Colloquium on Writing

The Fourth of July: A Writing Challenge

June 30, 2008

The Fourth of July is almost here and many Americans, including me, are on vacation this week in conjunction with the holiday. So this week, instead of writing and publishing an article here for your perusal and consideration, I suggest that you write a post and share your talent! Specifically, I challenge all of you […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

The Value of a Diary

June 23, 2008

I am blessed to have many good friends that I have known for a long, long time. They can best be described as falling into a couple of different groups, one of which I refer to as the “Delta Drama Gang” because we got acquainted when we attended San Joaquin Delta College in the mid-1970’s […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Autobiographical Writing: What to Reveal?

June 16, 2008

Writers are constantly looking for story ideas and sometimes they are literally right in front of us — when we look into the mirror. But how much personal information should we reveal? More importantly, what purpose is served by disclosing details about our lives? Will anyone be hurt or embarrassed by our revelations? I have […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Don’t Tell Me to Handle it “Like a Man” (Part Two)

June 9, 2008

Are there times when the use of hyperbole in our writing is appropriate? Certainly, when employed to convey a compliment or express a desire, deliberate exaggeration of the facts can be effective. An example: “I will give my last dollar to the air conditioner repair person if he or she replaces the compressor before the […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Don’t Tell Me to Handle it “Like a Man” (Part One)

June 2, 2008

Stereotype: A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image; One that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type. “North Country” is a 2005 movie about the very first class action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States. The film was based upon a book entitled “Class Action,” published in 2002. Both […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

A Unique Legal Theory Serves as a Reminder to Blog Responsibly

May 26, 2008

Have you ever created a fictitious identity in order to access an Internet site? If so, you may have violated a federal criminal statute. Megan Meier, aged 13, thought she was chatting online with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. In reality, she was communicating with Lori Drew, a 49-year-old mother who resided in the […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Equal Rights in the Blogosphere?

May 19, 2008

Federal and state laws prohibit discrimination, harassment or retaliation in the housing market, workplace, and when a business establishment provides goods or services. But do those statutory schemes apply or have any force in cyberspace? Here in Northern California, one online group inadvertently discovered that the courts have not yet answered that question. The circumstances […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

When Did You Know You Were a Writer?

May 12, 2008

“Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.” So begins “The Tale of Peter Rabbit.” So begins “The Tale of Peter Rabbit.” When you were a child, did your parents read those words to you? Mine did. And I read them to my children. Although, as […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Connected Lives (Part Six)

May 5, 2008

LOL. ROFL. POS. TTYL. TTFN. Do you recognize each of those abbreviations? If not, they stand for: Laughing on line. Rolling on floor laughing. Parents over shoulder. Talk to you later. Ta ta for now. I wonder how many times each day, those and other shortcuts like them are transmitted via text or instant message, or email. I think […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Connected Lives (Part Five)

April 28, 2008

In a recent meeting with my colleagues, we all sat around a conference table, our identical Blackberries in front of us. As one by one the Blackberries chirped, clicked, chimed, and buzzed, we found ourselves laughing at we looked at each other and then down at our individual devices, simultaneously declaring, “It’s yours” or “It’s mine.” […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Connected Lives (Part Four)

April 21, 2008

Here in California, it is unusually cold for late April, but that was fine with me. I settled in last evening, wrapped in my favorite blanket, to watch the seventh and final installment of HBO’s spectacular adaptation of David McCullough’s biography of John Adams. As with the prior episodes, I was not disappointed. The story […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Connected Lives (Part Three)

April 14, 2008

This past week, I was contacted by a reporter from the Stockton Record. She interviewed me for a story about women here in California’s Central Valley who blog. She has also spoken with women in nearby Modesto and Stockton. Among the questions she asked me: “How did you get started blogging? Why do you blog?” […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Connected Lives (Part Two)

April 7, 2008

Last night over dinner, one of my oldest and dearest friends mentioned that she had spent some time yesterday writing a letter to her daughter who is attending college in the Midwest. She explained that she had found a beautiful card and decided to send it, accompanied by a letter. I email regularly with her […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Connected Lives (Part One)

March 31, 2008

My generation is comprised of folks who remember life without much technology. Sometimes we joke around about it. My girlfriends and I laugh about how our parents used to make us get off the telephone in the evening and on weekends. We spent all day together at school, but still found things to talk about at […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Your Online Writing Life: Protect Your Reputation — and Future (Part Five)

March 17, 2008

Recently, another blogger wrote about the intersection between his real and online lives, in particular his recent connection via Facebook with a coworker. He declared that now his “writing life and [ ] real life are the same thing.” That writer “works with lawyers.” He explained that, “beyond that, I don’t name the firm, the […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Your Online Writing Life: Protect Your Reputation — and Future (Part Four)

March 10, 2008

Your Online Writing Life: Protect Your Reputation — and Future (Part Four) Pseudonym: A fictitious name used by an author to conceal his or her identity. Lots of authors have written under pen names, the most well-known being Mark Twain whose real name was Samuel Clemens. C.S. Lewis wrote poetry as “Clive Hamilton,” and the early […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Your Online Writing Life: Protect Your Reputation — and Future (Part Three)

March 3, 2008

Your Online Writing Life: Protect Your Reputation — and Future (Part Three) It wasn’t that long ago that blogging was a concept embraced only by the ultra-techy. How quickly the world changed. These days, maintaining a personal blog is commonplace. In fact, many bloggers have multiple sites. A great percentage are authored under pseudonyms. For good […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Your Online Writing Life: Protect Your Reputation — and Future (Part Two)

February 25, 2008

Last week, I wrote about the importance of selecting an email address that will appropriately convey professionalism and good business sense. But what about how you use that email account? More and more, evidentiary battles in courtrooms around the world are focused upon electronic data, with email transmissions frequently at the center of the debate. […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

Your Online Writing Life: Protect Your Reputation — and Future (Part One)

February 18, 2008

Did you know that more and more companies are using Google and other online resources to conduct, in part, background checks on prospective employees? And stories of folks whose employment has been terminated as a result of online activities are plentiful. Today I had a dispute with an individual who contributed a post to the […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

But I Don’t Want To …

February 11, 2008

… write today. I don’t feel like it. I haven’t been feeling like it for a couple of weeks now. As parents, we often hear our children say “but I don’t want to” do whatever is required of them at that moment. It might be cleaning their room, completing their homework, performing chores around the house. […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

More Advice on Writing

February 4, 2008

More Advice on Writing Paul got us off to such a great start with the writing meme that I decided to play, too! Just to review, his wife tagged him to participate and the rules are simple and straightforward: 1. List three writing tips; and 2. Tag 3 people whose writing style you would like to […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

What’s in Your Closet?

January 28, 2008

My sister gave my mother one of those Hallmark books designed to hold the family’s history, as recorded by the grandmother. It was pretty and contained a lot of questions that the author was supposed to answer about his/her childhood, including the music, films, books, etc. that were popular then. My mother didn’t think too […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

What is Your Legacy?

January 21, 2008

Yesterday, as I was blog-hopping, I happened upon a site named Andrew Olmsted where the words “Final Post” caught my attention. The post begins: This is an entry I would have preferred not to have published, but there are limits to what we can control in life, and apparently I have passed one of those […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

For Whom Do You Write?

January 14, 2008

Any writer who tells you that he/she does not care whether his/her written work finds an audience is a disingenuous writer. Intellectually dishonest. We all want someone to read what we write, even if it is only one specific person to whom we have addressed a letter or e-mail. Even if we only address our […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

How Do You Write? My Response

January 7, 2008

How do you go about your writing? That’s the question recently posed by another blogger. I’m a creature of habit so I always write in the same spot: Right here at my desk. A few months back, bloggers were posting photos of their personal workspaces. I did not participate in that briefly popular fad — nor […]

{Click here! You know you want to keep reading . . . }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →