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OPINIONS =/= VALUES (AND WHY THAT MATTERS)
The other day, one of my connections posted this on LinkedIn: It got me thinking, and this is the response I wrote: "Wise man. Sometimes...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 30, 20202 min read
TRY THIS UNDERUSED TACTIC FOR HUMOR
Much to the chagrin of those who like to gripe about "the good old days," language changes. All the time. Sometimes that can be a pain,...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 29, 20202 min read
WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: IF HALLMARK CAME TO YOUR TOWN
One of my favorite Facebook pages is It's a Southern Thing. I'm in the odd position of having grown up in the North but having lived long...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 28, 20201 min read
WHAT WRITERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PTSD
As writers, we put our characters through the wringer. Sometimes it happens "onscreen"; other times, it happens long before the book...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 27, 20204 min read
WHAT IS LOVE? PART 2
Pinterest, I'm finding, is one of the most versatile and useful writing tools we authors have at our disposal. I'm not talking about just...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 26, 20205 min read
THAT'S CHEATING! (OR IS IT?)
Recently, I re-stumbled across one of my favorite Pinterest posts (pardon the bad spelling, etc.): 🤣 This is an excellent example of...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 22, 20203 min read
WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE
I realized I owe you the stories of the two professors I mentioned in the closing paragraph of yesterday's post. Here's the first story,...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 21, 20201 min read
VENI, VIDI . . . WHAT-CI?
I'm (tongue-in-cheek) guessing this was sculpted right at the moment when the subject stubbed his toe. This afternoon, I introduced one...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 20, 20203 min read
WHAT IS LOVE? PART 1
As promised, today we'll start looking at aspects of healthy romantic relationships so we can portray them accurately in our writing. Of...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 16, 20202 min read
THAT'S NOT LOVE
This past weekend, the current West End (?) production of The Phantom of the Opera streamed for a day or two from London. I watched part...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 15, 20203 min read
WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: LIFE HACKS
When I was a kid, my family had a tradition of picking apples and canning homemade applesauce every fall. Well, we did until a day when...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 14, 20201 min read
WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GIVE ME A PRICE?
I've been asked more than once, "How much would you charge me to edit X?" The short answer: There's no easy answer. This podcast does a...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 13, 20201 min read
SOMETHING FISHY THIS WAY COMES
In my church, instead of the same person preaching every week, members of the congregation take turns preparing and giving talks....
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 12, 20203 min read
CREATING A FANTASY LANGUAGE? TRY THIS TIP
Besides my English-tutoring student I mentioned last week, I've also been tutoring world history and conversational French. My students...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 9, 20201 min read
WELL, *THAT* ESCALATED (SUSPICIOUSLY) QUICKLY
This story popped up in my Google News today. 😵 #whatjusthappened I don't care who you are or what your political beliefs are. That's...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 8, 20202 min read
WRITING-PROMPT WEDNESDAY: YOUR NERD IS SHOWING
When I lived in Denver, I went to a unit of my church whose members were all young single adults (ages eighteen to thirty). Besides...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 7, 20201 min read
HOW MUCH DOES EDITING COST, ANYWAY?
I'll let you in on a secret: Based on my own experiences, most people have no idea how much they should expect to pay for editing....
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 6, 20202 min read
ONE SIZE (OR FORMAT) *DOESN'T* FIT ALL
Once upon a time, I did a very silly thing and watched the movie The Lightning Thief after reading the Percy Jackson books. Then when I...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 5, 20204 min read
I'M PROUD OF YOU
Lately, I've been tutoring a high schooler named "Q" in English. The more I work with him, the more I realize that English is one of the...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 2, 20203 min read
YOU USED A STETHOSCOPE FOR WHAT?
Some time ago, I found this amusing post on Pinterest: I suppose this improvisation would work in an apartment full of medical-field...
Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Oct 1, 20201 min read
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