My question for this edition: Can you believe that Labor Day weekend is here already? Did your summer fly by? What was the best part of the summer for you…
Becca started a terrific meme at Write on Wednesday: The Writing Style Meme. In honor of the beginning of the school year and, for those of us no longer in…
“Matt,” as he is known to his teachers and classmates, begins his high school junior year tomorrow, but we’ll be renting a larger tux for this year’s prom. He needed…
“Authentic” simply means genuine, real, not phony or copied. It is a word that has, unfortunately, become a cliched “buzz word” and, along the way, one of my least favorite.…
1. The last meal I had at a restaurant was teriyaki chicken, rice, and potstickers, accompanied by good lunchtime conversation with a colleague. 2. Shopping is something I intensely dislike.…
We all seemed to have insomnia last Friday night. I snapped these about 3:00 a.m., as #1Son and Buddy were having a very serious middle-of-the-night conversation.
“Five Reasons Why Blogging Improves Your Writing” are advanced at Daily Writing Tips: You’ll get into the habit of writing regularly; Instant feedback lets you know how you’re doing; Having…
~~ One of the Top 5 Picks Chosen by the August 8, 2008, WOOF Contest Contestants ~~ If a tree falls in the forest, but no one hears it, does…
My question for this edition: In California, drivers are prohibited from using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle unless they use a hands-free device. In other words, on…
One of my favorite bloggers, Becca, of Becca’s Byline, launched a new site a few weeks ago. Write on Wednesday is, according to Becca’s introduction, “a place to gather if…
Another blogger recently wrote about the joys and frustrations associated with a collaborative writing project. With regard to the development of a fictional character when several writers have input into…
Perhaps this series will never be concluded so long as the creative ways in which people use the Internet and the true impact of the information disseminated via the web…
I have an ongoing love-hate relationship with “the little village of Lodi,” as Paul Zimmerman referred to it regularly when writing about local events in the Lodi News-Sentinel while I…
The Fourth of July is almost here and many Americans, including me, are on vacation this week in conjunction with the holiday. So this week, instead of writing and publishing…
My question for this edition: Do you think that Don Imus should have been allowed to return to the radio airwaves following his dismissal last year? And what do you…
Appetizer What is the weather like today where you live? Digusting. There are hundreds of wildfires burning throughout California and the smoke has been hanging in the air for days…
I am blessed to have many good friends that I have known for a long, long time. They can best be described as falling into a couple of different groups,…
Writers are constantly looking for story ideas and sometimes they are literally right in front of us — when we look into the mirror. But how much personal information should…
Appetizer Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist? 100% optimist, sometimes to my own detriment. Soup What is your favorite color of ink to write with?…
Are there times when the use of hyperbole in our writing is appropriate? Certainly, when employed to convey a compliment or express a desire, deliberate exaggeration of the facts can…
That’s me hugging a statute in New Orleans Square at Disneyland, summer 1979.
Appetizer When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup? I always have a bottle of water,…
Stereotype: A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image; One that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type. “North Country” is a 2005 movie…