Phil Taylor's Blog: The Phil Factor, page 174

GPS= Giant Pain in my A$$

For my job I do quite a bit of driving, so I have a GPS for my car. We’ve all seen the commercials where the guy professes his love for his GPS before regaining his senses, realizing that it is just a mechanical device. That won’t be my problem. I often do talk to my GPS as it’s talking to me, but we’re usually arguing. On a previous model I even switched the voice to that of a British woman, hoping that the accent would make it seem like much less of a nag. It doesn’t. Here are a few sample...

Throwback Thursdays: Sweet Child of Mime (Oct. 17,2005)

This was one of my favorite posts ever because I thought then, and now, that it’s a pretty clever title.

Often as a parent I’m concerned about what my child is exposed to when he’s not with me. I worry that at school, on the bus, or in the neighborhood he may hear bad language that other kids learn from their parents, hear stories about “R” rated movies or professional wrestling that some kids are allowed to see, or even worse, that some other kid may loan my child a copy of Grand Theft Auto f...

Author Interview Attack! with James Scott Bell

Hi James and thank you for visiting #ThePhilFactor today. If you’re a reader you’re likely familiar with James Scott Bell’s many legal thrillers, including Don’t Leave Me, Blind Justice, and many others.If you’re an indie writer you should be familiar with his series of books on writing which include Fiction Attack!andSelf-Publishing Attack!, hence my interview title.If you like zombies you may be familiar with his Mallory Caine zombie legal thrillers published under the pen name K. Bennett....

“Sharks! Tornado! Sharknado!”

“Sharks! Tornado! Sharknado! ‘Nuff said.” How could I not? It has been the most buzzy thing on the web this week. So bad it’s good. The SyFy networks pseudo horror movie #Sharknado came out of nowhere this week to become if not a ratings sensation at least a Twitter sensation just because of the name.

Admittedly, I haven’t seen the movie, but you can bet I plan to. The DVR is already set for next Thursday at 7 pm.

The plot of “Sharknado,” which is so good that if it were up to me, I’d give it a...

Throwback Thursdays! The Door 2/26/2006

I particularly like this post because it was what caused me to write my first novel White Picket Prisons.After someone read this they said, “Well? What’s behind the door?” So I decided to build a story around it. In 2006 I had an office in a 100 year old hospital that had been closed and would eventually be torn down. Doing a little exploring during my lunch hour one day I found it. The door was the old morgue door and it had the wordNecropsy stenciled on it.

Tucked away in a small recess, aro...

Meet the Author: Deborah French

Hello Deborah and welcome to The Phil Factor. Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for my readers. For those of you not familiar with her work, Deborah French is an educator, advocate and parent. She is the parent of two special needs children who have enriched her every day and inspired her book A Brief Moment in Time. I’m going to be honest here. Usually as part of my homework before interviewing an author I read at least one of their books. Since Deborah only has one book...

Cat Got Your Blog?

A cat in the sink is worth two in the…wait, that’s not right. That’s my cat Brady above. We have a lot of colloquial sayings that when you think about them make absolutely no sense. When you use them everyone knows what you mean, but we rarely think about the literal meanings. Doing my research for this I also discovered that cats have had a rough time of it in old, folksy sayings.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat:That is disgusting. Who did that experiment? I hope his neighbors called...

Thankful Thursday! The Kindness of Strangers

I know I usually do Throwback Thursdays today, but in celebration of the American Independence Day I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to many people. And no, that isn’t my facial hair in the picture above, but it could be if I wanted to.

Since I published the first edition of my short, humorous murder mystery novelWhite Picket Prisons last October I have had the good fortune of meeting many people online, writers and reviewers. I’ve re-connected with old friends from yea...

Indie (?) Author Interview: Hugh Howey

Hi Hugh and welcome to #ThePhilFactor. Thanks for taking the time to share some thoughts with my readers. First off, I just want everyone to know that the question mark above is not questioning if you are an author, but if you are an indie author. The answer may be both. For those of my readers who are not familiar with Hugh’s work by name, you’ve no doubt seen the cover of the Omnibus Edition of his New York Times and USA Today bestselling Wool series in bookstores. Hugh has also penned the...

The Top Ten Benefits to Being Edward Snowden

10.I’ve been busting my ass writing #ThePhilFactor for 8 years and publishing my own books. Snowden lets a couple secrets out of the bag and I’ll bet he’s already got a lucrative book deal lined up.

9. You know how you can save 15% or more on your car insurance with Geico? Eddie always gets the more.

8. Apparently Team Edward wins.

7.He gets to watchThe Terminal but with Russian subtitles.

6. According to NBC World News there’s a TGI Fridays and an Irish pub at the Moscow airport. Free wifi too!...