I was into my sixties when I began writing. Most successful writers took half a lifetime to hone their craft. Us silver scribblers have less time to smooth out those wrinkles in our writing that identify an apprentice wordsmith. This blog is about my own writing wrinkles. (You may prefer to call them laughter-lines but … Continue reading Laughter Lines
Fred’s Legacy
We bought a pre-loved camper-van. We’d travelled up by train. The owner’s dog had crept inside and wouldn’t come out again. The lady planned to emigrate. She’d shown us both around, watched carefully by Algernon, an indeterminate hound. . Embarrassed, she said, ‘Take him too. ‘He won’t cost much to feed. ‘He can’t come when … Continue reading Fred’s Legacy
Post Settings | Blogger 101
For those of us beginning to blog, here’s good advice on how to tweak our settings and develop our pages (yes – pages, as in plural. And here was me feeling brave about getting one up and running). And if you’ve not even started yet, go check out the other posts in this blogger’s helpful Blogger 101 series.
Today we are going to focus on all of the options available in post settings while editing. And trust me, the settings may look short…until you click on the arrows and scroll through all the options. Here is what is available when you click the post settings while editing a post. Do you know all the options?
Status– How To Schedule, Who Can See Your Post, Front Page, Review
Categories & Tags– Categories & How To Make A New Category, Tags
Featured Image– Feature Image Insert
Sharing– Sharing Options, Sharing Buttons & Likes
More Options– Slug, Excerpt, Location, Allowing Comments, Allowing Pingbacks & Trackbacks, and Copying Post
To get to these settings all you have to do is either edit a previously made post or make a new post.
To find your Post Settings you are going to click the gear in the…
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Tell It Like It Is
Dialogue can be tricky. If you want to make your characters’ conversations sparkle, there is plenty of good advice on the internet. But first, tidy up basics, like punctuation and speech tags, that can distract from your brilliant banter. This is a checklist to help you dust off your dialogue ready for that final polish that … Continue reading Tell It Like It Is
Goblins and Trolls
When goblins denigrate your work, and trolls belittle every line, Don’t even try to understand the labyrinth of their twisted minds. Trolls delight in others’ pain – seek to destroy, not to create, And leave behind them worms of doubt that stir your fears and feed on hate. Picture Henson’s Labyrinth creatures – … Continue reading Goblins and Trolls
Sticks and Stones
Remember the old playground chant? Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me. Sadly, it’s only true in the physical sense; harsh words from those we love or trust often hurt, but unkind criticism from those who don’t know us should be another matter. Us beginners need to arm ourselves … Continue reading Sticks and Stones
Inspiration Perspiration
My biggest writing challenge is thinking up stories. I read blogs and comments from writers with stories springing like weeds in their heads, jostling to be told. My head is a cerebral wasteland where few shoots flourish. After decades of neglect, my imagination seems to have withered. Advice from bloggers and magazine articles includes keeping … Continue reading Inspiration Perspiration
Another One I Made Earlier
I've just added Postcard from Malta to Commaful – a quick read with pictures. Photo by Artur Roman on Pexels.comThis was my response to a short writing group challenge at a time when we had other tasks to complete around Where the Wild Winds Blow, the anthology we are about to self-publish. Our responses to … Continue reading Another One I Made Earlier
Puzzling It Out
I confess to being a puzzle addict. I started with codeword-type logic puzzles until I discovered sudoku and its variants. Since I retired, I tackle anything that looks interesting: puzzles I would previously have dismissed as too challenging and time-wasting. Guess what? They weren’t as demanding as I’d thought. Learning to write … Continue reading Puzzling It Out
Together
Of all the burrows in all the riverbanks in all the world, she had come to his. Another quick flash on Commaful A self-indulgence - I enjoy playing with layout and pictures for these. This story was another challenge from our writing group - all explained in a comment at the end of the … Continue reading Together
Now for Something Completely Different
After a blog full of commas, here’s another Commaful diversion. Commaful website is running a fantasy story contest; you can find details at https://commaful.com/contests/fantasy2018/ Judging is by readers’ votes, and there’s no monetary prize – just postings on Commaful’s social media channels. I’ve posted a story-verse about the Mirlings (little scaled people with gills who live … Continue reading Now for Something Completely Different
