Have you always had bookstores nearby? Were they important to you before you started to write? In the small Wisconsin town where I grew up, we had no bookstore and the time was before Amazon. I lived with my grandparents until I was ten so I had to wait for my mom or my aunt […]
Rhetorical Devices Euphony and Cacophony
The Rhetorical devices euphony and cacophony are opposites. Euphony is the use of words having pleasant and harmonious effects by using long vowels and the consonants l, m. n, r, f, v, y, th, and wh. An example of euphony is from ‘The Lotos-Eaters’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson: “The Mild-eyed melancholy lotos-eaters came.” John Keats […]
Quotes for Writers
I like to read quotes for writers at the end of the day. Some inspire, some make me laugh, and some I nod my head in agreement. “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” ―Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt “You have to write the book that wants […]
Writer Interview with Camille DeFer Thompson
Camille DeFer Thompson has an essay and a novel excerpt in my anthology, Written Across the Genres. She has stories in other collections such as Clash of the Couples, Not Your Mother’s Book On Working for a Living, Not Your Mother’s Book On Home Improvement, Encore Voices of the Valley, and several years in the […]
Character Names
How did you determine what to name your characters? Did the names just pop into your head? Did you change the names often? Did you look up their meanings? In my multidimensional novel, Norman in the Painting, I choose the first or second name that came to me. I decided to look up their meanings […]
Rhetorical Device Chiasmus
The Rhetorical Device, Chiasmus means repetition of ideas in inverted order. For example: “It is boring to eat; to sleep fulfilling.” Chiasmus frequently uses the pattern above which is present participle-infinitive; infinitive-present participle. Other examples: “The instinct of a man is to pursue everything that flies from him, and to fly from all that pursues him.” (Voltaire) “Bad men live that they […]
Music and Memory
When I taught elementary school and special education classes, I used music in the background most of the day and rhythm music with the younger students to learn ABC’s, months of the year, math facts, etc. Research has shown that music helps memory. On Thanksgiving, we had lunch with a friend and her extended family. […]