We can do this now. A video we make of a gesture can find and touch millions of hearts, as this video did when it was posted on Facebook six months ago. A man asks a choir to sing Bruno Mars’ hit song Just the Way You Are to his wife on their anniversary. His wife, as it happens, is chair-ridden from advanced multiple sclerosis. He does this because he wants, he needs, her to know how cherished she is, and he needs to do it in some undeniable, public way.
Read MoreNo More Excuses! Awesome Resources To Get You Writing
Hey, FreshVoicers…Happy New Year!
I’m excited about 2017, and I hope you are, too! Will this be the year you decide to start that book project? If it feels like the right time, then here are some professional nudges I’ve put together for you…
Malapropriate: The Delicate Dilemma of Correction
In Sheridan’s 18th Century play, The Rivals, a character named Mrs. Malaprop constantly used similar-sounding but incorrect words, often with humorous results: “I must crash a check”; “It’s my term to make them play,” and that sort of thing. Words misused in this way have become known as malapropisms after this hilarious character.
Eggcorn? Well it sounded like that…
Malapropisms, along with other kinds of misuses of words, like the recently-named eggcorns, mondegreens (mis-heard lyrics), mixed metaphors and the like are found everywhere–especially in the verbiage of politicians, celebrities, and the sports world. I don’t think this is because they’re more prone to it; they’re just more likely to have their utterances taped and re-broadcast for the world to see than are you or me. And, they’re often put on the spot and asked to respond to questions suddenly, or make their living talking a lot in public places. Read More
A New Year, A New Way
In 2002 or so, I wasn’t in the best place…physically, mentally, or spiritually. I was struggling with my life and music was my savior. I was actively writing songs for myself and for a friend’s band I played in called Jo’s Diner. One day, for whatever reason, I decided to make an EP (a short version of what used to be called an “LP”…a long-playing record, or album.) The EP was called Fragile Heart and it contained six songs, five of which were mine. A colleague I performed with graciously agreed to play sax on the little project, and we recorded it in another friend’s studio in Saskatoon…
Pink Notebook Christmas 2016 Gifts of Wisdom
I’ve been blessed to attend various support groups over the past two years, and have recorded many of the more meaningful comments and quotes that have been made by others in my pink notebook, along with my own thoughts, many of which have been shared (respecting anonymity, of course) with TPN readers over the past year. Read More
Taking Holiday Inventory
So this is Christmas, one of my favorite holiday songs goes, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun…It’s time to take inventory. But often we rush through the holidays, all action and no reflection.
The fall leading up to Christmas is the heaviest activity in the year for publishers and book printers; the rush to get what will hopefully be the gift book of the season out by early October is its own kind of tension. Having just completed one of those with an author and his book, I’m now taking a few deep breaths. Amid all the visitors, gifts, food and family, I’m feeling the need to make a little quiet space for my inventory.
ABCs of Crowdfunding: U is for Updates
Ongoing communication via updates throughout the course of a crowdfunding campaign is work, but updates are proven to be a major factor in campaign success, so don’t scrimp on them.
Here are just a few of the reasons why:
Read MoreBeauty is in the Eye…
Cybill was THE model of teenage perfection in the 1970s, as visualized in Cover Girl ads in many issues of influential magazines, like this one.
I’m a pretty typical late Baby Boomer woman, I think. I grew up in an era (a really long one) where women were objectified constantly in the media (not that we’re entirely finished doing that) and where certain cultural definitions of beauty were foisted on young women at a most vulnerable time in life–high school.
Literary Lighthouse: Crafting Effective Book Titles (& Sub-Titles)
One question I get often is “How do I make sure I craft the best title for my non-fiction book?” It’s a great question and shows that an author is clued in to how important is their book’s title (and sub-title!). Why is it so important? I think there are a few reasons, and maybe others have other ideas. (If so, please comment!) Here are a few of the most important: Read More
The Gift of the Other
Today is my birth year birthday. I was born in 1958, and today I turn 58 years old. I was only recently acquainted with this special birthday and decided it was a random reason to do a little thinking. (Apparently there’s also a “golden” birthday, which happens when your birthday falls on the day of your birth [i.e. if you were born on a Thursday, every birthday that falls on Thursday is golden.] I think. If you know it’s different, please comment!) But only the birth year birthday happens once in a lifetime.