M.J. Compton's Blog, page 30

What’s in a Name?

I have all kinds of baby name books. I’ve always been fascinated by names. Even in elementary school, I would take name books out of the school library. There were a few pages of names in the back of my parents dictionary. They were in tatters because I studied the names so often. Even now, […]

#UpbeatAuthors: A Movie About Perseverance

One of my favorite movies of all time is Galaxy Quest. I loved the original Star Trek series, so a movie spoofing the show is a sheer delight. Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and the incomparable Alan Rickman head an amazing cast. In a nutshell, the movie is about an TV program that has been off the air for a […]

My Portable Office

I freely admit I stole this idea from a friend, who had an “office in a box” she kept in a recipe card file. Brilliant idea, I thought. At the time I put mine together, I was carrying my WIP (Work in Progress) around in a three-ring binder, so I opted to use a pencil […]

#UpbeatAuthors: Knowing When to Quit

Perseverance is a good thing. But sometimes it’s better to know when to quit. I used to drink coffee. But every year on a religious fast day, I went through caffeine withdrawal. About ten years ago, I realized if my body was going through withdrawal, then I was addicted. I’d quit smoking a few years […]

Dishwashing Mantra

I could swear I blogged about this topic before, but I can’t find it, so I’m going to blog about it now. I was raised in a home with no dishwashing machine. My mother had two dishwashers: me and my younger sister. (Why did my younger brother not have to wash dishes or set the […]

#UpbeatAuthors: Outlasting Your Enemies

There have been times in my life when perseverance involved keeping my head down, doing what I needed to do,  and reminding myself I could outlast my enemies.  Enemies are legion: bad bosses; nasty co-workers; crushing debt; non-life-threatening illness; rent increases; traffic jams; raising teenagers. I just remind myself that this, too, shall pass. Then […]

But He Has a Wife/Secretary

I used to read time management books. I also read a couple of “how to increase your creativity” books. Every one of them had a fatal flaw: they were written for men who had wives/secretaries/administrative assistants. Even books written by women seem to assume there is…staff. Someone else to deal with the stuff you’re too important […]

#UpbeatAuthors: The Road to Publication

The month’s #UpbeatAuthors topic is perseverance. When I think of perseverance, I think about how long it took me to write a book a publisher felt was worthy of publication. I think about other authors, who never gave up, whether it was to sign contracts with traditional publishers, small-press independent publishers, or who decided (sometimes […]

A Thing I Do Not Understand

There are so many things in life I don’t understand. This one is most likely controversial and will probably anger some people. But it’s something I truly do not understand. Why cathedrals are built so big, so majestic, and filled with what man considers “wealth” when there are people who are out there who are […]

#UpbeatAuthors: The Face of Perseverance

This is Laurence. He was once an intern at the TV station where I worked. Back then, we called him “L-Train.” The next time I saw Laurence, he was manning the Breast Cancer Awareness Booth at the local baseball stadium. Passionately.  It seems a very good friend of his died of multiple carcinoma.  Remember the […]