Writing and Reading

5 1/2 Questions With Killer Tribes’ Bryan Allain: An Exclusive Look Inside His Soul

by Shawn May 1, 2012

After the Killer Tribes conference I sent Bryan Allain a list of questions about the conference he organized and successfully pulled off in Nashville, TN. He was kind enough to agree to this semi (not really) exclusive interview, in which many of his deepest, darkest secrets are brought to light. If you were at the [...]

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A Prison Poet, and One Author’s Message to the Publisher that Rejected Him

by Shawn April 26, 2012

Thursday’s lineup of eye-popping articles and literary brain candy: Dickens and Tolkien Collaborate? (via Poets and Writers) The Prisoner Poet (via Poets and Writers) Letters of Note (via Jason Boyett) In 1975, Norman Maclean‘s book, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, was rejected by publishers Alfred A. Knopf after initially being green-lit — thankfully, it [...]

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The Death of Microsoft Word

by Shawn April 19, 2012
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Some of the stuff that caught my attention this week: Should Microsoft Word go the way of the dinosaur? Based on the title, I think the writer of this article would say, YES: Microsoft Word is Cumbersome, Inefficient and Obsolete: It is Time for it to Die (via my friend Jim) No Pulitzer Prize for [...]

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Do Something Irresponsible

by Shawn April 16, 2012

I sat quietly in a mall somewhere in Nashville a few weeks ago and looked at my ringing cell phone. The call I had been waiting for. “Hello?” The guy’s name was Kevin – I had never spoken to him before, but a shared friend had connected us, thought we should talk. And as I [...]

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Embracing the Life You Never Wanted

by Shawn April 5, 2012
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This guest post comes to you via Mark Hughes, author of Buzz Marketing and Sons of Grace. I had the privilege of hearing him speak at the Killer Tribes conference in Nashville last weekend – his message was both practical and inspirational. If you’d like to win a free copy of Sons of Grace, leave [...]

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In Which I Admit to Being (Gulp) Wrong

by Shawn March 29, 2012

Maile and I have been taking turns sleeping with Abra at night. The high pollen count here in the outskirts of Nashville have been keeping her up at night, coughing and itching, so one of us sleeps with her in a separate room where she won’t wake everyone up, and the other gets a good [...]

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Be Solely Responsible for the Demise of My Blogging Career…and Nine Other Reasons You Should Buy My New E-book

by Shawn March 27, 2012
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Today is an exciting day for me! My E-book, Building a Life Out of Words, is finally available! I wanted to try to tell you what it’s about, but then my friend Stacy Barton (author of Surviving Nashville) wrote this, and I love how she describes it: sometimes you try something based on a hunch, [...]

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