This week #MakeoverMonday looks at an article in the Guardian “How much does union membership benefit America's workers?” by Mona Chalabi. The answer? Quite a bit. Union membership or representation increases the average pay of workers. Pay inequality is still an issue, however, based on sex and race. Chalabi created illustrated graphs that show these relationships.
Each week Eva Murray (@TriMyData) and Andy Kriebel (@VizWizBI) share an article and dataset and ask the community to tackle creating a new visualization from the data. It's a chance to learn and explore. The vizzes created get shared via Twitter and reviewed (if submitted) in a weekly webinar.
I love trying out different tools for writing. Over the years I’ve written on all sorts of devices from pens to word processors, Palm OS PDAs, Alphasmarts, laptops, Chromebooks, phones, and PCs. I’ve used digital recorders to record dictation. My current obsession is my Freewrite (and waiting for the Traveler to come out).
All of these devices have used different software (well, not the pens, although I’m curious about using shorthand and software to convert it to text). I love trying out new programs and have used a variety of programs on all of the platforms. Today I still use Word for some tasks. I’ve used Scrivener. I posted previously about trying out Novlr online.
I was recently contacted by the kind folks at Novelize who offered me a chance to try out their online novel writing program. It’s been available since 2014 but I’d somehow missed it. Of course I jumped at the chance to try it out. I’m going to share my first impressions in this post. Later, after I spend more time with Novelize and get to know it better, I’ll share my experience.
The Marsten House hung over the town of Jersualem’s Lot, ‘Salem’s Lot, like a tombstone over a grave that hadn’t been filled in yet. The people in their homes and shops didn’t recognize the rich smell of fresh turned earth, the odor of their own deaths. They hadn’t caught up to the fact that they were already dead, their last days on earth evaporating like morning dew.
Continue reading ‘Salem's Lot by Stephen King
Have you ever had something bad happen to you? Something done to you by another person? Maybe a lover betrayed you? A parent abandoned you? A thief robbed you? It’s probably more surprising if you’ve skated across the thin ice of life, hearing the creaks, cracks, and groans but somehow never falling through yourself.
Bad things happen to the characters in this collection of four novellas from master storyteller Stephen King. Very bad things, done by bad people. Mostly without anything supernatural going on. This collection won 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Best Collection.
Continue reading Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
I picked The Last Policeman entirely by chance while perusing science fiction titles. The cover caught my eye and the description convinced me that it was something I might enjoy. That’s what it takes isn’t it? And I have a fondness for science fiction mystery stories. I enjoy reading them almost as much as writing them.
Clay Blaisdell called “Blaze” by his friends, a petty crook, con-man, sometimes speaker to ghosts, who stood up to bullies, who didn’t become a bully despite his size, didn’t want to hurt anyone. We don’t always get what we want.
Continue reading Blaze by Stephen King
Chilling. Disturbing. A new monster from Stephen King invaded my dreams when I read this month’s 2019 Hail to the King reading challenge title: The Outsider
Continue reading Weird Whodunnit: The Outsider by Stephen King
I picked several short stories collections for the 2019 Hail to the King Reading Challenge because I plan to write quite a few stories this year. I wanted to study stories by the master of the short story. I’ve read Night Shift several times over the years and I continue to revisiting this classic collection that has tapped into so many fears and inspired so many movies (of varying quality).
Continue reading Collecting Fears: Night Shift by Stephen King