James Pyles's Blog, page 95
January 27, 2019
Quoting: Be Objective About Your Actions
There is a strong tendency for an evil person to consider himself good, and for a truly good person to consider himself bad. The rationale behind this is simple: Their criteria of good and bad differ greatly. A good person desires to help others, and when unable to do as much as he idealistically wishes, […]
January 26, 2019
Quoting: Overcome Fears Blocking Action
When trying to influence someone and you find that your first approach is not effective, try to figure out what specifically is holding him back from accepting your position. For example: What fears might he have? What obstacles might he be focusing on that would make it difficult for him? Then show the person why […]
January 25, 2019
Quoting: A Soft Reply Turns Away Anger
“A soft reply turns away anger.” (Proverbs 15:1) When you communicate to others in a soft manner, this will calm someone who is already angry at you. This refers to both your tone of voice and the content of what you say. Be mentally prepared to apply this to someone who is likely to speak […]
January 24, 2019
Book Review: Contest
Sometime last summer, I wrote a short piece of fiction on this blog, and one of the comments made about it was that it was vaguely reminiscent of Matthew Reilly’s novel Contest. Intrigued, I discovered that my local public library system had a copy, so I checked it out and started reading (however, I forgot […]
“Flash Fiction Addiction” Anthology and a lot of Authors
Do you want to see a lot of names, because this is a lot of names. 101 authors and stories selected for this anthology out of a pool of nearly three times as many. If each writer maxed out the word count of their wee missives at 750, the total would be 75,750, or the […]
Quoting: Choose Your Thoughts to Avoid Worry
Worry is when you choose from millions of possible thoughts, only the few which deal with a potential misfortune or problem. Once you accept your worrying as the act of choosing specific thoughts, you can consciously make an effort to avoid those thoughts that cause you needless pain and choose more constructive, positive thoughts. -from […]
January 23, 2019
Being Published in the Anthology “Flash Fiction Addiction”
My flash fiction story “Growing Flowers” has been accepted for the “Flash Fiction Addiction” anthology to be published by Zombie Pirate Publishing. The original announcement states: FLASH FICTION ADDICTION is now open for submissions. Very short stories 100 – 750 words long. Any genre or theme. Subs close when we have 101 accepted stories. They […]
Quoting: Show Concern Instead of Anger
Rabbi Yitzchok Blauser’s daughter once went to the cupboard, and all the glasses, cups and dishes fell and broke. He did not get angry at her, and he did not even ask her why she wasn’t more careful. Rather, his only concern was that she should not be upset or frightened. He said to her, […]
January 22, 2019
Quoting: Use Auto-Suggestion for Approval
Repeat to yourself slowly and calmly again and again, even hundreds of times, “I do not need the approval of others,” or, “What others think of me does not make a difference.” Contemplate these thoughts until you start to internalize them. Repetition will help you integrate them. Realize that you may have repeated many thousands […]
January 21, 2019
Official Table of Contents of “World War Four”
Yes, I’m excited. You’ve seen variations on this before, but the anthology’s TOC now includes the title of the novelette by internationally bestselling science fiction author Neal Asher. As an aside, having recently finished N.K Jemisin’s Hugo-award winning novel The Fifth Season, I’ve started reading Asher’s Dark Intelligence (2016), the first book in his Transformation […]
