Last year I was asked to be a writing coach for a conference I’ve attended for decades. I did so with gusto, and reveled in the conferees’ kudos and praises. I supposedly changed one woman’s life. How cool is that? This year, though, things aren’t looking so hot. The teaching roster has already been announced […]
Author Archives: flywheel
Miss Crankypants Takes Her Show On the Road!
Today I’m honored to be a guest at award-winning author and all-round nice person Kay Marshall Strom’s blog. If you like me even a little bit, please visit Kay’s Words and leave a nice comment. If you don’t like me even a little bit, please keep your comments to yourself. Back tomorrow! Share this… Email […]
What Ever Happened to Answering the Phone?
My adult son rarely answers his phone. He’ll text you, sure, or send email now and then. But when a real live conversation might take minutes, our tag texts go on for hours at times. Why don’t people answer their phones anymore?On some level, I like texting better than phones. In public for instance, I’m […]
Why Writers Need Perfect Teeth
A few years ago, most writers’ dentition reflected years of coffee and tea drinking and the occasional front tooth gap or overlap. Unless you were a kid, a light shade of dull yellow was normal. Actors had to shell out thousands for veneers, but the rest of the arts demanded only that you were good […]
Enter the Dragon
Moms everywhere know that we usually dodgecontagions that hit the household—just long enough to nurse, wait on andcomfort everyone else back to health. Then, wham. The rest of the familyresumes their normal activities while Mom makes her own chicken soup. That’swhen my family treats me like I’m an alien, and all because I sound funny […]
Life is What Happens
. . . While you’re making other plans, right? I was all set to rant about the way we writers are pressed to have perfect teeth, when my loving husband of thirty-four years got into a fender-bender on his way to work this morning. He was rear-ended and then his poor old 1981 truck (aka […]
Mayan Apocalypse and the Writing Life
Sliding down to the last few days of 2011, most of us are already busy setting goals and pinning our hopes on 2012. If it weren’t for that pesky Mayan Apocalypse prediction, I’d be a whole lot more goal-oriented.First, I will admit that I watch a lot more pop science TV than I should. H2 […]
How to Be a Blogger in the Writing World
Whenever I teach a writer how to set up and maintain a blog, I almost always get the same deer-in-headlights reaction. “What on earth will I write about?”This isn’t rocket science, people. Besides if you follow Miss Crankypants’ rules, you’ll do fine. Rule #1. Be Brief. Limit your posts to 250 words. Interesting how many […]
Writing in the Dark
On December 21st, many writers and bloggers post about this being the shortest day of the year. How nice to be reminded for the forty-sixth time that it’s blinkin’ dark outside. And in Oregon, it’s really really dark. At three PM. Oregon’s so close to the arctic circle, that you can’t grow watermelon due to […]
At Christmas, Time Is Money
When I was in college, I was either flat broke and had no way to buy gifts, or else I was working some horrible retail job and had no time. Then, during the mommy years, I had no time and no money. I was an art major, so I always came up with clever handmade […]
