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A few months ago, my writing mentor advised me to start a blog. “Give it a catchy name.” She suggested. It didn’t take too long to decide on “The Reluctant Firefly.” “Reluctant” because at the time I had no desire to start a blog at all, and “Firefly” because that’s the nickname I gave toContinue reading “So, What’s in a Title?”

 My oldest son had taken an advanced placement class in high school in literature. His textbook was a paperback tome titled How to read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. Once the class was over, he handed the book off to me and suggested I read it. That was back in the timeContinue reading “Seeing things Literature-ly”

One of my favorite movies is “Throw Momma from the Train”. It’s a story of a down on his luck writer named Larry (played by Billy Crystal) who suffers from a persistent case of writer’s block during the whole movie. He’s working on a new novel and is stuck on the first line: The nightContinue reading “A Writer Writes…But Why?”

Are you kidding me?!?!?! Clara and I exchanged scowls. Well, really, I scowled and Clara, my desktop computer, simply gave me a blank look. I was ranting at her, and it wasn’t really her fault. Still, she had no answers for me. This summer has been nuts. I got my blog page started in lateContinue reading “Somewhere in the Black Hole that is Social Media…”

So, why start a blog called The Reluctant Firefly? Well, because I am writing a book and the main character earned the nickname of Firefly. In the fifth chapter, Ariel and Basil have a heated argument in which she calls him a bouncing green bean, and he retaliates with labeling her first as a flyingContinue reading “A Comic Book, a B- Rated Movie, and an Epic Classic. (or Where Ideas Come From)”

A Blog, a Blogger, and a Computer Named Clara (or How a Blogger Begins) “I need to do what?” “You need to write a blog.” I stared across the table at my writing mentor. I was trying to get my novel ready to be be published and had enough trouble eking out time for that.Continue reading “The Reluctant Firefly”