Category: Special Features
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My 2025 Writing Goals
In my last blog, I clarified the difference between resolutions, goals, and wishes. I prefer making goals, since they have verifiable/measurable outcomes that I have the ability to achieve. I set goals in all areas of my life — health and fitness, home improvement, family support, and of course writing. Since my blog is writing…
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Wishes, Resolutions, and Goals, Oh My!
The arrival of a new year is typically an occasion for making a commitment to improve and/or renew oneself. This commitment often takes the form of one or more “resolutions.” The meaning of a “resolution” depends on the context. In government circles, it refers to a formal expression of opinion, will, or intent voted on…
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Nicknames: When to Use and Not Use Them
In the wake of their decisive win over Indiana, the Ohio State Buckeyes will be a strong favorite to win their game against the University of Michigan next Saturday. Now, if you are like most OSU fans, you probably would criticize me for not calling Michigan “That Team Up North” or “TTUN.” Later, I’ll explain…
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Books & Brews Highlights Community’s Friendship with Library
“There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship,” declared Thomas Aquinas some 800 years ago. His words ring true not only for individuals but also for public institutions, such as libraries. That’s why the Friends Foundation of Worthington Libraries has such an important role to play. The financial support the…
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American Writers Museum Lives up to my Hopes
I recall as a child being totally awestruck by two museums my family visited. One was the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. The other was Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. The latter with its interactive exhibits, true-to-life coal mine, and World War II German submarine dazzled my young mind and showed me just how…
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Vote 2024: The Language of Political Signs
The 2024 Presidential Election is only 44 days away, so it’s not surprising that political signs are sprouting up on lawns and in windows at an increasing rate. Given the limited space available on a political sign, the words it displays have to be cleverly chosen. Granted, a sign may have nothing more than the…
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In Pursuit of a Publisher
Many of you know that I’ve been working on a YA novel (my third) for the last four years, and now a milestone in that project has been reached. I need to find a publisher. Reaching this milestone has been neither quick nor easy. Diary of a Girl in Trouble has been through no fewer…
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Pre-Publication Questions
Within the next six weeks, I plan to send a finished draft of Diary of a Girl in Trouble to as many as a dozen publishers. And then wait for the rejections. Well, maybe not from all of them. At least that is my hope. But I have enough experience with the publication process to…
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Beta Readers Offer Helpful Revisions
Beta readers play a key role in the writing-publishing process. As their name suggests, they aren’t the first ones to see a draft manuscript. Alpha readers see the first draft as it is being written and offer feedback on clarity, character development, and plot continuity, and how the composition reads as a whole. Beta readers…
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Poems by Linda
Ever since I took up writing as a serious hobby some 20 years ago, I have devoted far more time and effort to prose than poetry. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy poetry. Many poems, especially those written by the romantics, can stir my emotions and send my thoughts soaring back into a blissful…