The Wild West of Writing Genres

The Bl-article? An Arti-log? Don’t believe the hype – when it comes to definitions of  “blog” and “article” on the Internet.  The #2 blog from “The 50 Best Tech Blogs” contains references that we’d usually find in an article. The #2 article listed in “The 10 Most Popular Articles in

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What is Corporate Gothic?

As members of Joe’s Writers’ Club club threw the term “Corporate Gothic” around, again and again, I became mystified. I agreed with the consensus – that the literary genre projects something “corporate” in the setting or conflict – and gothic elements like suspense and mystery in the style; yet, at

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Julie Jirout

As a 15-year veteran English teacher, Julie Jirout’s fiction often features the promotion of literacy and the theme of justice. As Julie completed a Master’s Degree in English Education, she took linguistics classes that inspired a love of editing. When she isn’t experimenting with new recipes, reading, or watching PBS

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Blue Water Writing: Corporate Gothic Real World

Throughout countless years, Amazon has provided me with easy access to hard-to-find products, which has saved me a lot of time and trouble. I’ve always found their customer service representatives to be polite and helpful. The supportive crew at Amazon’s KDP recently helped me publish my first ebook. When I came

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Blue Water Writing: The Rising Tides of the Ebook Industry

If the print industry had its wild west, the ebook industry’s is currently experiencing a major hurricane. The rising tides are pushing past the dunes and reaching into the streets. As a first-time Kindle author, I’m having trouble finding solid ground. Reading Twitter promotions about new publications on my phone every

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Blue Water Writing: The Read-Aloud Review

Long before computers, tablets, and phones, writers wrote and edited on paper and with a pencil.  Pulling sheets through rubber rollers, dabbing glue on drying ink, and jabbing at springy keys, typing was a laborious affair. Unable to rely on spelling and grammar checks, the typewriter was reserved for final

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Blue Water Writing: Where’s your Head At?

Most of the discussions on the Internet about “plotters” (writers that outline) and “pantsers” (writers that write by the seat of their pants) include an acknowledgment that authors have varied personalities, experiences, and needs. Robinson’s article discusses the different approaches that J.K. Rowling and Stephen King utilize. In contrast to the one-size-fits-all advice from NY Book Editors, Kristen

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Blue Water Writing: Note-taking and Narrating

To avoid making the mistakes that I previously made, I utilized many of the suggestions from Writer’s Digest, and I constructed an outline before writing the text.  Some of the choices that I made in the outline were not ideal. Making my narrator a cop seemed to make sense while

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Blue Water Writing: Begin with the End in Mind

I’d like to discuss the notion of “beginning with the end in mind” in general terms before applying the concept to the writing of fiction. In my last post, I discussed writing goals, and in the process of articulating and working towards a goal, we “begin with the end in

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Blue Water Writing: Begin by Writing Goals

Throughout my adult life, I’ve read through countless “goal-setting” articles on the Internet.  As a high school teacher, I’ve taught the process of setting and achieving a goal many times. With this writing project, I returned to the topic and looked over a few discussions on “writing goals”.  Initially, the

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