Category: On Writing

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – This Is How We Work #anthology – Stories, Memoirs & Poems about the Social Dimensions of Work – Yvette Prior, contributing editor

Published on by dgkaye135 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing a new release anthology Yvette Prior has put together in collaboration with a few talented authors and poets. Stories in various genres – fiction, memoir, poetry, self-help, and industrial psychology, careers.

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Blurb:

This anthology offers a thoughtful exploration of the social dimensions of work, bringing together a diverse collection of voices through memoir, fiction, and poetry. The contributors share their unique experiences of labor, identity, and motivation, revealing the complex interplay between cultural expectations, relationships, and personal growth in the workplace. Beyond the practicalities of pay and productivity, this volume illuminates how work shapes our sense of self and community. Whether paid or unpaid, each chapter invites readers to reflect on the meaning and impact of their own work lives, fostering empathy and deeper understanding in a rapidly changing world.

Perfect for anyone interested in the real stories behind work, this book offers rich perspectives that will resonate with readers from all walks of life.

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My 5 Star Review:

Prior was struck by the idea for this anthology by the earlier work of photographer Clifton Bryant of 1972, revealing how the work we do is intricately linked into our relationships and social structures. Prior was inspired to build upon Bryant’s work. Diversity in voices bringing us a collection of stories all connected to the theme of work, challenges in work and stories of milestones, painful trials, and successes.

My favs: The book begins with Prior’s reasons for putting together this book then goes into next chapter by Joseph Jerome Dywer, technology professor – PHD, V6, & Vitamin D. He asks: “Do we work to live? or “Live to work? Sherri Mathews shares her experience as a caregiver to her mum and how it affected and affects her writing time, in her story – The Quiet Work Of Love. Mabel Kwong talks about – The Creative Dream Job (That Wasn’t So Dreamy) – when our writing masterpieces aren’t felt same by our editors – when creative passion and norms of professionalism collide, hindering creative freedom, and an aversion to rewrites.

I thoroughly enjoyed the fictional story written by Marsha Ingrao – Eighty-Five Degrees and Me, a thought provoking story about very hot temperatures while children are attending school without air-conditioning and the children’s questioning about why their school doesn’t have air-conditioning, and what they can do about it by protesting their thoughts in questions to the board of education, and maybe even the president.

I also enjoyed the wonderfully evocative poetry from Robbie Cheadle – Behind the Glass and Steel – poems about modern women in the workplace and all that encompasses and affects. Frank Prem’s – Asylum Ghosts – Prem takes us on a tour through a former insane asylum and its abandoned wards with prose offering vivid imagery. In – Work to Do – Prior shares her poetic reflections. In one of her poems – Thanks, Kyle, Prior pays tribute to one of her former bosses, which inspired her work- psychology study and the need to work as a cure to fill emptiness.

At the end of the book, Prior disects each chapter, analyzing and discussing each of the themed stories depicted from each chapter. This was a very enjoyable book that shared great insights about life, and making it work, while working.

©DGKaye2025

bitmo good grief

Grief – What Do You Wish You Knew About Grief Before Losing Your Spouse?

Published on by dgkaye76 Comments

The title of this post was a question I came across recently on one of the widow forums I visit occasionally. It made me pause for a moment, but then I realized, there is absolutely not one thing that could have prepared me for the loss of my husband, even if I thought I could prepare.

I recently finished first draft of my newest and upcoming book, days before I lost my best friend to an aggressive and too late detected deadly cancer. I’m actually still in the shock and rage stages of disbelief and non-acceptance. Needless to say, doing revisions has been a struggle. My upcoming (eventually) book talks about the many stages of grief, in no particular order, and sure to revisit the stages, randomly, repeatedly, and most likely, forever.

I haven’t spoken much about my book since it became a WIP, and truthfully, I now think I need to add a chapter titled – Grief on Top of Grief or I feel I’d be remiss. And most definitely, there must be a new memoir written, titled – Sanja and Me.

As a writer, I feel like I want to jam more into my current book, because my recent giant loss is at the forefront of my mind. But as a writer, I have to remember, this book is about grief and its many faces, common stages grievers experience, as well as the changes that occur for us after going through something that alters our life, not specifically about my husband, but my own endurance through grief. Because I have the unfortunate experience of speaking first-hand, I mention my beloved husband in instances when I’m referring to something I experienced from certain situations. This is not a book about my memoir with my husband, or my best friend; it’s about the aftermath of what happens to those of us who are left behind.

So, again, in answer to the question of preparing for grief. You can’t. Because we are all human and all hold various emotions within, and we’re all wired differently. Love is different for everyone, just as grief will be. And to add to my statement, I watched my husband fade away daily for months during horrid Covid before I could get him in a hospital – TOO LATE. Through that time I was already living in anticipatory grief – the grief of knowing you’re losing someone, before they’re gone. That’s the preliminary grief before the actual loss. It’s a beast of its own ilk and only a precursor to what grief after loss is. So, to sum it up tidily, nobody could have prepared me for the aftermath of loss.

One author who I’ve read some of his wonderful books on grief, sums it up nicely:

“Loss is shocking, even if we think we’re prepared for it. The death of someone we love is stunning and momentarily paralyzing.” ~Gary Roe, The Grief Guidebook

Paralyzing is an apt word.

©DGKaye2025

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – The Everything Guide to Writing Nonfiction by Richard D. Bank

Published on by dgkaye43 Comments

My Sunday Book Review is for a most informative book, complete with exercises at the end of each chapter for nonfiction writers – The Everything Guide to Writing Nonfiction.

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Blurb:

Everyone wants to be a published writer. But only a few manage to break into print. In this guide, Richard D. Bank provides expert advice to help you reach your goals of writing and selling articles, essays, and books. Featuring step-by-step instructions covering all aspects of writing, including how to:

  • Master the elements of creative nonfiction
  • Conduct interviews and take accurate notes
  • Find your unique voice
  • Develop good research and editing skills
  • Write with authority and confidence
  • Sell writing to periodicals and publishers

Whether you want to write an intimate memoir, a magazine story, or a scholarly article, you’ll find all you need to see your bylines in print.

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My 5 Star Review:

In this book, the author shares a most comprehensive and detailed description with all the elements involved in writing nonfiction. We will learn about writing various forms of nonfiction, including books, essays, and scholarly, and of course, personal essays, the voice speaking directly to readers, and the importance of leaving a universal message to readers. The book also discusses how to bring writing to a publishing level with all the necessary elements of writing, and learning where we can take ‘literary license’, privacy rights, and consideration about libel laws.

Sample writings, forms, excerpts and interviews are included to demonstrate how to write book proposals and how to query agents and publishers. Breaks down the works of nonfiction in their various styles of writing – Op-eds, creative nonfiction, memoir, reviews, peronal essays and more, and relating to fiction. We are also offered tools and ideas on writing styles and structure, word counts for each style, where to acquire good research data, copyrights, insurance protections and what constitutes plagiarism. This book explains the rules of writing by genre.

A well written and concise book. I highly recommend this book for all writers – both seasoned and new, for nonfiction and fiction writers.

Writer's Tips

March Writer’s Tips – First Page Checklist, About Pages, the Semicolon, Substack, Uploading books on Amazon, Section Breaks

Published on by dgkaye45 Comments

Welcome back to my Writer’s Tips March edition. In these curated tips, Deborah Jay shares a great checklist for First Pages in our Books, Hugh Roberts with tips on what our About Pages should include, Diana Peach at the Story Empire on the Semicolon, Anne R. Allen’s blog about Substack, Kindlepreneur Video, and Section Breaks by Kathy Steinemann.

Deborah Jay talking about Writing First Pages

Winter in the Highlands, and first page checklist #writing

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Hugh Roberts with a Tutorial on Writing our About Pages

Why Every Blogger Needs an Engaging ‘About’ Page: Key Elements and Tips

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Diana Peach at the Story Empire in her Punctuation series – the Semicolon

Punctuation Part II: The Semicolon

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The blog of Anne R. Allen on a Beginner’s Guide to Substack

The Beginner’s Guide to Substack (and Why you Should Care)

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The Kindlepreneur has updated his video for uploading our book files on Amazon, reminding everything to include

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How to use Section Breaks by Kathy Steinemann

https://kathysteinemann.com/Musings/section-breaks

©DGKaye2025

Books

Am I #Writing a New Book?

Published on by dgkaye121 Comments

When inspiration strikes – especially when it isn’t too often, you run with it!

I’ve been trying to work on what I hope to be my soul book about grief, temporarily titled Conversations and Observations. But my progress has been very minimal for the last two years because although it’s been just after three years since losing my husband, every time I try to go back to my very rough drafts I’ve realized it’s just too raw for me. Still. It’s not giving me joy yet to write this book because it’s just too soon, despite the years. And so I wait and work on other things, as well as keep adding to the very rough draft.

So I realized the other day, this book is going to be a long time coming until I can get through the process of working on this book because I’ve yet to emotionally recover enough yet from losing my husband. But, the muse flashed by my brain when I came to this realization that just because I’m not yet ready to work on the book of my heart, I can still share some well-worn, worthy experience through the processes of grief I’ve been experiencing through my loss. So, in that flash of inspiration, I opened up a new Word doc, came up with a title, theme and the first ten chapter headings within ten minutes. I kid you not!

Okay, so I still have some writing to do, but really, I already have most of the material to work with from writing my podcast episodes, and the very many writings through these past few years on the subject of grief – much of it never published.

The muse spoke to me and suggested I write a different book about grief for the meantime. And I realized from the feedback I was receiving from my podcasts and various articles on grief I’ve written about that people want to know how others deal with the various stages of grief, or may be just looking for some information about things that relate to their own experience in grief. And despite my focus on grieving the loss of a spouse, my experiences can apply to any kind of loss.

So, this is where a different book idea began percolating in my head. It came to mind that of the twenty or thirty books I read about grief, and the many discussions I lurked around reading in forums, the best information that resonated with me were from books I read about people’s own experiences. A few clinical-ish books left me feeling as though there were some magical order of stages one goes through as they begin their journey into grief, but trust me, there isn’t. And then it hit me. If I was desperately searching for stories that could somehow give me comfort, mostly making me feel that despite my being alone, I wasn’t alone in what I was living through, surely there are others searching for same. And that made me decide my experiences may be beneficial for someone else searching for some sanity, or perhaps interested in learning about things people experience during grief, because we are all going to have to face it some day.

The topic of ‘stages’ of grief are what I talk about in my podcasts, Grief the Real Talk. And then the title popped up in my head – The Real Stages of Grief: Newsflash – there is no order. Okay, it may only be my working title, but then again, it could be The title.

There’s no denying, there are many, many stages of grief, and they don’t come in any order, they can suddenly appear, and will re-appear, even catch us offguard, on any given day. And it’s inevitable that our lives are going to change. So, I’m writing a book.

Feel free to leave your thoughts about my working title. 😊

©DGKaye2024

Writing brain

Why We Love Memoirs

Published on by dgkaye86 Comments

I’m going to step out of my author box for a moment and disregard the fact that I too write memoirs. What is it about memoirs that attract readers – stories involving other people’s lives? It always fascinated me since I was a teenager about people and incidence. I didn’t have to be related to or friends with the people in these memoirs to be curious about their lives, their adventures, their situations and how they overcame them. Yet, once I began writing memoirs myself, my worrisome side kept nagging at me, why would anyone care about the things I experienced in my life when they didn’t even know me? Readers who have no connections to the writers, yet, are fascinated with memoirs. Why?

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Memoir may be a story about incidence in one person’s life, but its value is in the situations the book presents and lessons taken from, shared with readers who somehow identify with our stories. So many people can relate to memoirs because so many encounter same, or like, situations in their own lives, leaving them curious to learn how the memoirist grew from and resolved same issues. The writer doesn’t have to be famous in order for the reader to have interest. Sure, top traditionally published writers get so much more exposure, but that doesn’t mean their stories are superior to an Indie’s books. We all live lives. And if we can write our stories in an engaging way to take the reader in along with story, that is the magic.

Once upon a time, memoirs were much more in a niche category. One had to enjoy nonfiction, and not everybody was interested in the lives or happenings of people they didn’t know. I feel when more sensationalist ‘true’ stories, confessions, more daring on TV and talkshows, documentaries on any subject, all came along, people became more informed about real things that happen to people, and curiosities grew about wanting to find out more about the people they’d been hearing about. I also feel, as the world progressed and illnesses, abuse, sex, et al, became more prevalent in public, people became more fascinated and interested, and considered memoirs as more of self-help for their own issues. Issues that identified with things they themselves were or had experienced. I know it was like that for me. Curiosity grew as I was always an observant soul from as far back as I can remember.

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Many memoir readers have faced some sort of dilemma or adversity and look for stories as hope that it is possible for them to get resolution. There is hope. The authenticity of real life can be refreshing and compelling for readers seeking genuine stories and emotions. Besides the concept of the story, memoir is a personal telling, and it’s the voice of the author that dictates the mode of story.

Memoirs don’t always have to be serious. In fact, readers enjoy some injected humor to lighten the tone and narrative of story. Memoirs often provoke retrospection in the reader, causing them to reflect on their own situations, choices and beliefs.

We have much to learn from each other.

©DGKaye2024

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Writing to be Understood: What Works and Why by Anne Janzer #nonfiction

Published on by dgkaye57 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. I’m happy to share this informative book by Anne Janzer – Writing to be Understood: What Works and Why. The book is geared toward nonfiction writers, which captured my attention. But, I will say that I’m certain it would be as beneficial to fiction writers as well.

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Blurb:

How do great nonfiction writers connect with us so strongly—and what can you learn from them to apply to your own writing?

Writing to Be Understood explores the ways powerful writers explain and inform, including analogies, imagery, humor, story, and more.

The book combines insights from cognitive science with advice from expert practitioners in the fields of psychology, technology, economics, medicine, policy, and more. Each chapter wraps up with practical advice that you can put to work, no matter what you’re writing.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Appeal to your readers’ innate sense of curiosity
  • Connect with audiences that aren’t immediately receptive to your ideas
  • Make abstract ideas understandable and memorable
  • Banish the boring from your work


Whether you’re trying to communicate expertise with a mainstream audience, pitching ideas to your team, or hoping to make an impact with a nonfiction book, dig into Writing to be Understood to reach more people with your words.

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My 5 Star Review:

I found this book had some excellent tips for writers to focus on, zeroing in on what engages a reader in an author’s writing style, how to draw in the reader and keep them engaged using cognitave empathy to grab and maintain a reader’s attention. The author shares the importance of focusing on tone and delivery of information when writing a story, not just the storyline. She goes on to say that good nonfiction reading should have the reader feeling the emotions of story, and as for self-help books or manuals, make the readers easily able to digest information instead of sounding like an instructional. She offers great tools to keep the writing lighter and interesting, with tricks about how not to bore readers, how to cater to and connect with your readers, and learn how to be able to please the majority of our readers – because, as Janzer says: there will always be some readers that can’t be pleased, by offering her methods for connecting with readers, helps to ensure most readers connect with our ’emotional components’.

The author offers snippets from other writers with tips to keep the readers reading, as one stated, we must keep the reader curious enough to continue reading without using ‘unnecessary’ vocabulary terms a reader may be unfamiliar with. Although a reader may not appreciate tedious writing, the importance of keeping readers engaged is with voice, and using analogies to activate sensory processing of emotions, especially with nonfiction readers.

You will also find a chapter about the importance of never deleting unused work or parts of a book, and what to do with those bits, for future uses. “When you’re writing nonfiction, you don’t have to mesmerize people with suspense. You might simply frame a moment, a scene, or transformation.” “People remember stories, not data.” In Part Three – How Not to be Boring, Janzer talks about tone and style – voice, style, and tone. As a conversational writer myself, I did enjoy the chapter on Conversational writing. The author broke it down nicely as to what’s involved with conversational writing, such as paragraph and sentence length, and the importance of staying away from using jargon and the importance of using personalized writing and imagery by use of figurative language, metaphors and similes, which spur a pause or curiosity from the reader. Also caveats on choice of metaphors so as not to irritate readers with a misintrepreted choice of metaphor, which may not convey the writer’s initial intention and may also distract a reader when they pause too long to think about what the writer is trying to convey. We’re advised to choose familiar images to project with our metaphors to avoid distraction as can idiomatic expressions, (natural and unscripted thoughts) which can leave a reader visualizing something more problematic.

Metaphors should support work and move the cause forward, and the importance of clarifying a metaphor the general public may not clue into. Imagery touches all the senses. But I think my favorite chapter was #13 – Credibility, Humanity, and Humility, and how Janzer goes deeper into how these three elements are important in nonfiction writing – “Humility disarms the reader and paves the way for deeper connections.” This book reinforced in me what my own readers in general, gratefully, say about my own books, my vulnerability and empathy not written as authority, but from authentic self, not self-absorbed, welcoming in the reader because something about a story made them feel connected as though I was conversing directly to them. An author’s dream audience.

A well written book by Janzer on how to write to keep the reader engaged by connecting with the reader’s brain. The author reminds that stories and anecdotes are an essential part of a nonfiction writer’s arsenal. We will also learn why repitition of key sentences are effective to instill key points that may have been skimmed over, reiterating that repitition is to be used judicially as to not sound repetitive or boring, rather by rephrasing when reiterating to fuel memory.

This book offers some great cognitive tools for a writer’s arsenal. I also found the style the information was delivered in was very engaging, as opposed to feeling more manual-like as many books on writing can appear. The description of this book mentions it talks about how nonfiction writing can connect strongly with readers; but I will say as a writer that any genre of writer can benefit from this well written and straight forward book.

©DGKaye2024

Writer's Tips

January 2024 Writer’s Tips – Computer Tune-up, Top Ten #BookBub Tips, #Blogging Clean-up Tips, Do’s and Don’ts for New Writers, 2024 Publishing Predictions

Published on by dgkaye53 Comments

Welcome to a new year of my best picks and curated Writer’s Tips. In this edition, Jacqui Murray’s Tech Tips on Cleaning our Computers, BookBub shares their year’s best Top Ten Marketing Tips from 2023, Hugh Roberts offered up some handy tips for sorting and tidying our blogs, and Anne R. Allen with some Tips for new Novelists, and shares 2024 Publisher tips.

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Jacqui Murray’s Tech Tips – 8 + Ways to a Speedier Computer

8+ Ways To a Speedier Computer

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BookBub’s Top Ten Marketing Tips from 2023

Top 10 Book Marketing Articles from BookBub in 2023

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Hugh Roberts with some handy tips to Clean up our Blogs

December Can Be Quiet In The Blogging World. 7 Essential, Easy Ways to Help Your Blog Through It

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Anne R. Allen with Tips and Caveats for New Writers

Just Finished Your First Novel? Do’s and Don’ts for NaNoWriMo Winners

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Anne R. Allen with Publishing Agent guest Laurie McLean on 2024 Publishing Predictions

2024 Predictions in Publishing (100% Human-Written) by Agent Laurie McLean

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©DGKaye2024