Part of a month-long series of inspirational or informational posts during NaNoWriMo. I came across the term ‘snowclone‘ last month and thought it was fun. Perhaps you have characters that use snowclones. Perhaps you want to be sure they aren’t used at all. Now you know.
Mondays, by Industrial Age tradition and Garfield, are generally considered the worst. However, this Monday, CBS had an extremely exciting announcement, at least to a certain strain of geeks such as myself: There will be a new Star Trek TV series! So, there’s a new Star Trek TV show, eh? If that’s so, why the tentative title above? Well, we have to wonder what kind of Star Trek is in store. I mean, technically, Space…
Part of a month-long series of inspirational or informational posts during NaNoWriMo. To kick off this month-long series, what better way than to look at some of the methods employed by some accomplished writers? Mind you, depending on what dayjob or other tasks you’re fitting into the month, these may not all be feasible, but they may get wheels turning about how you’ll structure your days over the next few weeks.
As many of us plunge into NaNoWriMo (in my case, a script-based variant thereof), I came up with a cunning plan: have inspirational and informational posts throughout the month to help me and perhaps others. Perhaps you can consult these when you’re stuck. Perhaps they’ll be natural breaks if you’re writing using something like the Pomodoro Technique. Whatever the case, I’ll try and update these bright and early every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday — because…
A couple weeks ago, I learned that longtime host of The Big Broadcast and even longer-time radio figure, Ed Walker, would be retiring. He was doing so to spend more time with his family and battle the cancer with which he had been diagnosed. His last broadcast would be Sunday, October 25th. Like many other longtime fans, I was determined to tune in at 7pm this past Sunday. This may seem strange in the age of streaming…
While I’m wary about any attempt to: Place people into neat, cleanly definable generations Ascribe specific, seemingly inviolable characteristics to said generations Such articles are often good jumping off points for discussions about the past and the future… or maybe that’s just the psychohistorian in me. In any case, I found this piece by Fareed Zakaria about Millennials interesting, not in the least because it raises the point that they might actually be a product of…
Cara Giaimo has a wonderful feature article all about the ongoing history of cops and doughnuts sprinkled with multiple anecdotes you didn’t realize you really wanted to know. Reading the article made me think of my own anecdote. When I was going to school in Maine, a local radio station (WBLM aka “The Blimp”) had a rambunctious morning show that would often feature the game “Cop or No Cop?” The format was delightfully straightforward. A listener would…
After doing a little bit of research in writing my post about American Express, I came across this article about the surprisingly heated battle for Costco to sell gas in Washington, DC. It’s from 2013, so presumably the status quo has adjusted to the discount interloper, but I’ll probably follow-up and see what’s been going on.
Devin Leonard and Elizabeth Dexheimer have an interesting feature-length article about the decline of American Express aka “AMEX.” I am surprised at some of the umbrage attributed to American Express personnel in the article. They apparently think their business existing for over 150 years is reason enough to continue to exist. Certainly, service and quality matter. However, in a world where every point of cost is scrutinized backwards and forwards to justify its existence, why wouldn’t…
A writer writes, so I feel with all my work on Stonehenge Casting and Stonehenge XIV this year, I have been neglecting my overall writing. There have been scripts I’ve been meaning to get to and the period after Stonehenge XIV seemed like a good time to dive into them. I also wanted to be writing every day, something that I haven’t managed for most of this year. Enter NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month…