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Anthropic Bans Cruelty Toward Claude: What It Means for WritersWork-for-Hire Contracts: What the Asimov’s Cover Fight Teaches FreelancersGenre Fiction vs Literary Fiction: Don’t Confuse Taste With SkillFlorida Hurricane Prep Rituals: The Grocery Run, the Water Pallet and the Generator in the BoxThe Most Insulting Line of Dialogue Ever Written for the ScreenLoki Through the Ages: From Norse Myth to Marvel, The Mask and Dogma“You Are Utterly Disgusting”: A Book Festival, an AI Cover Ban and a Pile-OnWho Rewrote the Sligachan Legend: AI or the Tour Buses?Why I Don’t Like Reedsy for Ghostwriting: The NDA ProblemLayers: How I Ride Out Florida Power Outages in My ApartmentThe Enshittification of AmazonPublishers Cancel Books Over AI While Using It in SecretI Was Getting 100 Spam Emails a Day. $4.50 a Month Fixed It.World Mental Health Day: Nothing Was Wrong With MeKessler Syndrome: How Space Debris Could Close Earth’s OrbitAmazon Is Blocking Real Readers From Book ReviewsShould a Novella Get a Paperback, or Go Ebook Only?BookFunnel Download Problems: Fixes, Scams and AlternativesSir Sean Connery: A TributeHow to Find Plot Holes in Your Novel (Most Are Character Holes)Reshoring: The Factory Is the Easy PartMost of the Books I Was Forced to Read in High School Were CrapPlot Armor: Signs Your Hero Is Too Safe, and How to Fix ItShould You Sell Lifetime Rights to Your Self-Published Book for a Modest Advance?Shame Doesn’t Stop Artists From Using AI. It Stops Them From Telling You.AI Labels on TikTok and Meta Are Flagging Human WorkAuthor Richard Lowe Completes Peacekeeper, a Four-Book Science Fiction Series He Started at Age 14Sir Sam Neill: A TributeFan Art Copied by AI: Glass Houses, Copyright and the Pile-OnReal Names in a Book: Who Gets Sued, the Author, the Publisher or the Ghostwriter?When Characters Take Over the Plot, Let ThemDoes Human Writing Have a Soul?“You’re Not a Real Author”: The Pile-On Over AI-Assisted BooksDoes AI Have a Soul? Wrong QuestionHumor in Book Marketing: Getting Attention Without BeggingHow Long Should a Chapter Be? Manuscript Habits That Save You LaterThe Business Novel and the Companion Workbook: Two Formats Business Authors OverlookThe Back of the Book: Index, About the Author, Acknowledgments and Back Cover CopyI Build My Own Software Tools With Claude, and Some of Them Bit MeWhat Years of Buying From IT Vendors Taught MeI Write Books for a Living. I Barely Read Them Anymore.Three Management Habits That Waste Good PeopleThe Coach and the Webinar That Sold Me NothingThe Work I’d Cringe At Now, and Why I’m Glad I DoWho Is Your Book For? Build a Reader Avatar Before Chapter OnePreface, Prologue, Foreword or Introduction: What Goes WhereWhy I Won’t Build a Ghostwriting Business That ScalesHow I Hire a Virtual Assistant: Do It, Script It, Hand It OffThe Mail Carrier Who Thought Flipping Houses Was EasyWhat Wedding Photography Taught Me About Pricing Creative Work

The Writing King Your Ethical Ghostwriter. Your Story, Done Right.

Tag: Personal Story (Page 16)

A person with tattoos on their arm, representing the visible markers that trigger judgment and prejudice from others.

The Comments I Get…

Beaten daily for lunch money, teased for loving school, then watching desegregation arrive at an all-white junior high.

A person smiling, surrounded by friends at a celebration with music and dancers, marking a milestone birthday.

My Birthday

After decades of ignoring birthdays through Claudia's long illness, learning to celebrate one again at 52.

Two people of the same sex holding hands or embracing, representing a same-sex couple. TITLE: Same-sex couple

Personal Growth

Oh My! What if Homosexuals Were Allowed to Marry?

A satirical 2012 response to marriage-equality panic: the sun has not exploded and other people's marriages remain their business.

A person gazing at the horizon or sky, reflecting on past expectations and future possibilities.

What I Expected from Life

The Berlin Wall fell, computers shrank onto my wrist, and the lunar colony never came. What a childhood's predictions got right and wrong.

A person standing in sunlight with arms open, facing away from shadows toward a bright horizon.

Living on the Bright Side of Life and Fears to Be Conquered

A Monty Python song, a painfully shy young man, and the long project of conquering the fear that people you love will hurt you.

Vernon playing drums at a bellydance showcase, calm and focused, with audience members visible in the background. TITLE

My Friend Vernon

A remembrance of Vernon: a good man, a great drummer, and one of the people who proved friendship could be safe.

tattoo-to-inked-magazine-224x300

Memory and Identity

The Phoenix and the Dragon: The Story Behind My Tattoos

The story behind my phoenix and dragon tattoos: survival and rebirth.

Vintage postage stamps from various countries arranged in a stamp album, showing colorful designs from places like Tonga and

Stamp Collecting

How a free-stamps ad in a Ladies Home Journal grew into a collection of over 100,000 stamps, and what the hobby is really worth.

A divided neighborhood with a freeway cutting through the middle, separating communities by race and geography. TITLE

Prejudice

Two essays written five years apart on growing up with prejudice in San Bernardino and unlearning it one friendship at a time.

A tabletop wargame board with game pieces, dice, and cards spread across it, with a mug of hot chocolate nearby.

Fantasy Fiction

Gaming Away the Hours

Stories from a shelf of fifty-plus wargames: a winter afternoon of War of the Ring, hot chocolate, and good company.

A woman holding her side in pain, illustrating the chronic back pain that went undiagnosed for years.

The Worst Month of My Life

Four weeks in 2003 watching Claudia nearly die in intensive care, written while the grief was still fresh and kept close to the original.

Claudia and I at the Huntington Library in California

Cigarette Butts: The Dark Cloud Over My Late Wife’s Health

A personal memoir about my late wife Claudia and the toll of smoking.