Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Here are some thoughts from the 1934 classic “Becoming a Writer” by Dorothea Brande. I recently read Ray Bradbury’s book on writing. In it, he referred to a book written by Dorothea Brande in 1934 titled “Becoming a Writer.” I bought a used copy ($5 with shipping) and finished reading it. Here […]

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by Dwayne Phillips After many years, I finally learn what a five-paragraph essay is. Every now and then I learn something that embarrasses me. It is something that I feel like I should have learned a long time ago. Such is the case with the title of this post. I was stumbling around the Internet […]

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by Dwayne Phillips One of the more difficult tasks is reviewing something written by someone else and providing feedback that will help both the writer and the reader. Here are some things I learned from Jerry Weinberg. In 2004, I attended a writing workshop led by author and consultant Jerry Weinberg. A large part of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Short stories I have written are on sale at Smashwords.com under the name Dwayne Phillips. In 2008 I wrote 53 short stories. It was a great experience. I am now moving these stories to smashwords.com. They are on sale for 99 cents each. I am posting a few each day. See my […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Some notes from Ray Bradbury’s “Zen in the Art of Writing.” For many years I read one book on writing every year. This was something I did in January or so. I would find a book that looked good and read it, marking lots of things in the book with pencil. I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I add the ZaggMate carrying case with a BlueTooth keyboard. It is great. I like the iPad, but… Of course there is a “but.” I write as much as I read and that makes me different from most people and that is the “but” about the iPad – I can’t write well […]

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by Dwayne Phillips This one has been buzzing around in my head for a few years. What do you call it when you are trying to write and you need to write words? Words on the page – doesn’t work until you run your printer. Words on the screen – that sort of works, but […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Compliant meets the minimum requirements while compelling puts some excitement into a product. Still, I would be satisfied with compliance when it comes to dishwasher delivery and installation. I ran into the phrase that inspired the title of this post one day last week. We were writing a proposal for a contract. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Here is a little secret about me: When I walk through any store that sells writing instruments and writing surfaces, I stop and wonder how it would feel to write words with those instruments on those surfaces. It doesn’t matter what type of store it is. Grocery stores sell “school supplies.” I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Three questions I use as a basic framework for writing. One of the questions that people ask me about writing is: Where do you start? When asking this, they are seeking a basic framework, a place to start when they have a blank piece of paper and need to write something on […]

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