Posts filed under ‘OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS’
WRITER’S WEBSITE: EQUITY DIRECTORY
WEBSITES FOR WRITERS
Every year WRITER’S DIGEST published 100 best websites for writers. I took the list published in 2025 and selected what I thought were some of the best for this year and not repeated from last year. Here is one of them.
Equity Directory
EquityDirectory.org
Created by Literary Agents of Change and it’s free. Helps querying authors find BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) agents.
Gives information on agents participating in various communities such as the Association of American Literary Agents as to what queries they are seeking and offers connections to their websites.
THE BEST WRITER’S WEBSITE: DUOTROPE
WEBSITES FOR WRITERS
Every year WRITER’S DIGEST published 100 best websites for writers. I took the list published in 2025 and selected what I thought were some of the best for this year and not repeated from last year. Here is one of them.
Duotrope
Duotrope.com
If you follow my blog you have heard about Duotrope. I have used this website for years to find publishers. It is a powerful tool. Once free, it now costs $50 a year, but if you are a serious writer or artist or in need of an agent, this website is a must.
They list over 7,600 active agents and publishers. They also offer a submission tracker.
To find a publisher, agent or outlet for your work you fill out a form detailing what type of outlet you are looking for. Then you run a search and a list of places which could use your work is produced. With each site listed is a link to that site. This list is also constantly updated.
If you are serious about your craft this website is a must.
I might also add, from an article in Poets & Writers, there are 4000 literary journals in this country.
So many opportunities to get your work published.
WRITER”S WEBSITES: TV TROPES
WEBSITES FOR WRITERS
Every year WRITER’S DIGEST published 100 best websites for writers. I took the list published in 2025 and selected what I thought were some of the best for this year and not repeated from last year. Here is one of them.
TV Tropes
TVTropes.org
This website supplies more than just TV Tropes. You can research genres, media types, narration types to find sub-indexes of various tropes detailing potential problems with those tropes.
Also available are folders featuring film, TV, literature and music.
WEBSITES FOR WRITERS: LANGUAGE IS A VIRUS
WEBSITES FOR WRITERS
Every year WRITER’S DIGEST published 100 best websites for writers. I took the list published in 2025 and selected what I thought were some of the best for this year and not repeated from last year. Here is one of them.
Language Is a Virus
LanguageIsAVirus.com
This website states that it helps cure writer’s block. Also, it can release you from your current project for a while.
It helps to inspire creativity with interactive writing games, story writing, poem writing and various other writing topics including writing prompts. It also provides creative writing exercises. Helpful in generating characters and plot twists.
TRUMP and the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
THE PRICE of the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE for TRUMP – UKRAINE.
MY LIFE WITH MILLIE AND SAM: CONTINUED
She came home with us, and we crated her in the living room, then went upstairs in our split-level home to go to sleep. Millie began crying. We thought she missed her siblings, but she was missing company. Once moved to our bedroom, the crying stopped.
In September my wife went on vacation, and I was left with un-house-broken Millie. I brought Millie into the sunroom and closed the door to the rest of the house. Armed with paper towels and a host of cleaners I was prepared to clean up after Millie until she learned where to do what had to be done. Eventually she learned to go to the back yard and do her business. Before she left on vacation Joni said Millie should not go on the couch in the sunroom. I figured, okay, I would lie on the couch and Millie would lie on my chest. The rules were met somewhat. To make a long story short that couch was one of her favorite places. She loved to lie down with her head on pillows. She loved pillows. The couch is now heavily stained with ripped cushions. But Millie was happy on her couch and that is what mattered.
Joni enrolled Millie in a dog training school. I went along with them but had to stop. While all the dogs were walking in a circle on leashes Millie would come over to me to say hello.
As with most dogs Millie became more than a pet. She was a member of our family.
I remember when our cat did something unacceptable. Joni sprayed water on the cat, and the criminal ceased the activity. When Millie did something Joni did not approve of she sprayed Millie. Millie loved it. During the winter Millie would break through ice to get to water.
Millie has such a mild personality. Sometimes our cat, Sammy, would sleep on Millie’s bed or Millie’s favorite chair. Now Millie was at least seven- or eight-times Sammy’s size, but she would not bother the cat. Millie would come to me looking up as if to say, “Dad do something.” When we would pass a barking dog on walks, Millie looked as if she was thinking ‘What’s your problem’?
When Millie grew old and somewhat confused, if she wanted me to do something she would stamp her left front paw. How she learned that I have no idea. As I tried to figure out what she wanted she would go to her bed and lie down forgetting that she wanted something.
There are two incidents in Millie’s I will never forget.
One day Millie went to the backyard when nature called. She began barking. Millie never barks. I went out to investigate and there she was challenging a groundhog which had reared up on its back legs. Not a good sign. After I saw what was going on I went into the house and got a broom to chase the groundhog away. But for some reason I chose a different tactic. I hit Millie on the head to get her attention, allowing the trespasser time to escape.
The second event could have been disastrous.
Millie has only left the backyard twice, crawling under the fence. She barks when she wants to be let back in. One day, no barking. She was outside for a long time, so I went out looking for her. No Millie. We live on a very busy street. In was close to Christmas so the street was busier than normal. I heard horns blaring and went out front to see what was going on. Traffic was stopped in both directions and there sat Millie on the double yellow lines. How she got there without getting killed I’ll never know. I called her to come, and she did with what I thought was a guilty look on her face.
With advancing age Millie became more and more confused and developed arthritis. And not long ago she stopped eating dog food. She was losing weight. The vet told me I should cook for her. I made her scrambled eggs or pancakes for breakfast and pork chops, fish sticks or chicken for dinner. But eventually she ceased to eat human food. I could see the end was approaching, fast.
MY LIFE WITH MILLIE AND SAM: A PETS’ STORY
Recently, my cat, Sammy (Samantha), died. She will probably be the last pet I have. And this will be the first time this house has been without a pet in about 35 years.
We’ve gone through a host of various types of animals as pets over the years. There have been lizards and snakes. I had a ball python for 25 years. We’ve had gerbils and a hamster. The hamster was found by a friend around Christmas time. The girls named it Noel. There was a hermit crab named Shelly. We have also had three dogs and four cats as pets one time or another. I’ll save most of their stories for the future.
This story will concern the last two pets who lived in this house. Millie, a fantastic dog and Sammy who would demonstrate an attitude when she wasn’t sleeping, which was most of the time. But no matter what their personality, they were part of the family.
MY LIFE WITH MILLIE AND SAM
This is a story about my dog, Millie, and my cat, Sam. Both remarkable pets.
My wife, Joni, and I adopted an SPCA dog. He was a terrier of an unknown mixture named Whitey for obvious reasons We loved him and had him for years. I would be sitting in a chair in the living room, and he would sit in front of me. I would say, “He’s coming up” and he would jump into my lap. Of course, he was white, but when he got a haircut portions of grey skin would show.
When Whitey died Joni said, “No more dogs.” Whitey’s death was grieved by the entire family.
My brother’s wife had quads, and they already had two kids at the time. We went to my brother’s house to celebrate the high school graduation of Lauren, Katie, Christopher and Andrew. All went on to get degrees, and some of the kids, advanced degrees.
When we arrived at Mike’s house the first thing he said was that we should go into the garage. He had a female Chocolate Lab named Haley. She was gaining weight, so Mike cut down on her food. His daughter, Jessica, came home from nursing school and said, “Dad, she’s pregnant.” When we walked into the garage there was Hailey nursing nine pups of various types. There were Chocolate Labs, Yellow Labs and pups colored brown and white. Mike did not know who the father was but my money is on a German Shepard. The pups were born at the beginning of June. Joni could not resist having one of these pups. Who could? At the beginning of August found Joni, my daughter, Lynn, and myself driving to my brother’s house to select one.
At that time there were seven or eight left. They were outside when we got there running around in a pack. Falling, jumping but always staying together. The pups were let into the house and we all sat down to have lunch. Joni had her eye on a Chocolate Lab named Chubs because he was the largest of the liter. As Joni was eating her lunch, and the pups were playing, a brown and white pup came and sat next to Joni. We did not pick out a pup. The pup picked us. I wanted to name her Molly, but Lynn wanted Millie. From the title of this piece, you could see who won.
ANOTHER RETIREMENT OBSERVATION
ANOTHER RETIREMENT OBSERVATION
I have reported, in the past, that ads saying they can tell you how much money you will need upon retirement to maintain your lifestyle, in my opinion, are scams. I feel the most important question which needs to be answered is how long you will live. The only people unfortunate to be able to answer this question with relative accuracy are those with a terminal illness.
Not long ago I heard statistics which gave me pause. It concerned salaries. I thought salaries are an important consideration needed in planning retirement. How long you will be retired and the changes in salaries and the price of goods are also important in determining how much money you will need, and I don’t see how anyone can accurately make those predictions, of course coupled with lifestyle.
I look at my own experience with starting salaries and length of retirement.
When I graduated from college in 1969 if you could find a job paying $10,000 a year you were lucky.
Not long ago I heard a report on salaries required by 17–28-year-olds seeking employment. One thing I found interesting is that it used to be during an interview salary was never mentioned until maybe the end. Now it appears that one requirement of the job posting is to list the salary along with the job description. Also, consider that the salary wanted by this age group, for many, is probably what they want to be paid for their first job.
Some applicants in this age group required a salary of $50,000-$100,000 to consider applying for the job. Twenty-five percent of this age group required a salary of $100,000-$250,000 to consider applying. Granted the salary considered great at $10,000 was 56 years ago. But some could be retired for 30 years or more. I’ve been retired for 17 years and can’t believe the increase in salaries and consumer prices since I’ve been retired.
Therefore, I think for anyone to advise you, upon retirement, how to have a financially worry-free retirement they would have to be able to predict the impossible.
First, and most important, is to determine how long you are going to live. That goes hand in hand with the salary you were making when you retired and at what rate salaries will increase during the rest of your retirement. And finally, the rate at which the price of goods will increase taking time and inflation into consideration. The answers to all these questions, I feel, would provide you with a worry-free retirement. But who, with any honesty, can provide the answers to all these questions?
MY SCAM EXPERIENCE
MY SCAM EXPERIENCE
I was on my computer when I suddenly got a blue screen from ‘Microsoft’ telling me that I was being hacked it had been locked, and not to shut off my computer. Also, the message gave me a phone number to call.
I called the number and was told all my personal information was at risk. They asked me for my cell phone number. I do not have a cell phone and that seemed to disappoint them. Then they told me not to answer my landline until the next day at 11:00 AM.
At some time during my interaction with them they asked to take control of my computer, and I allowed this. After all, I thought I was dealing with Microsoft. At some point I told them that, “I feel sorry for hackers because they lead such useless lives.” Little did I know that I was talking to a hacker.
When they called the following day they said they were going to connect me to my bank on a secure line. Now, the man I was talking to had a distinct accent. Who knows what country I was talking to? When I was connected to my bank on a secure line the individual I was talking to had the same accent. I immediately hung up, called my bank, and that was the end of the scam.
This happened more than a year ago. I don’t think I lost any personal information and had my computer checked to make sure there were no surprises lurking within.
I’m telling you all this because if you suddenly message from Microsoft like what I received telling you your computer is lock, which you will find is true, and give you a number to call, it is a scam. Shut your computer off and do not call the phone number. Hopefully, when you turn your computer back on it is no longer locked. If it is, you might need help to unlock it.
I hope you learn from my experience not to be scammed.
PREDICTIONS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE
MY PREDICTION OF THE PAST AND FUTURE IN A SHORT STORY
In the past I have referred to a short story published on my blog, The Superior Species, as a story in which I predicted the past. I have recently stumbled upon another example of that prediction.
I had mentioned that the Neanderthals are now known to have made jewelry, buried their dead and may have been able to speak. I recently finished reading a fantastic book, Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough, discussing the life of the Vikings. In describing different aspects of their life, she delves into the musical instruments they used. One of the instruments she dealt with is the flute. During that discussion she mentioned the oldest flute discovered, made of bone, to be perhaps 50,000 years old. She contributes its manufacture to perhaps the Neanderthals. This would indicate that they had knowledge and appreciation of music. Add more evidence of my predicting the intelligence of the Neanderthals.
It also appears that I may have predicted the future in this story as well. In a recent article in The New Yorker concerning the cloning of the dire-wolf pups it is mentioned that there may be a plan to clone a Neanderthal. Cloning a Neanderthal is the central theme of my short story The Superior Species.
Personally, I hope that is all I have predicted in my stories. To have any of the events in my horror or science fiction stories come to fruition would cause society major problems. Our current society has enough problems without my contributing more.
My next post will discuss my short story, The Universe in Balance. As I said above, if this story contains a prediction, we’re in real trouble
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