Innovation

There Is a Novel in Everybody: It’s Time to Get it Out!

December 3, 2011

Somebody once told me that the best way to learn something, is to teach it.  I don’t know if that is equivocal, or not, but I’ve found it to be true in practice, for the most part.
As I call myself a novelist (because I’ve written novels, not because I’ve sold any), and because I want [...]

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A Bag of Tools For World Building

November 10, 2011

 
 
Continued from Part 3
New to this project?  Go to Part 1
Part 4: Tools of the Trade Your table is cleared of clutter, your sleeves are rolled up, and it’s time to start. Let’s look at some of the tools I recommend.
List of required* items

SMALL drawing tablet For making first sketches, thumbnails, and concepts.
LARGE drawing [...]

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World Building: Are You Kidding Me?

November 8, 2011

Continued from Part 1
As you begin the long process of building a world, you need, first, to ask yourself some questions.
Part 2: What in the World Are You Thinking Of?

Why am I doing this?
Building a world can take longer than you might want to spend.  In fact, it can take years.  Chaiantra, one of my worlds [...]

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Will the Amazon Fire Replace Your eReader?

September 30, 2011

 
Whether or not you are a fan of eReaders like the Kindle, the Nook, or the Sony eReader—(yes, there are quite a few more out there, but these are the most popular)—whether or not you believe the days of the printed book are numbered, eReaders are here now.  They are a force of nature in [...]

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Have you Ever Been Fascinated by Something Too Dangerous to Touch?

September 8, 2011

Have you ever been drawn to rad a blog post because of hyperbole in the title?
I know, I know.  Guilty on both charges, and both sides of the charges.  But imagine this: Someone comes along with a technology that appears to be a magic wand, one that will take your novel, and add a whole [...]

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Mind Games for Writers

August 30, 2011

This is the first “up-close” look at some games I believe are excellent for the thinking writer.  In other words, you.  Watch for more, soon.
 
Perhaps I am alone in this, but as much as I write, and the “much” is up to six hours a day, I cannot keep it up indefinitely.
How about you?  What [...]

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An Uphill Writing Milestone!

August 18, 2011

When Uphill Writing started in late January, 2010, I had no idea if I’d be able to keep up the self-imposed schedule.
My initial idea was to post 7 times a day, 7 days a week.  Why?  Because my blogging guru assured me that reaching 1000 posts would assure UhW a solid place in the Blogosphere.
I [...]

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A Fool for Tools

August 9, 2011

That’s me.  A Fool for Tools (and I don’t mean Tim Allen hardware).
Point, The first:
Perhaps I’m just lazy, or perhaps I truly AM what is known as an “early adopter”, but when  a new piece of software comes out, I want to try it.
This is especially true if it relates to writing.
If I really stop [...]

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Is It Time for a Change?

August 1, 2011

Practically speaking, forming habits and allowing them to guide your daily life is not only natural, and in many ways pretty smart, it is absolutely essential.
New Agers talk about living in the “Now”, taking each thing that comes your way as fresh and new.  It is not likely they mean everything.  Imagine what life would [...]

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Od Zar: Op-Ed #45 – Can You Hear Me? Can You Hear Anyone?

July 29, 2011

Od Zar, here.  And I’d like to talk a bit about listening.
Unlike Mr. Scott, I’m not really a writer, but I am a scientist, and as you may have read yesterday (and twice by accident today), I’m a big fan of TED Talks.
Many of you are aware that the TED Talks community offer some extraordinary [...]

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