Fun Literary Terms
WARNING: Not for the literary faint of heart! Welcome all word nerds and novel geeks! For the more mundane terms, take a blog-quick jaunt through A Few Literature Terms. For die hard bibliophiles, bibliomaniacs, literati,or clerisy enjoy the brief tour through...Fave Websites for Writers
Writing is fun! Line editing—not so much. Many new writers are adrift on an ocean of punctuation and capitalization errors. Swimming though a shark-infested murky sea of comma and grammar rules is fraught with em-dash typhoons and ellipses tidal waves....7 da Vincian Principles
There’s a great book titled How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day, by Michael J. Gelb, that I pulled down from my bookshelf the other day. ( I must have been feeling genius-deprived and needed some da Vinci wisdom.) Flipping...Household Symbolism
A man’s home is his/her castle. It’s also chock full of symbolic furnishings and doodads. Give your story some symbolic zing by being familiar with a few of the household symbolic heavyweights. Books: Wisdom and learning. Is the book old or new? Are pages torn out...Making Eyes
Eyes are powerful symbols. The mere glance glimmer gawk gaze ogle glare bore focus beam sparkle peek peer look goggle gape leer ( did I miss any?) reveals a character’s emotions. No wonder the eyes are the windows of the soul. But there’s more to eyes...Word Lists & Helps
Folks–writers and students–seem to like my word lists, so here they are in easily accessible jpeg and pdf form. DEAD Words: blah words that just don’t really do anything for your prose or academic paper. dead word list pdf Commonly Confused Words:...A Few Literary Terms
Know your craft! Know the terminology! It’s the cry heard at writers conferences. It’s no small task either because writing and reading requires subject knowledge of authorial techniques and other geeky stuff! Many literary terms reference books are...Fire & Water
These powerful elements are fraught with symbolic significance, their meanings stemming from a myriad of religious beliefs, legends, and myths. Fire and water represent a world of power,destruction, ambiguity, duality, and divinity. Whether earthy or otherworldly,...7 Deadly Sins of Writing
Nothin’ takes you to Writing Hell faster! pride envy wrath sloth avarice gluttony lust According to medieval theology, the original 7 deadly sins lead to spiritual death. According to writer theology, succumbing to the the 7 deadly sins of writing leads to a...Got Symbol?
What EXACTLY is a symbol and how is it different from a metaphor? And what purpose do symbols serve? A symbol is the conscious and artful use of: other symbols ( see photo for some common examples) objects characters actions/events that represent something greater and...Healing Stones
Stones and crystals are more than glam and sparkle. The ancients attributed them with divine energy, spirituality, and healing. Here’s a quick reference guide for those who need a little extra oomph in the mystical accessory department! So forget power...Writeritis
The psychosis begins slowly…harmlessly…seeping into your soul, heart, and mind…infecting everything you do! It’s WRITERITIS. Before you know it, before you’re aware it’s happening, the disease takes over and consumes your life! All...Light & Dark
These two little words are fraught with BIG symbolic meaning! We are familiar with the obvious uses: The Light of knowledge or the Darkness of the Soul, but writers can use darkness and light in a myriad of ways! Light or enlightenment can refer to: goodness...Word Magic
Agents and folks in the writing/publishing biz tell wanna-be authors to learn their craft, to learn the magic of words, plot, and voice! They also suggest reading lots of books in your genre. Well, I can tell you there’s a VAST Grand Canyon-size difference...
Review excerpt from SHADE TREE BOOK REVIEWS: recommend Merkabah as a must read, especially for the para-normal, ancient history, thriller seeker, audience, and anyone who wants a novel that seems to turn the pages for you as you dive between the covers and into the thick of the story with Daphne and S.J.
Review excerpt from SHADE TREE BOOK REVIEWS: As with any great first novel in a series, it left me panting and begging for more. The second novel in the series, The Merkabah Deception utilized The Recruit as a diving platform to send me deep into the muck and mire of the ancient gods and demons ongoing battle of the spiritual world.
Review excerpt from SHADE TREE BOOK REVIEWS: The story between Daphne, the introverted doctoral candidate/college professor, and S. J., the demi-god/Nephilim heats to a boil as the “Watchers” seem to become more involved in the love affair between a human and a Watcher. This is only the sideline to the action-filled storyline as Daphne’s powers as a Merkabah continue to increase and she continues to fight the demons that are co-habiting earth with us mere earthlings.
