Deciding if I Need a Coach
In this paradigm of virtual meetings and self-improvement, coaching is the new thing. Don’t believe me? Head to Google and search for coaching and you’ll see I’m not joking.
In this paradigm of virtual meetings and self-improvement, coaching is the new thing. Don’t believe me? Head to Google and search for coaching and you’ll see I’m not joking.
The Great Gatsby stalks me from one high school language arts class to the next. In St. Helens, he prowls through the junior classrooms and in Scappoose, his story resounds with the freshmen. This disparity in curriculum gave me pause. After all, I’ve taught students between the ages of twelve and eighteen for many years. …
Good writing is rewriting. I’m not the originator of that wisdom. It seems like I might be a poster child for it, though. When did I finish this young adult fantasy novel again? Oh, right, before NaNoWriMo last year. It was ready for a little polish and then off to the beta readers. Or so …
This is the post of mine that netted the second most views ever on my blog. I think it was the title; Hamlet was a hero, right? While critics everywhere agree that Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most popular play, those same scholars find little to admire in the title character. He seems plagued by a “lack …
At the behest of my Jedi Master, Kristen Lamb, I’ve begun dog-earring a copy of Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. It’s a masterful guide for creating a strong, complex story. If you’re thinking, “I’ve got story structure down,” I thought similarly after highlighting James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure into rainbow-like proportions. Brooks subtitled his …
Since I stumbled into C.S. Lewis’ Narnia in fifth grade, I have been a fan of reading fantasy novels. The more magical the place and characters, the more enthralled I am to enter their domain. Fortunately, I have a nephew who is more of a fantasy buff than I am. This keeps me supplied with …
Words well within me, an unquenchable passion, until my fingers transfer them to the page. Writing, flying for my soul and spirit, frees me like nothing else. Penning a play – especially one that must be performed within ten minutes – just doesn’t offer the same joyful release. Two Problems Story line: Really, what sort …