From the category archives:

Core

On Character and Characters

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Think of every piece of fiction that you have ever loved. No matter the genre or subject, I’ll be they all have one thing in common; great, wonderful and believable characters. Characters that are distinct, illustrative, and alive. Characters that leap off the page and into your heart. Characters that once you are finished with that book you are sad to leave but will remember forever.

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On Procrastination

On Procrastination

What Happened? Well, I started strong writing for NaNoWriMo, but ultimately failed. I could not get my head around how awfully I wrote. Sure, the contest guidelines tell you this will be a problem. “Just write!” they say. “Worry about editing this later!” “Perfection is the enemy!” “Getting started is the hardest part.”

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Quotes of My Friend’s Fathers

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Last week I spent some time recounting my favorite quotes from my Dad. I also wrote up a few quotes from the fathers of my favorite writers on the Internet. Today I’m taking a look at some of my favorite words of wisdom from the fathers of my friends.

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Lessons from the Dad’s of the best of the Blogosphere.

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The Blogosphere is an interesting place filled with interesting people. A while ago I asked a bunch of internet celebrities about the lessons that they learned from their dads. Most took the time to respond and I’m very thankful they did.

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Lessons from Dad

It’s Father’s Day this week so the focus will be on advice from Dear Old Dad. Today starts off the theme with one-liners from my Dad. And if you know him, you are certainly smiling. Dad certainly knows how to turn a phrase.

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Free Body Diagram

“Look to your left. Look to your right. These people will not be here when you graduate.” That’s what the dean of engineering told us in the summer of 1996 at Virginia Tech. It wasn’t original. That spiel has been delivered to freshman engineering classes by deans since my dad’s day. And I can only assume they’re still giving that speech. I hope so. It’s one of those things that you take with you.

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7 Useless and Counterproductive Things I do Everyday

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Behavoiral Economics is the study of emotions on economic decisions. It arose because, despite what many of us would believe, we humans don’t always act in our best efforts. In fact, it seems like our greatest shared pastime is indulging in acts which will destroy us, damage us, or at the least – waste our precious resources.

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Solitude and Serenity

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If by practicing a bit of solitude now and then can enable creativity, grant us focus, generate appreciation and spark achievement is it a stretch to think it might just lead to serenity as well?

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An Open Letter to My Quitting Self

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Last weekend I passed my first Kung Fu test. This means that my introductory period is over and I have been invited to apply to the mastery program. Showing basic martial competency as well as a token knowledge of history and a good understanding of decorum was required before I could advance. All that is left if this application to state my intent and a meeting with the Sifu – the headmaster of the school.

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Flipping the Calendar Pages

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This morning Chris G asked his Facebook cohort “What is the most important thing you’ll do this week.” I was at a loss. What is the most important thing I’m doing this week? Is anything I am doing really that important? Shouldn’t there be? Is the fact that I cannot answer this question in a split second indicative of a larger underlying problem?

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