Have you had days where you get on your own nerves? I’ve had three consecutive days of that. If only I could get away from me. It all started when I decided to participate in a Pitch Wars contest, which also required me to join Twitter. I thought it would be a good idea to…
I recently had the honor of guest posting for fellow author Jodie Llewellyn. The topic was what makes a great antagonist (see the post here). Today I want to broaden the scope. What makes a character – protag, antag, or secondary – interesting? Someone in my critique group started a forum thread by asking what to do…
The first day of school for students in one of the districts in my area was yesterday – yesterday. August 1st. I think I blinked and missed summer. My kids have a couple more weeks before the first day, so all the kids in my area either have their bottoms in the chairs of their…
I think my inner child is a 12-year-old boy, and the result of this is snickering at words that sound funny. Words I encounter in writing are no exception. I’ll start by giving the actual definition of these words as I understand them. Because, you know, learning. Then I’ll offer how people might describe the…
Last night, something occurred to me as I was trying to decide on a movie to watch. In the interest of not losing two hours browsing the On Demand listings and debating with the husband, I chose a favorite from our selection of DVDs, all of which we’ve seen. I found myself doing a little…
Back in March, I was feeling especially snarky and decided to joke about some inspirational posters with pictures that don’t necessarily match the meanings. I’ve seen enough of these that I think Round Two is warranted. I’ll post the picture, and in the caption I’ll describe my initial, smartass thoughts about it. I found all of these…
Thanks to a combination of Sudafed and Killer Queen running in an endless loop through my head, I couldn’t sleep last night. So I decided to whip out the ol’ Kindle and read a bit, comprehending an occasional paragraph when Freddie Mercury would stop singing long enough to allow it (notice I didn’t say shut up,…
Don’t worry. I recognize the irony of the title. Non-readers aren’t likely to read a blog post unless there are lots of pictures (like the buzzfeed variety). Really, this post is for readers to nod to in agreement as they read it, and maybe, just maybe, a reader will convince a non-reader to learn a…
I know it’s only June, but my family and I have been talking about Halloween. It’s kind of a big deal. See, we participate in an event our church hosts every year called Trunk-or-Treat. I’m sure you’ve heard of similar events. The idea is to decorate your car trunk and presumably dress up to match…
I haven’t blogged since mid-April. Wanna know why? Well, I’ve been writing one book and editing another whilst critiquing other writers’ work and blah blah blah… Yeah, that’s all bullcrap. The real reason is I couldn’t find any good material. It was getting down to “Hey! Bread! I wonder if there’s anything there!” So I…
Allison Maruska 