Writing and publishing articles by author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
Malcolm Gladwell, in his 2008 book Outliers, advances the “10,000-Hour Rule.” He asserts that to be successful in any field, it is largely a result of putting in a requisite amount of time practicing a task and honing that skill. How much time? Ten thousand hours! I have no idea how much time I’ve logged […]
There is a writing conference that I’ve been hearing a lot about lately, the “Festival of Faith and Writing,” held at nearby Calvin College. It first came to my attention just after the last conference. My friend Gerald the Writer, a follower and frequent commenter of this blog, has been three times and speaks highly […]
Written by J. M. Barrie in 1911, the novel Peter Pan (aka: Peter and Wendy or Peter Pan and Wendy) is 100 years old. Whether or not you have read the book, you are no doubt familiar with the story, having likely seen an adaptation or two on video or stage. While much can be […]
At the Breathe Writers Conference, I attempted to follow my self-imposed limit of one book per conference—a practical step given my proclivity to acquire books faster than I can read them. I bought the latest book by our keynote, Caryn Rivadeneira. Her book, Grumble Hallelujah, was just released in August. I classify it as a […]
Last weekend I attended the Breathe Christian Writers Conference in West Olive Michigan. It was my second year and the conferences’ fifth or sixth. Breathe is a value-packed conference that is priced right. Although most attendees were from southern Michigan, some came from out of state, as far away as Texas. Interestingly, Breathe was founded […]
Do you ever read a book and feel the author is your friend? This can be especially true if the book includes self-disclosure, as in a memoir styled account. After reading this type of book, I wish I could sit down and talk with the work’s creator: asking questions, sharing observations, and nurturing the budding […]
Last week, I recorded the headlines of press releases that I received—not the ones I used, but the ones I didn’t use (and many more were screened before they reached me). Many don’t even address the industry I cover, so make sure you only send your press releases to those who actually cover your industry, […]
A logline is a brief summary of a story that is designed to hook the reader. Ideally, it is one sentence long. I recently entered another writing contest, where the challenge was to write a logline. Not just any logline, but a really bad logline. The rules were it had to be one sentence and […]
Each weekday I’m treated to a new vocabulary word that arrives via email. It is called “A Word A Day” and is provided by author, speaker, and linguaphile (word lover) Anu Garg. Starting 1994, the subscriber list is now over a million strong. Although the words shared have little chance of being added to my […]
In sports, such as the Olympics, results are often ascertained objectively by quantitative measurements, such as time, distance, or score. Other competitions are determined in a more subjective manner based on the qualitative opinions of judges. To help screen out possible bias or bad judgment, multiple judges are used, with the highest and lowest scores […]