Recently I listened to a short story, Slingshot by Souvankham Thammavongsa , being read on the podcast Selected Shorts too hot for Radio . The story centers around a 70-year-old woman who meets a 32-year-old man, her neighbor, Richard, and they start a short, but intense, relationship. The woman has been a widow for 30 years and in her words, “I hadn't had sex for such a long time that I could consider myself a virgin. I couldn't remember how it all happens."  That story, originally published in Harper's magazine in 2018 , made me wonder how many other stories are now being written about older characters being in love and having sex. That's not something we tend to acknowledge very often. It's as if we don't think older people have those desires. But they do. Recent studies, such as this one in Prevention Magazine , indicate that people well into their 80s and 90s still want romance and physical intimacy. "Sex isn't like a carton of milk that goes ...

It was with a sad heart that I read about the recent death of author Pat Smith ( Patricia B. Smith ) . Not only was she an accomplished author, she was a valued member of the Blood-Red Pencil blogging team due to the many insightful posts she wrote, as well as her kind and generous spirit. From the time she joined as a regular blogger, she fit into our little family of friends and colleagues. Most of us have never met in person, but we’ve forged bonds through the years that are deep and strong. Such was the case with Pat.   Patricia B. Smith After she got sick and was in so much pain, she still managed to get her blog posts written almost every month. She still managed to respond to the rest of us in our times of need. And she still managed to support everyone with comments on our blog posts. I was especially touched when she shared her kind spirit with me. We both had episodes of severe pain over the past few years, and if I shared my struggles with the team she never failed ...

 While I don't read poetry on a regular basis, I do enjoy the occasional collection, and I'm reading one now for review on my personal blog , The Mad Ramblings of a Joker by Brandon Dillon. I can't say much about the book as I've just started reading a few of the poems, but I'm struck by the honesty of what the author shares. Getting in touch with poetry again reminded me about how often that medium has the power to stir emotion in a way that prose often does not.  I truly believe that it's good for writers to read poetry, even if it's not your medium of choice. We learn something about how to write a story with conciseness, and we learn how to dig deep for those emotional connections we need to make with readers. Those heart-to-heart connections are what keeps a reader engaged over and above plot. Or maybe I should say below plot?  So I encourage you to give poetry a try.  Here are some recent reading recommendations from Simon & Shuster that caught my...

The main accomplishment with any year is surviving it. 2018 was no different. A new health issue gets tossed my way every year. Fate and I have such a contentious relationship, we can barely muster the energy so say "FU" as we pass each other in the hallways of life. That said, I still managed a few things. From 2008 to 2014, I created the Story Building Blocks series. I later added a Build A Cast Workbook. In late 2017 into early 2018, I created fourteen genre Build A Plot Workbooks, one for each genre based on the conflict layering process I developed for  Story Building Blocks I: The Four Layers of Conflict. I also added a Build A World Workbook. My web host went out of business, forcing me to quickly find another home for my website. So, I updated my website to accommodate the new books and added free forms and tools. I posted tips from those books on my weekly blog. I failed in my goal to learn more about marketing, but it is still on the list of goals for 2019. I ...