by Barbara Dee | Nov 24, 2021 | Carpe Diem!, Learning
Ray Bradbury (one of the greatest American authors of all time) acknowledges that The Muse is not a fictional fleeting goddess dressed in ferns as delicate as her hand in helping in the creative endeavors of any mere mortal. A person’s Muse is real as rain and should...
by Barbara Dee | Nov 10, 2021 | Carpe Diem!, Learning
“Book readers experienced a 20% reduction in risk of mortality over the 12 years of follow up compared to non-book readers…findings suggest that the benefits of reading books include a longer life in which to read them.”* Reading is an activity that has been...
by Barbara Dee | Oct 14, 2021 | Author Spotlight, Learning
Don’t think of yourself as “a writer?” You may not have to spend your whole day word-smithing, but you do sometimes need to write things that others read: a follow-up email to a prospective client; your brand-building blog; answers to questions for a magazine...
by Barbara Dee | Oct 2, 2021 | Carpe Diem!, Learning
As a former magazine columnist and regular article writer long before “blog” was even a word, there was somewhat of a learning curve to understand the differences between an article and blog from an author’s point of view. The main one I discern comes from looking at...
by Barbara Dee | Sep 17, 2021 | Carpe Diem!, Learning
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” —Elmore Leonard Self-editing techniques that I teach include reading over your written draft out loud, which reveals important cues as to where edits and improvement are needed. This practice is guaranteed to...
by Barbara Dee | Sep 8, 2021 | Carpe Diem!, Learning
Do you like to read a story with a twist? Good writing keeps you on your toes and, personally, I love surprises (benevolent ones, not jump-out-of-the-bushes ones). Humorists, comedians, and satirists use this device a lot—famously, Groucho Mark, Henny Youngman and...
