The frustrations of Facebook …
For Facebook users like authors and artists trying to market your books and artwork, you need to know about EdgeRank.EdgeRank rules the Facebook universe. It’s the Facebook god.When I log into...
View ArticleHow the Fourth of July did a disappearing act...
Everyone loves fiery displays and explosions.That’s why summer blockbusters usually do well at the box office, racking up millions of dollars that make the moviemakers break into wide grins.And it’s...
View ArticleOf elves and humans...
An illustration of an elf babe got me to thinking … our image of a female elf has become very stereotyped.To be brutally honest, the traditional depiction of a female elf is a stylized image of a human...
View ArticleMy almost chance to decide a man's fate...
This is a story of forgetfulness and second chances.And a moment of terror when I thought I might actually be called on to decide something extremely important in one man’s life.Back in June I was...
View ArticleTower of Babel parable bothers me...
The Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel relates how God introduced multiple languages because mankind was building a tower designed to reach Heaven. Traditional Biblical teachers explain that...
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Christmas memories settle comfortably in our hearts
Mom passed away 11 days before her 74th birthday and less than five weeks before her favorite holiday, Christmas.2003 proved to be a difficult year. We watched mom lose the ability to use her muscles...
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Remembering horror and forgiveness...
Just six days ago Terri Roberts spoke at a Pennsylvania church about forgiveness and Christian love. Terri is the mother of Charles Carl Roberts who back in October 2006 took 10 Amish girls between the...
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Free ebooks … a successful marketing tool?
It’s called marketing – and no, I don’t have one of my novels available for a free download on Amazon. There’s a lively discussion on Facebook started by a New York Times best-selling author. The...
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A few words on the new dodo bird …
Some say libraries are going the way of the dodo bird.The flightless, three-foot-tall bird native to the island of Mauritius near Madagascar in the Indian Ocean became extinct in the late 17thcentury...
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The online future has a name and it’s called Graph Search…
He’s been making a list, and checking it twice, gonna to find out who’s been naughty or nice.No, not Santa Claus, but the Wizard of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.Facebook’s algorithms have been collecting,...
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When actresses first ruled the Social Scene …
“Abandoned pregnant and penniless on the teeming streets of London, 16-year-old Amber St. Clare relies on her wits, beauty and courage to climb to the highest position a woman could achieve in...
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Moving into the future can mean a bumpy ride
Muskingum River Power PlantSome days are bummer days.I just read a news story on the Marietta Times website that says American Electric Power’s Muskingum River power plant’s Unit 5 in Southern Ohio...
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In North Carolina … Strawberry Festival is a time to forget politics
I’ve been caught up lately in local politics … that is covering local politics in North Carolina as local governments prepare their Fiscal Year 2013-14 budgets.Politics or strawberries?It’s not been...
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Railroad tracks still lead us home in our dreams
Riding on the City of New Orleans,Illinois Central Monday morning rail.Fifteen cars and 15 restless riders,Three conductors and 25 sacks of mail.All along the southbound odyssey,The train pulls out at...
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Heroes, Heroines and Holy Puppeteers ...
Writers who pen historical novels have to make a decision: How realistic do they make the world view of their chief characters? If a novel is set in 13th Century England, should the hero, heroine and...
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Precious memories of my cousin Billy …
One weekend in 1980 I traveled back to my childhood and played Army. This time I dressed as a Confederate soldier and war-gamed with Union re-enactors on military land in Indiana. Truly I had a great...
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A Story: The Cloaked Sorceress
I’ve been posting paintings on my Facebook author’s page and writing what I call short-shorts – usually between 10 and 20 paragraphs– that weave a story around what the painting depicts. My author page...
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Some thoughts on how we’ll be remembered
I wrote my mom’s obituary. My great-grandmother burned to death.Hand-delivered it to the mortician, a big brother of a high school friend of mine.He offered to let me see my mom in the embalming room....
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Don’t let the past stay dead and buried …
Trips and vacations are excellent vehicles for reviving memories, some wonderful, some not so wonderful.My dad as a baby with his Grandpa Louis IuppenlatzA long drive gives a man – or woman – a chance...
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Where are the Groggs? Wow … they’re on Live Journal!
I’m turning Live Journal over to my author friend Cherley Groff, a fine West Virginian author who wants to tell folks about her YA novel, The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk. She’s offering it for free on...
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Would Shakespeare like NaNoWriMo?
I admit I don’t get it.It’s not my – get ready for a tired metaphor – cup of tea.This month is NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month.Fellow writers on Facebook are busy writing thousands of...
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Christmas Trees and memories of bygone holiday celebrations
I recently interviewed the owners of the Beautancus Christmas Tree Farm in Duplin County, N.C. As I left the farm, I couldn’t help but remember other Christmas trees in my life, both real and...
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I’ve a universe to explore – if my back stops hurting …
I’m officially retired.I won’t hold back. It’s a bit scary. Yes, I have a grand adventure planned for the days and years ahead, but after nearly 45 years in college and the working world, I’m feeling...
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Hallelujah … I’m sitting at my sister’s dining room table
I ain’t proud.Not when my back is shrieking like a Halloween wind whirling through a forest full of skeletal limbs.Since foolishly choosing to pick up a box of heavy coffee-table books two weeks ago,...
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Remembering almost-girlfriends and transgender boys …
I didn’t have a girlfriend in seventh or eighth grade in Norco, California. The girlfriends would come much later. But I did have friends who were girls who I danced with at sock hops. In seventh...
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