You’ve heard it said,  use action beats when creating dialogue–avoid the ubiquitous said. Great advice when done properly, but when overused, the reader gets a stiff neck as though watching an over active tennis match. A popular series, I won’t mention any names, became a hit despite overusing interrupting beats. The author’s dialogue ran something …[ read more ]

Corrugated (Photo credit: Andrea Kirkby ) “Be generous: Invest in acts of charity. Charity yields high returns.  Don’t hoard your goods; spread them around. Be a blessing to others. This could be your last night” Eccl 11:1-2(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.) Like corrugated warts, storage …[ read more ]

Proud As A Peacock I loved the Dixie Chicks . Their sound crossed the line between old-time country and the contemporary. The use of the fiddle, the guitar work, the entire package worked for these classically trained musicians. Perhaps success came too easy for them and handed them their key to failure. They should have understood their …[ read more ]

Image via CrunchBase You got that coveted three-book deal with Penguin. You know that to ensure success, you have to build a platform, that is find potential customers. So you fire up your twitter feed, add people onto google+ and have exceeded one thousand friends on facebook. You set up HooteSuite, and you think you’re in business. …[ read more ]

A Little Folly “Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor” ( Eccl. 10:3). My house sparkled. The floor spread before me, spotless, nary a speck of dust lay on my highly polished furniture, and sunlight sparkled …[ read more ]