Steven R. Southard's Blog, page 31

You Don’t Need a Mission Statement

Many organizations have mission statements. Some people have their own personal mission statement. A few writers have an ‘author mission statement.’ I don’t think you need one, and I’ll explain why.

According to most definitions of mission statements, their purpose is to serve as a goal or agenda, to communicate the organization’s (or person’s) purpose to all stakeholders, and to create a sense of unity and identity.

To those purposes, I would add this: a mission statement can maintain...

The Swooper/Basher Dichotomy

While reading Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Timequake recently, I noted he classified writers into two groups: Swoopers and Bashers. He said women tend to be swoopers and men tend to be bashers, adding, “Someone should look into this.” Let’s look into it.

Most writers are familiar with another grouping: plotters and pantzers, but that’s not what Vonnegut was driving at. He wasn’t distinguishing between those who outline and those who don’t. His alternatives focused on the speed of writing a first dra...

Can a Tomato Help You Write?

What’s keeping you from writing better? Do you have so much to do that you feel overwhelmed? Do you start to write but get distracted? Is it self-discipline you need, or are you simply unable to focus?

If so, perhaps a tomato can help.

No, I don’t mean the fruit itself. I’m talking about the Italian word for tomato—pomodoro. More specifically, I mean the Pomodoro Technique.

Created by Francesco Cirillo, it’s one of the simplest time management methods I’ve ever heard of. You will ne...

The Desk Generation

With schools now conducting ‘remote learning,’ many parents are setting up designated study areas for their children at home. It’s a thing.

Before COVID-19, children did their homework after school, squeezing time for it around sports practice, dinner, and other activities. They studied on a couch, on their bed, at the dinner table after the meal, wherever they could.

(Hold on, wait a minute. At this point you’re wondering why I’m writing about this topic. Isn’t this blog mostly about ...

The Story Behind the Story—Broken Flute Cave

The CHILLFILTR Review just published my short story, “Broken Flute Cave,” and it’s available to read online here. This historical fantasy tale is well outside my normal line, and here is the story behind that story—

Some years ago, a friend of my father shared her interest in Native American flutes with him. Being curious about everything, he became interested himself, particularly with the Anasazi Flute, more aptly named the Ancestral Pueblo Flute. These differ from most other Native Ame...

Having Tea with Jules Verne

When I found out about an online book review of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, I had to sign up. On Thursday, August 27, the St. James Literary League conducted one of their quarterly meetings online using Zoom, and just happened to select my favorite novel.

The St. James Literary League is associated with the St. James Tearoom in Albuquerque. I suspect that, pre-COVID, they held their meetings in that elegant restaurant. For this meeting, luckily, I could join in fr...

Win a Prize by Reviewing Books!

Talk about burying the lead. I announced a huge, new prize-winning opportunity for you, but I put it at the end of my last blogpost on August 9th. What was I thinking?

Here’s how the Pole to Pole Publishing Book Review Event works:

Read 20,000 Leagues Remembered and other Pole to Pole Publishing anthologies.Write reviews of the anthologies you read.Post the reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, your blog, and any other public online forum.Email links to your reviews to Pole...

8 Editing Facts Every Writer Should Know

Until recently, I had been a writer like you, churning out stories and submitting them before Oz, the Great and Powerful…er, I mean editors.

I just co-edited a book myself for the first time and I learned a few things. Today, I’ll pull back the curtain and show you what I found out. Some editors might tell you to pay no attention to the mere mortal behind that curtain, but not me. Perhaps the following nuggets of wisdom will help you as you write and submit stories.

Get away from your ...

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What a Party!

Three days after the party and I’m still recovering. No, not really. It was a Facebook party to celebrate the launch of the anthology 20,000 Leagues Remembered. No music, no dancing, relatively few drinks.

We held it last Thursday night, the first Facebook party I ever attended, and I was one of the two hosts. We had 32 attendees, including both co-editors (Kelly A. Harmon and me), and 7 of our 16 authors.

Much credit goes to those authors, who kept things interesting by posting fun fa...