Working Up

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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by Dwayne Phillips After writing about how to do something, apply a reality check. I write a lot. I have written several books that explain how to do things like manage projects and other human endeavors. There are lots of nice, neat formulas and techniques that I describe in the books. Towards the end of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips If you want your books noticed in the bookstore or the library, have a last name close to that of a famous author. Another way is of course to write a great book. I was sitting in the public library this past week. While waiting for someone, I was looking at the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Some various thoughts on Apple, writing, the TSA, the Talent Economy, and National Novel Writing Month. sundry: (adjective) assorted: consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds. wordnetweb.princeton.edu My mind is racing with a number of different things. I couldn’t decide what to write in the regular Thursday blog posting. Then one […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A procedure for writing a novel from Jack Woodford. Here is a procedure for writing a novel. Ouch, that probably hurts for a lot of people. “Procedure for creating the great American novel? Where is the art?” Well, from an engineer and an organized person, some sort of procedure is comforting. Take […]

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