What I Didn’t Do on My Summer Vacation

I only remember once having to write the dreaded Summer Vacation essay in grade school. My mom had worked as a housekeeper for the family of another student in my class. I talked all about hanging around her house while she ignored me or played mean tricks on me. Yeah, that was fun.

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Diversity: Reaching a New Reader

As an author, I love to write about people of different cultures and circumstances. The ability to work a Pacific Islander into the story or a past love Caucasian reunited with his African-American college girlfriend opens lots of conflict and wonderful ways to deal with pain. Makeup sex after 10 years is awesome.

News from Anteros

Several years ago, I was talking to a writer friend on-line about ways to grow an audience. I thought maybe an anthology of sorts would work well. The friend disagreed and said to just write good books and get them out. Have a bunch of titles and soon you will have the fans you need.

The Last Chance

As we are heading into the wonderful time of the year when the barriers between the worlds of living and dead are thin, let us look at how some people bid us adieu. Some of these you may have heard before and some could be new and inspiring. I’ve borrowed heavily from two websites. My own words are in italics.

Happy Valentine’s Day

I know I am an oddity in that I have always found the Big V day as a positive one, even though I had no prospects of a happy ever after until I was 40 years old. For some reason, the day of hearts and flowers and the story of a saint who helped women get married always brought me joy.

Time Enough to Write

We have clarified that you know you are a writer if you have a preponderance of certain traits I listed a few weeks ago. Some readers mentioned that the last paragraph, about families who let them have time to write, was really lacking in their lives. So here are some tips I learned from fellow writers who are blessed with a needy spouse and dependent children.