Grammar checking software does not always get it right.
Humorist. At least I think so. And everyone laughs when I say it.
Category: First-Time Authors
In an earlier life, I worked for a major corporation that seemed intent on becoming a minor corporation. As they slid down the charts in numerous rankings, I decided I would try something different before I went down the tubes along with the stock price. While I was serving my sentence in Corporate America, there was always someone to hand me a new box of business cards every time there was a change in my job title, division name, office address or the font used for the corporate logo. My parents…
Last year I wrote a book entitled Zen and the Art of Christmas Letters. The reception it received exceeded my wildest dreams as it was picked up by readers in the thousandths. That left me with a dilemma. How could I follow up on this success? Having written the definitive book on humorous holiday letters, what was the next mountain I could scale? Was I to be yet another writer who peaked early and failed to capitalize on an easily earned ascent to the top? Had I scaled the cliff…
According to many so-called writing experts, using passive voice is a bad practice. According to the same writing experts, many of the sentences you and I say every day are based on bad practices. The thing is, if you understand me and I understand you, then how bad can these practices be? They are not bad practices but they still really piss off some people, also known as the writing experts. I don’t even like calling them “writing experts” as that gives them some implied authority and dignity. I would…
I’ve often heard people ask, “Is there is a book inside me?” Thankfully most people move on to other more important questions such as “What is for dinner?” In doing so, they avoid dealing with the challenges of authorship and the world is a safer and better place as a result. Given the two million new books published each year in this country, there are apparently a number of us not content to move on to dinner and insist on dealing with this thing we perceive growing inside.…
Preparing this post (Is There a Book Inside Me?) prompted me to consider the current state of First Time Author jokes. A quick Google search revealed that while there are many jokes about authors and writing, there are no pages dedicated to jokes about first-time authors. I see this as a monumental wrong that needs to be righted1)I did not intend this to be a political statement so if you choose, feel free to see this as a monumental wrong that needs to be lefted.. First-time authors labor in obscurity,…