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OH, MY EARS (AND GENRE EXPECTATIONS)!
On Saturday, I decided to make some additions to my Christmas-music library. As I browsed, I saw a listing for this song, a version of...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Dec 14, 20202 min read
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THE BABY BEAR OF PERSUASION
Recently, my friend shared an article on Facebook about a group of people who resist the counsel to wear masks, even when it comes from...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Dec 11, 20202 min read
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BLOOD = KIND OF IMPORTANT
Over this past week, I've started donating plasma. Unlike when you donate blood, the machine takes out the blood, extracts the plasma...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Dec 10, 20203 min read
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WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: TWITTER. IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER.
The other day, I opened a new window in Google Chrome for something. On my settings, Ctrl + N opens Chrome's New Tab page, which includes...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Dec 9, 20201 min read
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GRUBHUB LESSONS STRIKE AGAIN
Apparently Mondays and Grubhub don't mix. At least for me! Last night, I got an order shortly before the end of my shift. When I got to...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Dec 8, 20202 min read
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SKILL IS (OFTEN) INVISIBLE
Yesterday, one of my LinkedIn contacts shared this picture: As much as I love actual Christmas trees, I love this idea, too. It's amazing...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Dec 3, 20202 min read
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WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: "CRYSTALLIZE, CRYSTALLIZE, CRYSTALLIZE"
Recently, I stumbled across this amusing Strange Planet comic: Now it's your turn: Rewrite a popular holiday song so that its lyrics are...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Dec 2, 20201 min read
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"EASY," HMM?
Last night, I worked my first block of time for Grubhub. I was scared out of my wits that I'd mess something up, but the first three...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Dec 1, 20203 min read
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SPEAKING OF HOLIDAY DISASTERS ...
I suppose I asked for this one with all my stories about holiday disasters last week. On Thanksgiving, my roommates and I put everything...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 30, 20202 min read
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WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: HOLIDAY DISASTERS
After the year my family's (live) Christmas tree fell over and made a huge mess, my mom started collecting other stories of holiday...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 25, 20201 min read
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WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
How I probably looked under my mask I think we've all heard horror (?) stories of crazy things people have seen and overheard at Walmart....
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 24, 20202 min read
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WATCH OUT FOR THE RIPPLE EFFECT
Seven-ish years ago, I worked for my church helping proofread the latest edition of our scriptures for publication. It was the first time...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 23, 20202 min read
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14 CLICHÉ-BUSTING FANTASY NOVELS AND SERIES
After all our exploration of fantasy this week, you might reasonably ask, "Well, are there any fantasy writers who break the stereotypes...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 20, 20201 min read
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6 RESOURCES FOR FRESH FANTASY CREATURES
A lot of our stereotypical fantasy races/creatures come from European mythology and folklore, particularly Greek, English, and Norse:...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 19, 20201 min read
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WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: GET OUTTA HERE!
Years ago, my sister "K" was trying to write a non-cliché fantasy novel. It became a common topic of conversation between her and me. One...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 18, 20201 min read
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2 WAYS TO CREATE ORIGINAL FANTASY NAMES
In yesterday's post, one of the overdone fantasy techniques I mentioned was using way too many diacritics. As far as I'm concerned, this...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 17, 20201 min read
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8 THINGS FANTASY WRITERS NEED TO QUIT DOING. RIGHT NOW.
Years ago, I started noticing an alarming trend in fantasy. As one of my English professors commented when we were discussing it: "It's...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 16, 20204 min read
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WHAT'S WITH FRIDAY THE 13TH, ANYWAY?
Oddly, despite my accident-proneness, Friday the 13th has never bothered me. So, naturally, today I started wondering about why this...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 13, 20202 min read
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LESS THAN 48 HOURS LEFT!
Remember this? But I'm realizing that even two graphics don't have enough room to explain all the ways this course benefits you: Gain the...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 12, 20201 min read
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WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: VETERAN STORIES
Ironically for someone who makes her living with words, I've been realizing lately that I have a hard time expressing myself about...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Nov 11, 20201 min read
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