It started out as a joke, a silly way for us to blow off steam. We invented something out of sheer frustration.Ever since I started teaching creative writing, students have been asking me for the magical elixir: What is the formula for writing a story?I found this exasperating and annoying.After a deep breath to calm myself, [...]
When it comes to professional development, how long does a training have to be? The answer of course is, it depends. Imagine preparing to teach and standing in front of a roomful of quiet, nervous colleagues who don't know each other and aren't quite sure what to expect from this session. You didn't bring a deck [...]
Each holiday, my wife puts out HoliDog. This cute little bit of fluff gets gussied up depending on the holiday. Last month it was a pumpkin for Halloween. This month it will get a Santa's hat and a red bowtie. You know you're at our house when HoliDog greets you at the front door. I love seeing [...]
Have you see Flippy, the robot designed to manage the fryer in fast food restaurants? It's pretty amazing until you watch it for a few minutes and realize how terrifyingly human it seems. It's "artificial intelligence" or AI, and is supposed to help cook french fries better, faster, and safer. It solves several problems, like finding restaurant workers. [...]
https://instorymode.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Blog-Banners-1.mp4 I don’t believe in “writers block,” although that doesn’t stop me from whining about not being able to write. Clearly, I’m not the only one. I recently read about this cafe in Tokyo that offers free coffee and human naggers to check on you every hour to see if you’ve reached your writing goals. Genius! Here [...]
Have you ever ridden the London tube? “Mind the Gap” is what you hear over the loudspeaker every time the Tube stops and the doors open. The 'gap' is the space between the train and the platform. The phrase has become iconic and it has taken up residence in my head this month. I’ve been thinking [...]
Creative arguments It is a fact widely known that I like to argue. Debate might be a better word because a good debater must understand both sides of the argument. I’d like to think I open my mind enough to consider opinions that are not my own. But let’s face it; sometimes I’m just right. Last [...]
Why would you write something if there wasn’t a need for it? If you write mostly for work, it’s a fair question. Yet, we do all kinds of things for which there isn’t a “need.” Some of you bake bread even though you can buy it at the store. Or maybe you put together miniature airplanes [...]
Podcasts are all the rage and they feel like one of those those pop culture things that I just don’t get. I’m not trying to be contrary; in fact I keep trying over and over again to find a podcast conversation that I really want to listen to. But to me, most of them are boring. [...]
Semicolons aren’t so bad. But that whole don’t end a sentence with a preposition really gets me, sort of. And what exactly is a run-on sentence if I have a lot to say and it all comes pouring out and I throw a few commas in there won’t my reader understand what I’m trying to say? [...]