially the children’s story, since it is their lives that are most open to change. ”…

You know, it just goes to show that you really can’t separate your own life, your own time, your own thought-processes from your historical research. I was reading a book about the first two decades of the twentieth century (Pivotal Decades by John Milton Cooper), and came across this photo…

Spammers, this is NOT the way to win my attention. I think we can all agree that spammers are, well, annoying–like telemarketers used to be. They clutter up your comments and email with links for products and sites that usually have nothing to do with what you’re blogging about. To…