Category Archives: Writing

A Pair of Persistent Threats

by Leonard Bishop There are two persistent threats that intimidate all inexperienced writers who want to write novels. And unless they avoid those threats, they will never write their novels. When I was instructing at the University of California, in … Continue reading

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We Grow Through Time

by Leonard Bishop I enjoy remembering, but I do not believe in photograph albums. They are bulky, and troublesome to maintain. There are always stacks of pictures in the drawer, waiting to be placed on the pages. Years ago I … Continue reading

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The Writer’s Life: A Social Vacuum

by Leonard Bishop Don’t quit your present employer to become a professional writer until you have learned how to be alone. It is not the lack of talent or skill that stops someone from succeeding as a professional writer. Talent … Continue reading

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Write a Novel? Invent Life

by Leonard Bishop Let’s get to the plot-line. A plot-line is the razzle-dazzle and suspense of the story. Here are some exaggerated examples to use as a guide. If you are writing a first-person novel (telling the story of what … Continue reading

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Write A Novel? Let’s Pretend (repost)

by Leonard Bishop (For our friends who need to be reminded…it IS possible to write a novel!  And Leonard tells us the first step!) A late general complaint from all people who want to write novels is:” I’d love to … Continue reading

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Who Will Cast The First Stone?

by Leonard Bishop This is an apology to many easily forgettable best-selling writers. Some not exceptionally enlightened college students taught me a lesson I was needing to learn for years. About how to be critical of other writers. While my … Continue reading

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Coffin Nails

by Leonard Bishop Our personalities are a collection of attitudes and affectations. We keep our true selves so deeply and continually hidden that we forget what we are genuinely like– and believe that we are what we pretend to be. … Continue reading

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Doctor Students

          by Leonard Bishop The only unpleasant experience I have had as a writing instructor was when there were medical doctors in the class. The subjects they wrote about were usually terrifying. X-ray radiation and hereditary alteration, rheumatoid arthritis, cystic … Continue reading

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Never Surrender Your Talent

by Leonard Bishop There is no comfort in carrying around long-held regrets for expectations and goals that were never filled. Regrets are like all-season mosquitoes that sting you into the recall of what you once might have done. Most of … Continue reading

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Woman: A Sometime Thing

by Leonard Bishop The customs of how men regard the women in these Kansas towns are curiously old-world, and quaint. It took me many months to learn how to uphold my more contemporary attitudes without being influenced by the behavior … Continue reading

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