I wrote this last week—and revised it today—in response to a writing prompt Ted Kluck gave at a writing conference. His assignment challenged us to describe a memorable photo: It may have been the pinnacle of my high school track career. It was at the biggest meet of the year, perhaps my life, and I […]
Category: Writing and Publishing
Writing and publishing articles by author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
As a writer, I write alone; it’s a solitary activity. So it’s good for me to periodically emerge from my self-imposed cocoon and spend time with other people—and other writers are the people who understand me best, those with who I am most comfortable to be around. I just returned from a Christian Writers conference. […]
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Writing Conference Update
I’ve just returned from a two-day writing conference, the best I’ve ever attended. Last year, I set a goal for this year’s conference, which I was able to meet. I also had a long list of things I was looking forward to and everyone was met and most were exceeded. As a bonus, I had […]
This weekend I’m heading off to the Breathe Writers Conference. It will be my third time in three years. There are many things I’m looking forward to, among them: Mostly I’m looking forward to being in the company of other writers, to share and learn, to encourage and be encouraged, and to grow as a […]
I recently had someone share a book idea with me. It was about him dealing with a tragedy. If you want to write your story about a personal struggle, here are some questions to ask: Are you emotionally able to write? This man was in the middle of his struggle. He was on edge and […]
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Four Reasons to Set Goals
It’s important to set goals, both for our work and for our self. Goals move us forward Without goals, it’s easy to drift from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year—and nothing really changes. One of my goals is to attend two writing conferences each year. This helps grow […]
I attended my first writer’s conference over two years ago. Aside from the presenters, not one attendee had published a book. Some were talking about it, others were working on it, and a few were seeking an agent, but no one had published anything beyond an article. How discouraging. No one had a success story […]
A couple of years ago I went on a 24-hour prayer retreat. This was a time of relative silence, with no Internet, no computer, no cell phone, and no television; there would be no technology to distract me. I did take a couple of books to read, my Bible, my journal, and the expectation it […]
In past posts, we talked about the importance of watching out for words that can mean opposite things, words with confusing meanings, and slang. Another consideration is clichés. A cliché is an overused phrase or idea. Initially, it may have been a colorful word combination, but with excessive use and abuse, it has become trite. […]
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Be Careful With Slang
I’ve had several posts about word choices: Commonly Confused Words, Same Word – Opposite Meaning, and Confusing Words. Next up is slang. We need to use caution when interjecting slang in our writing. Slang can date our work: If our story is set in the sixties, a character might say “groovy.” However, anyone who wrote “groovy” in the sixties […]