I recently spoke to a college English class about writing, after which I fielded the inevitable questions about ChatGPT. In case you’ve missed all the hubbub, ChatGPT, according to the website gizmodo.com, is an “artificial intelligence tool that allows a user to generate original text. You can ask it questions, give it creative prompts, and use…

Words like walk, run, talk, write and eat are all perfectly serviceable representatives of the English language, specifically card-carrying members of the verb family. But a little generic, dontcha think? Why settle for the first word that comes to mind, when with a sprinkle of awareness and a pinch of panache, you can do so…

With thanks to marketing guru Seth Godin for the following thoughts: Avoid unnecessary amplifiers This is extremely unique vs This is unique I’m very upset vs I’m upset and I love you a ton vs I love you Sometimes, more words aren’t better.  

I’m not a religious man. On the contrary, I think organized religion is responsible for most of the world’s problems, large and small, past and present. That’s not an original thought by any means, but it feels good to get it off my chest and on the record. That being said, I try to live…

I may be the last Beatles fan in the world to have seen Peter Jackson’s groundbreaking Get Back documentary. At eight hours, I wanted to view it in two or three satisfying chunks, rather than losing the impact in dribs and drabs. But life kept getting in the way. Finally, I got so tired of…

As an author, I belong to a number of online forums for writers of all stages of development, from newbies to seasoned pros. From time to time, someone posts a question I feel compelled to answer. Here’s the latest: “How do you think of people who criticize your work? Would it be healthy to think…