writing advice

Okay, fellow writers. This one’s for you. When it comes to organizing my stories before I start writing, I stink. Big time. I have all these ideas kicking around in my head, and I have trouble getting them into some sort of a form that makes sense. This wouldn’t be too bad, except for the fact that I’ll figure something out, then forget that I figured it out already–and figure something else out that then conflicts with what I already planned. Does that make sense? So what I’d like to know from you is how you deal with this. Are there programs you  use? A specific […]

I watched Ocean’s Thirteen last night, and it got me thinking. Why is it that I like watching people break the law so much in these movies? The Ocean series, The Sting, The Italian Job (and the original), The Thomas Crown Affair (and the original), Catch Me If You Can . . . it’s a genre I really like, and it’s remarkable how quickly I start rooting for the protagonists, even though they all end up doing things that I find morally objectionable. And when you look at the movies for a moment, you figure out why. In each case,

Yesterday I made circus popcorn with my son while DKC was off canning tomatoes. We finished (he chose to color it orange this time), and I popped in the old Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe animated movie. I hadn’t seen this in years and years, but I watched it quite a bit when I was growing up, and my sister gave it to us a while ago for Christmas. TRC hadn’t wanted to watch it, because he was convinced it would be too scary for him (there was a picture of the White Witch on the cover, and I

I’ve always wanted a visual dictionary, but I’ve never had one. Now, Webster’s is providing one online. Free. Its interface still needs work, but it seems like it would be useful anyway. Check it out here.