Euugh. Today was supposed to be a catch-up day for writing. As well as a day when I got up and put up this post first thing in the morning. And then … I woke up at around eleven with a fuzzy head and light sore throat … and then I feel back asleep and woke up at 1 … and then I actually crawled out of bed at 3 a few minutes ago … We’ll see if I get any writing done, but from prior experience of forcing myself to write when my brain is like this and then deleting it all the moment my mind comes

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Welcome, readers, to something new!

Have you noticed what it is yet? I’ll give you a clue. Check the sidebar. Even if you had adblock, it’ll be a little different. Still not sure? Check the address at the top of the page.

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Today's Being a Better Writer post is ... available at Unusual Things for the time being due to internet access limitations on my end. It's the best I can offer at the moment.

So click that link and give it a read! This week's topic is a good one!

Hello again, readers, to another Monday! I hope yours looks a bit better than mine, at least outside your windows. We're catching the tail-end of a winter storm here, and so the world outside looks a grey smear of clouds with a slow trickle of rain. At least, what I'd consider a slow trickle of rain. It's a bit more for most here considering the desert environment.

I'm not griping. It just looks depressingly grey outside.

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Message. Message is an area of much controversy these days, especially in fiction. There are numerous groups with their own ideas of what "the message" of all fiction should be, all arguing and fighting with one another, not a few of them acting like spoiled, entitled children.

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Ever heard of a film called To Hell and Back? No?

I'm not surprised. The film came out a long time ago. 1955, to be exact. It's a World-War II movie chronicling the exploits of one Audie Murphy.

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Welcome back, everyone! I hope you had a productive weekend. I know I did. I did some more editing on Beyond the Borderlands (who's excited for chapter 18?) and, at long last, finished up reading Ancillary Justice and put together my thoughts on it on my other site. Whether you've heard of Ancillary Justice or not, you might find it worth a read.

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Whoa. Did I wake up late today. Noon, in fact. Wow.

But you know what? I feel excellent! Last night marks, I think, the first full night of sleep I’ve gotten in since … crud … Since I returned from my quick Alaska trip. And even there I was playing catch up. I think that today I might almost be caught up.

So … today’s post is a little late. Sorry. But I really don’t feel bad. I feel really good. Crud, I might even go get some exercise today!

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So, you may have noticed that despite being in the place of what would normally be a Being a Better Writer post, this isn’t that. And no, it really isn’t. Though if you’re an aspiring writer, this is a good post to read, because it’s going to be helpful, so I’ll leave it tagged under BaBW.

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This is a post I didn't actually think I'd ever write.

Hyperbole? Not really, actually. As you may have gathered from the title, today I'm going to be talking about music, which is a common enough topic that I've been asked about by many a young writer. They want to know if someone can listen to music while writing, what I listen to, etc.

And for the longest time, I've just said "Yes" and left it at that. I listen to music when I write, you can too.

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What a weekend. I don't know about you guys, but I finally got my hands on a copy of Halo 5: Guardians and played through it. The short? It's a good thing the multiplayer is so good (and I do mean good) because the campaign and story are flat-out awful. And I do mean awful. The shooting's fun, and the environments are neat ... but the story is a hackneyed, jumbled, poorly thrown-together mess, and the dialogue ... oh the dialogue ...

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All right! Request time! Today's topic came from in a message from a reader, who expressed concern that some of their works had quite a bit of passive voice over active voice, and wanted to change that. So they were hoping I could offer a little advice on the matter.

I can, though it might not be the advice they expect.

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Right! Let's get this week started! The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and I'm inside looking at it through a window with my hands on a keyboard. All for you guys.

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Today's topic is a bit odd, and a bit different. In fact, while it's been sitting untouched on my current topic list (number eight) pretty much from day one, I distinctly recall that it's been on earlier versions of the list, and I've just kept putting it off despite it being a requested topic because ... well ... I don't have much in the way of hands-on experience with it. Really all I can offer is my own reasons for why I don't do either of the things today's topic

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I bet a lot of you are going to be surprised by the actual gist of this post. Yes, I am talking about time management, but not in the way you think. Also, I'm fairly certain I've done posts on making good use of writing time before, so those still exist.

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Well, after a wild weekend consisting of both roller coasters and more viewers in a day to the site than I normally see in six months, I'm back! To those of you who are regular readers, hello again, and to any of you who are new, I hope you like what you see and stick around!

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