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10 Standard Texts for Junior High and High School English Class: Just How Great Are They?
September 19th, 2016
image courtesy Schplook / flikr.com It is now mid-September, which means many
Read Column →7 Reasons Why Every Writer Should Journal
September 16th, 2016
I have three physical journals and one electronic journal. I also use the Notes application on my iPhone to write thoughts and observations down if I’m caught journal-less. The three journals are all pocketsize so I can take them everywhere. The first journal is for quotes, life lessons and realisations I pick-up throughout the day. The second is for story ideas, snatches of dialogue and observations. I like to keep the first journal positive so it can inspire and uplift me on those darker days but the second journal is ‘anything goes’.
Read Column →6 Independent Comics and Graphic Novels You Need To Read This Fall
September 16th, 2016
There are so many excellent independent comics that it's easy to miss them. They often fly slightly beneath the radar, making it even easier to neglect a title that would otherwise be perfect for a fall day and a mug of apple cider.
Read Column →Remixing History: How 'The Get Down' Blends Fact and Fiction
September 15th, 2016
We’ve all heard that “truth is stranger than fiction,” but sometimes our made-up stories can beat history at its own game. Sometimes, fiction can be truer than truth.
Read Column →9 Ways To Punch Rejection In The Nuts—A Positive Outlook
September 14th, 2016
What are your odds of facing rejection as a writer? High! High as a motherfucking kite, my friend. This is a motivational piece, by the way.
Read Column →What $100 Of eBook Marketing Advice Is Really Worth
September 14th, 2016
I had a windfall. If $100 counts as a windfall. I'm not sure what the exact definition of "windfall" is, but for me, it's any amount I'd stay overnight in a haunted mansion to get. $100 is WELL within that boundary.
Read Column →What I Learned During My Time Away From Social Media
September 9th, 2016
I recently abstained from social media for fourteen days as part of an experiment. Perhaps not my most ambitious challenge, but given social media is a key promotional tool for This Is Horror and my primary way of communicating with many friends it was enough for me to feel it.
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Five Kick-Ass Small-Press Books That Deserve a Bigger Readership
September 8th, 2016
There are many great books brought out by big publishers that get big press, big awards, and big readerships. (One could argue that there are many mediocre ones that do the same.) And then there are great books brought out by small presses that, despite kicking all kinds of ass, manage to reach only a small number of readers.
Read Column →Writing the Crime Scene: Guns
September 8th, 2016
Your story opens with a female detective kicking in the front door of a drug dealer's house. She points her gun into the darkness of the entryway. Wait! What kind of a gun is it? Is it a Beretta 92FS pistol? Or is it a Mossberg 500 Tactical Tri-Rail Forend shotgun? How many times can she shoot before it needs to be reloaded? Will the muzzle flare light up the hallway when she fires?
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