How To Find a Unique Narrative Style

One of the most difficult tasks of writing a long novel is the ability to create a narrative style that is unique, flows well, and remains consistent throughout the 50,000 words or so required for a novel. It also must be a style that catches a reader’s eye from the first few pages.  I have

Scrivener Addict: Why I Won’t Go Back To Word for Novel Writing

I really can’t remember why or how I found out about Scrivener, or as I like to call it “The Novelist’s Friend”.  I downloaded it back in December of 2011 and use it every day.  Many of my friends who really know me look at me with raised eyebrows and crooked mouths when I mention

Using Scrivener’s Help Function

                Scrivener is probably one of the best word processors out there for novelists.  I use it every day and find it more easy to use than Word or any of the others.  One of the reasons this is true for me is found in the overly helpful help

The Versatile Blogger Award

Apparently, I have been nominated for “The Versatile Blogger Award”.  Thank’s for the nomination, Corey M.P.! I have only been blogging seriously now since December, and have had some pretty good success in building my platform this way.  I blog on several topics, mostly writing, but sometimes I have to sound off on several diverse

Back On the Horse, But Not At a Full Gallop

I’m out of the woods with the bronchitis, and it has given me a great load of time to think about what I’ll do once I get back to school and try to wrangle my students right before spring break is ticked off the calendar. I basically had a bronchitis break from school as I

My New e-Short Story is Up

A short story I submitted to Kindle Singles is now up.  It is available on Amazon Kindle and on the Nook.  I formatted the book for Kindle and for Nook using Scrivener. …and hey, it’s only .99 cents! The Kindle version is found here. The Nook version is found here. If you buy a copy,

Books I Want To Write

I have been writing off and on since the age of 15, but only seriously now for five years.  I have a list of books I want to write someday after finishing the adventure parody epic I’m writing right now.  For many of these I have outlines or have started them.  Here they are: 1.

How to Get Out of a Rut As a Writer

Ever feel like this as a writer? I just finished a rather lengthy project for a friend and now after two weeks I’m coming back to the novel I am writing.  I started in on a chapter last night and just found that the juices that were flowing two weeks ago had been completely used

Getting Into College: Sports or Academics

; As a teacher, I have many students who are also athletes who struggle so hard to be very good at their chosen sport as well as work very hard academically to make the grade. My hat is off to these students who as a whole are forced to work harder at academics because of

Writing For Friends: When Do You Charge Them?

I recently had the pleasure of being asked to write a motivational book for a friend who is a motivational speaker.  It wasn’t much, just a 7 day booklet that had five very short stories or vignettes that illustrated 7 different concepts about teen leadership.  The booklet was really successful, and I did the work pro