Articles

The least you should know about outlining your story ^Featured

An outline is the foundation of your story, a framework on which to build a solid, cohesive tale. Without it, your story could crumble down around you midway through your first draft. Outlining first may make the difference between a powerful story with depth, or a mediocre tale; a paycheck, or a rejection letter.

Does it pay to complain? ^Featured

A White House study shows that there are substantial rewards for companies that pay special attention to their dissatisfied customers.

How Calvin Klein knows your waistline

Manufacturers regularly use statistical data to aid in designing their products and in scheduling production to meet the needs of the market place. By using statistics, we, too, can predict variability and use it to our advantage.

He changed the way we live

Even if you’ve never heard of Del Meyer, you’ve been touched by his work. He has been awarded 26 patents during his 35-year career. None, however, has had more impact than his idea to make purified terephthalic acid, or PTA, the raw material of polyester – a product that forever changed the world.

Deep Six! ^Featured

A lost Soviet submarine. A mad, reclusive billionaire. A dangerous covert salvage from the bottom of the sea. A Cold War espionage thriller? No, it’s the true story of a unique recovery ship that’s now getting a new lease on life with oil and gas companies.

A special child

Christopher Funk is a cheerful, handsome 5-year-old who enjoys playing with his friends in the schoolyard and showing off his drawings in kindergarten class. But when he was born, a doctor told his parents that he was probably mentally retarded and would never walk or control his bodily functions — in short, that he would be a vegetable.

Second chance

Her house in Atlanta’s Grant Park section is special to Barbara Brewer. She spends long hours making it comfortable, cleaning and decorating, working hard to provide a good home for her sons.

Writers’ Blog

Romance in thrillers?
An avid thriller reader who is working on a first novel asked, “Isn’t it difficult working deep...
‘Tweener’ rejections
Let’s explore some of those ubiquitous rejection letters that even internationally published novelists...