Words & Deeds

April 22, 2021

10 Words We Don’t Use without “In-“

Logophiles may enjoy playing with prefixes and suffixes, but we know not every word we make that way will be a real word (you know, the kind in the dictionary). In this case, however, the words are real – they’re just words we don’t use without their prefix. Words You May Not Recognize without “In-“ When you take away the...

Categories Quotes, Words, & Phrases Comments: 0

April 15, 2021

Some Images Broke When Switching Hosts

I switched from WordPress.com to Bluehost hosting a few years ago (you might remember my post about the process of transferring the site). I spot checked some posts, looked at the main pages, and though everything was good. Nope. Some images broke, and I didn’t know until I accidentally previewed one when looking at stats. I’m not entirely sure what’s...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates Comments: 0

April 1, 2021

What Makes People Change Their Minds?

Courtesy of the political and sociological atmosphere of the last few years, I’ve been contemplating what makes people change their minds – and what doesn’t. What Can Change Someone’s Opinion? As a human being, the answer to this matters because, sometimes, we want to change someone’s opinion (Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!). I’m sure you’ve run into this wall in real...

Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting Comments: 0

March 25, 2021

What Are Your Favorite Posts?

As I get the blog started again, I wanted to touch base and ask for your feedback.

Categories General Thoughts & Updates Comments: 0

March 18, 2021

4 Positive Words That Can Be Negative in English

Yes, you heard right. There are inherently positive words that can be negative in English (even in a positive tone of voice). It’s something I never really noticed until I spent more time with people who learned English as a second language. They’ll try to say something in a positive way, but because of the exact wording or tone, they...

Categories Quotes, Words, & Phrases Comments: 0

March 11, 2021

Making Your WordPress Site Accessible: Definitions, Problems, & Tips

Making your WordPress site accessible is a problem that I knew very little about until I changed careers. Working in web development obviously opened new worlds of knowledge, and going back to blogging afterwards highlighted some interesting problems. What Is Site Accessibility & Why Does It Matter? Ok. Normally, I don’t like posts that claim to be about how to...

Categories Business & Publishing Comments: 0

March 4, 2021

A Rant Writing Exercise

I’ve been toying with the idea of how to make a writing prompt for 2020 and 2021 for a while. Most of the angles I thought of at first were better for psychological release than improving your writing (It’s been a hard year for most people!). Then, it hit me – a rant writing exercise. Everyone has something they can...

Categories Dialogue/Writing Prompts Comments: 0

January 18, 2021

Tech Careers for Writers

If writing is your top skill, then, finding a career (not just a job) may seem like a choice between doing something you like and doing something that pays well. What you may not know, what I didn’t know, is that there are great tech careers for writers. Careers that can potentially meet both needs. 3 Careers in Tech That...

Categories Business & Publishing Comments: 0

December 14, 2020

Writing Believable Catastrophic Stories: Tips & Troubles

As I watch the behavior of people over the past few months, the problem of writing believable catastrophic stories keeps circling in my head. Like a pack of shoppers circling the empty toilet paper aisle. So far, I’ve thought of options that might help, but I keep coming back to one conclusion: it won’t be easy. Will Today’s Reactions Be...

Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting Comments: 0

September 15, 2020

Sensory Writing for Smell: 5 Tips to Remember

Anyone who’s ever taken a writing class knows that it’s important to use the senses when writing. Even so, we often overlook the sense of smell. At best, it tends to be thrown in more haphazardly than other senses and rarely used as part of the plot. That’s why using smell sensitivities and other scent-related facts well can make your...

Categories Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comments: 0