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Books by D.J. Butler
Monthly Archives: May 2011
What is Steampunk? (6) (Art Deco Architecture)
From Aldershot, Hants, England. P.S. Photo by my wife, taken on a recent trip. This is the ceiling of a shopping arcade.
Posted in Steampunk
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Query Letter
Dear Mr. ???: Max Spencer looked like your average 12-year-old middle schooler, although a bit more buoyant and a tad less athletic than most. He’d never scored the final point to win a game or crossed the finish line with … Continue reading
Posted in Business, How to Write, Story Monkeys, Writing Sample
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Inspiration
“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” (Variously attributed, including to William Faulkner and W. Somerset Maugham)
Posted in How to Write
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Writing Targets
You gotta have ’em. Maybe it’s three pages a day. Maybe it’s 500 words. You have to have some sort of target, especially if you’re writing something on spec, and there’s no editor pressing you to hit a deadline. You … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write
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He Shoots, He Scores!
Platte Clark of the Story Monkeys has today accepted representation by East-West Literary. Congratulations to Platte! Story Monkeys, ho!
Posted in Story Monkeys
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The Wounded Bird
I gave my love a secret nameI gave my love an emerald ringI told my love my fear and shameI said I’d give her anythingI said I’d give her anythingI gave my love three leaping foalsI penned them in a … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Sample
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I Hate Riding Sidesaddle
I’ve just returned from spending ten days at a ranch in remote southern Utah, sequestered to write. As a result of that cloistering, I am now within striking distance of finishing the rough draft of Project Alpha, and in a … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Sample
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Sometimes You Don’t Have to Read
Or at least, you don’t have to read everything. Here are two useful practices that can get you good information short of reading whole books: Read parts of books. In particular, I think that you can read the first 50-100 … Continue reading
Posted in How to Write
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Little Boy in a Dress (2)
Here’s another little boy in a dress; this one happens to be a relative (at least by marriage). This is my wife’s grandfather, Asael Sorensen, as a likely young lad early in the twentieth century (and several decades after 1881).
Posted in Art
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1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Here’s another great songwriting storyteller with one of his classics. Richard Thompson plays his ballad (yes, ballad) about outlaw love and motorcycles. And here are Del McCoury and the boys honoring Thompson and his traditionalist prowess with a bluegrass cover.
Posted in Song
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