The Strength of a Story

Posted by on Aug 30, 2011 | No Comments

This article originally printed in the July 2011 issue of Toastmasters Magazine. Reprinted by permission of Toastmasters International. My ship was on the reef, snapped in two like a dry stick; I was face down in the boxing ring and the referee was about to count “Ten.” In short, my speech was bombing – big time. […]

The Big Story

Posted by on Jun 29, 2011 | No Comments

I’ve neglected my story telling blog recently because I’ve been working on a bigger story, a longer one, a novel about 95,000 words long. I recently entered my manuscript into a contest for unpublished fiction writers. I was optimistic because an earlier version of the same story had placed third in an international on-line contest and […]

The Forgotten Sailors: A Veterans Day Story

Posted by on Nov 10, 2010 | No Comments

On a narrow canal in a Midwestern city lies a memorial to men who fought for our freedom, and then their own survival, on a wide ocean. Last September while attending a writers conference in that city I opted to skip breakfast and take a run, so that I could process some advice I’d received […]

The Value of Being Specific

Posted by on Aug 31, 2010 | No Comments

As a young Captain I attended Air Force Squadron Officer’s School in Alabama. The communications instructor told a story that has stuck with me ever since. For years he used a personal example to tell of the importance of being specific in communications. One day he agreed to meet his wife right outside the J. […]

What Women Really Want

Posted by on Jul 1, 2010 | No Comments

I was reading a manuscript written by a friend when I ran across a scene where a male character asks the female protagonist, “What do women want?” I happen to know the answer to that question, and am willing to share it. When I was a young Air Force Captain at Sembach Air Base in […]

Writing “More” Than You Know

Posted by on Jun 17, 2010 | No Comments

Amanda of MacGregor Literary recently posted a great “Write What You Know” article on their agency blog. Personally I believe you can extend “what you know” by both experience and observation. During a recent trip to the Eastern Mediterranean I had the chance to watch people in many different situations and wonder about what motivated them. On the […]

Seattle Area Authors Place in Inaugural On-Line Book Contest

Posted by on Jan 8, 2010 | No Comments

?Marcher Lord Press, the premier publisher of Christian speculative fiction, today announced the results of their first ever on-line competition for book authors. Thirty six authors competed in the full manuscript event and 49 authors vied in the premise event. Over 2000 people participated in the contest as readers, authors, and or voters. “Authors from […]

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