Who doesn’t love a good joke? Lots of people pay hard-earned money to see comedians stand on stage and make them laugh. But have you thought about what makes a joke funny? There’s an element of surprise when a joke makes you laugh. You expect a story or situation to go one direction, and it ends…
I visited a rather unique place last weekend. It’s a temporary exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, and seeing as my family 1. Loves Star Wars, and 2. Mostly hadn’t been to the art museum (I’m the only one who had), it was a good opportunity to gain some artistic insight. Isn’t this post about the…
There are many rules that govern our writing and language use. Ever useful, sometimes changing, and occasionally bizarre. There are some rules I just can’t seem to learn. My brain refuses to let them in, and I have to look them up every single damn time I need to use them. One of those is…
A friend emailed me a question. She’s written a book and is considering what to do with it. Her question: “How do you self-publish on Amazon?” She didn’t mean what buttons to push on KDP that makes the book go live. She meant: “What are the steps necessary to prepare a book for publication?” I…
Books are made of chapters, and chapters are made of scenes. Those segments of the story are what hold the whole thing together. Write them well, and you have a page-turner. Write them not so well, and… No writer wants to do that to their readers, so it’s worth figuring out what makes a scene…
When I published my first book twenty-one months ago (two years ago come February, so you don’t have to math), I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I’d sell some copies, probably my friends would read it, and it would get a handful reviews (hopefully good ones). If you’ve followed the blog for a…
Have you guys seen Doctor Strange yet? The fam and I saw it yesterday, and it completely blew me away. I rarely see movies more than once in the theater, but I think this one deserves another viewing – maybe in 3D – just to comprehend the stuff I missed the first time. I’m not…
Last night, I finally got the chance to watch the Season 7 premier of The Walking Dead. I made the mistake of watching it right before I went to bed. It took a while to fall asleep. Like, a couple of hours. Because man. That was rough. Anyway, I’ll be using specific details from that…
I had so much fun making the trailer for Drake and the Fliers that I had to take a stab at Project Renovatio. Like Drake’s, I made this one without paying for anything (click on the Drake post to see how). I’d love to know what you think!
Fellow authors, I need to tell you a secret – you can create a book trailer for free. Last night, my son (he’s 11, by the way) showed me a “trailer” he made with his school iPad. It was pretty cool, so I asked him to show me how me made it. He directed me…
Allison Maruska 