Working Up

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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by Dwayne Phillips Buy books? Sure, buy lots of the ones I have written. Read books? Go to the library. It works quite well, and you have already paid your part of the cost. I read yet another blog post the other day about how awful it is that Americans don’t buy and read books. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I continue to work with graduate students on their writing. I am working with engineering, computer science, and IT students. They continue to teach me. This week’s learning concerns the variety of nouns and verbs. In novels and other fiction, the writer uses a variety of nouns. It would be boring to […]

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