Banned Books Week, Days 4, 5, and 6 Story Collections Versus Novels When I tell people that I’m a [fiction] writer, they tend to assume that I write novels. I don’t. Or, to be more precise, I haven’t yet. Maybe in the future. But here’s the thing: I love short Read more…
Let’s “Czech” Out Some Short Stories! Czech literary history is rife with examples of censorship, but it’s a history we can learn from. For Banned Books Week days 2 and 3, I thought I’d highlight a couple of my favorite Czech short stories. I became interested in Czech literature quite Read more…
Let’s Celebrate! Banned Books Week is a week for celebrating books. As a writer, I’m naturally an avid reader as well, so I like to think that I celebrate the written word on a daily basis. Even so, I’m always excited when there’s a special slot of time reserved on Read more…
Read Banned Books I have a vague recollection of reading the short story “Enoch” by Robert Bloch when I was in junior high. We’re talking over thirty years ago, so I don’t really recall the story at all, and I haven’t read it again since. I only remember it as Read more…
The Singular “They” Thirty(ish) years ago, my English teachers discouraged my peers and me from using the singular they (them, their, etc.) in our writing. For the papers I wrote in high school, using the phrase he or she (or his or her) was common in order to avoid the Read more…
Purpose and Direction I recently had the good, er, fortune of breaking open a fortune cookie and seeing this statement: “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” This was an apropos fortune, as I happened to be contemplating a blog post of how to generate focused and Read more…
The Blank Screen I started writing a new story the other day. So much of my time these last few months has been spent on revising stories that I had (almost) forgotten what it was like to start fresh, to have a completely blank screen in front of me. As Read more…
When to Use a Hyphen Have you seen the meme touting irony, the one with the juxtaposed words hyphenated and non-hyphenated? I’ve seen it shared dozens of times on social media, and I’ve probably even smiled at it. The problem with that meme? Non-hyphenated does not require a hyphen. Nonhyphenated Read more…
Is it Writer’s Block? I’m not a fan of the term writer’s block. Maybe most writers aren’t. It’s a phrase that hangs over our heads, casting shadows of frustration on our notebooks or computer screens. But that’s not why I don’t like the term. I don’t like it because I Read more…
Woohoo! A Continuation of Exclamation Points!! As noted in Part 1, exclamation points can affect the tone. The punctuation mark gives a heightened sense of emotion, and this can be positive (as in Happy Birthday!!!) or it can read in a more negative way (as in some business communications). “Thank Read more…