Procrastination is a serious problem for writers and when taken to excess, it can be fatal to the craft. Procrastination can manifest itself in many different ways, but the result is the same: writing is deferred. When it is time to write: These are all forms of procrastination. In your writing career, you have likely […]
I publish four periodicals: two magazines, an e-publication, and an e-newsletter. There is an established workflow to each, with every day requiring that some task be accomplished for at least one of them. Additionally, one of the magazines has an overlapping production schedule, meaning that sometimes I have to start the next issue before the […]
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of Netflix, the online movie rental site. In addition to making movie selections, I spend time rating movies so that Netflix can make recommendations of other flicks that I might enjoy; it generally works quite well. After watching one obscure selection online, Netflix asked me to write […]
A few weeks ago, I lamented about the number of syllables in the letter W. I asked for he be given equal treatment to the alphabet’s other 25 one-syllable letters. Today, I have the same concern for seven. You see, of the single digit numbers, all but seven enjoy one-syllable conciseness. (In case you are […]
A Playful Look at Letter Names, with Crossword Puzzles in Mind Recently I pondered the correct spelling for W. Not finding an official answer, I went with “double-u.” Upon further contemplation, I realized having similar doubts about the spelling of many letters. Therefore, I advance this list, which I ultimately found in Google’s scan of […]
After yesterday’s column mentioning press releases that were poorly targeted, I made a list of the headlines sent my way recently. None of them have anything to do with what my magazines cover. Even though the summer months are light for news submissions, I still received quite a few. For some of them I am […]
A Short Allegory with Deep Lessons for Readers of Every Age By Trina Paulus (Reviewed by Peter Lyle DeHaan.) In addition to all my varied writing functions (writing articles, websites, and blogs, publishing two magazines, and way too much editing) I also write an occasional movie review and book review—just for fun. Here’s one of my […]
After another post, considering how words are used—and misused—my thoughts turned to how words are pronounced—and mispronounced. I, for one, have a “flexible” pronunciation style. For any word possessing more than two syllables, I am seemingly able to enunciate it in at least two different ways—sometimes within the same sentence. Amazingly, I have not had […]
On my last post, I admitted a struggle with the writing process. Not so much with the end results, but instead with the speed of getting there. Therefore, I will be working on “writing rightly,” that is writing with efficient effectiveness. Along with that, I have established some personal blogging guidelines for “writing rightly.” My plan […]