Is there a place you frequent that gives you a sense of peace, or whose natural or man-made elements intrigue you, maybe even prompt you to silently describe them was you walk along, taking it all in? If so, consider it a potential setting for your novel. You may have to make adjustments to custom-fit…
My First Novel: How I Wrote It and What I Learned
When I started writing my first novel, I didn’t realize the endeavor would lead to a continual quest for knowledge. Not knowing anything about novel writing, I “pantsed” my story until I hit the proverbial brick wall some call writer’s block. Asking myself questions, researching my story’s subject matter, and researching story structure helped me…
Surviving Survival: My Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Story
As my “Critical Cardiac Considerations” article mentions, a good majority of children diagnosed with cancer will be cured, children including teens and young adults, up to age 21. However, because research on adult childhood-cancer survivors, of which I am one, has shown that some cancer-curing treatments can damage the heart and/or cause other problems that…
MasterClass: Quality over Quantity
Main focus of review: writing Why I purchased this: I wanted to learn from experts on writing. I learned about Masterclass from their YouTube ads. This educational-content product offers an app and provides lessons from big-name experts in a variety of fields. James Patterson and David Mamet stand out as my favorites to listen to,…
Sticky-Note Diary: Tricky “One”
How To Ensure Proper Noun-Verb Agreement When “One” Mingles with the Plural During a grammar and style class I took a couple of years ago, I asked my professor a question she was unable to answer: When a sentence contains the dependent clause (often the subject complement) “one of those people who [verb],” is the…
Writing Software: Scrivener
Why I purchased it: to facilitate my creative writing process Literature and Latté is a sotware company “founded by writers for writers,” according to their “About Us” page. Their Scrivener offers a number of features aimed at simplifying novel writing. My favorite feature is the chapter “binder,” which houses chapters and scenes I create and…
Plotting Help: Save the Cat! Writes a Novel
Why I purchased the book: wanted to learn more about “plot points” and story development Every creative writer knows a novel needs a hero who hurdles obstacles toward a goal or necessary outcome, but plotting poses challenges. Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel delves deep into plot points using familiar stories as examples—“spoiler…
Critical Cardiac Considerations for Long-term Survivors of Childhood Cancer
Overview The last 40 years have brought us to an 80% five-year-survival rate for childhood cancers (diagnosed prior to age 21).1-3 Despite the welcome news, survival rate among long-term survivors falls short of gender-matched population controls, most likely because 40% of those who survive over 30 years have serious or life-threatening medical issues.1-3 Cardiovascular [CV]…
Sticky-Note Diary: Italics or Underline?
Despite what I think I know about English grammar, I continually encounter tricky grammatical situations. Most of the time I find the answer in my hard copy of The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). As you can see from the picture of my CMS, a number of sticky notes mark sections I’ve looked up. In…
First-Draft Insight and Faulkner
“In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” ~William Faulkner Author William Faulkner’s popular quote translates to “delete (or paste into an edited-out folder) cherished lines representing joy, tears, and hours of your life.” One could argue each sentence, paragraph, and scene qualifies as a “darling.” Therefore, with all due respect to Faulkner, don’t…