Scribes’ Tribe Scribblings

Scribes’ Tribe member Jerry Swingle’s story, “The Curse of Kitsch” was a finalist in the Warren Adler Short Story contest. This year’s theme was humor. Jerry’s a great writing, but his humor, well, it’s better than great. Congratulations, Jerry!
Candace Carrabus Rice’s story, “A Farmer at Last,” was the highest scoring entry in […]

That might seem like an odd question for a writing blog, but then, writers are curious about all sorts of things, and most importantly, writers are readers.
If you’re like me, you read anything and everything–including such things as signs, cereal boxes, and mayonnaise labels.
All too often, reading one thing leads to reading another […]

Here’s a link to some agent pet peeves–including my agent, Cherry Weiner. The author did an article for Writers’ Digest, and these are the comments that didn’t make the cut for one reason or another. Some of these seem so obvious, but clearly agents see this stuff, or they wouldn’t have to comment […]

Kids are great for putting things in perspective, coming up with incredibly wise and funny comments, and just generally keeping you grounded in what matters.
Yesterday, my daughter and I were driving back from an errand and she asked me to put on her Taylor Swift CD. Daughter loves Taylor Swift. Taylor is her […]

Thanks to everyone who emailed me or left a comment or question here. You can still leave comments or questions on any post this week and be eligible to win the free critique from Editor 911 (www.margodill.com, click on Editor 911). I really appreciate Amy and Candace hosting me this week, and it has been […]

Thanks to everyone who posted a question or comment on Monday. I know some of you had trouble getting a password. If you are having a problem, you can email me at margodll@aol.com, and I will post your question/comment for you. Your name will be put in for the free critique. Now, on to the […]

Isn’t that what we all want? Working at something we love? I can’t show you how to make millions. But I know there are some writers out there who are interested in learning how to make money while writing. It really is possible to get paid every week for writing. […]

Hello writing friends,
Put down those barbeque tongs! We interrupt your summer to announce that past President of the Missouri Writers’ Guild Margo Dill Balinski (http://www.margodill.com/index.html) will be guest blogging right here this week.
Margo (writing as Margo L. Dill) is a freelance writer, children’s author, and elementary school teacher, living in Mahomet, Illinois. Her work has […]

One in Twenty Buy Kindle e-Book Rather than Print Version
At the 2008 BookExpo America convention, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos revealed that one in 20 people buy the electronic version of a book rather than the printed version. However, Kindle e-book sales account for only 6 percent of overall sales titles “where two versions – a […]

When I’m writing, editing, and critiquing, I often find myself asking myself or another writer, “what’s this story about?” When I ask this, I’m not wondering what the plot is. What I’m really asking is “What is the theme of this story?”
But some people hear “theme” and they are instantly beamed back to […]