• Crafting Authentic Dialogue

    WHAT did you say? Crafting Authentic Dialogue

    - By 

    Written by: Eddie Cruz Because I’m currently doing penance for my last gigantic post, this one will need your input to see completion. Also, if you lack the time—or the energy, or the inclination—to read this through, take away this one thing, which will transform your dialogue: Read it aloud; I promise your ear will tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. Now. Review the First draft, then the Rewrite. Note what was changed, and figure out why. Pay attention to formatting conventions, too; they make more of a difference than you might think. First draft: “Good morning, Mr. Cruz,”…

  • October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

    Celebrations, Sweater Weather and Pretty Pink Ribbons: An Ode to October at Xulon Press

    - By 

    I love the month of October. Football season is in full swing, pumpkin coffee permeates the air at the coffee shop where I write and—mysteriously—crystal dishes of mini chocolate bars appear on every desk. In Florida, we don’t get the same spectacle of changing forestry as other regions, but the temp drops below ninety, teasing you with the promise of sweater-weather and the advent of the holiday season. I like to think of October as the Faberge egg of the calendar: gorgeous and glittering on the outside, just waiting to be opened so it can spill the sparkling jewels of…

  • Moving Foreword, Xulon Press Ask the Editor

    Ask the Editor: Moving Foreword

    - By 

    I confess: I started to do a bit of research on the history of the Foreword and had to force myself to stop almost immediately when I began deeper investigation of philology and the Dutch, or possibly German, roots of the word itself. (It happens like that for me sometimes. Research is addicting.) A previous post, Front Matters, explained the traditional intentions of some of the bits of, yes, front matter, the introductory sections that precede the beginning of your story proper. This being Academia month, we thought we’d focus on an element of FM (that’s industry lingo for front…

  • Love to Teach, Teach to Love

    Love to Teach, Teach to Love

    - By 

    Written by: Eddie Cruz Teaching—or perhaps more broadly, education—is something that’s very close to my heart, and it takes an extraordinarily special person to do it well. (Do it well is, of course, the pertinent bit there.) So this post is, I suppose, a sort of very personal case study: Following a massive failure by our county’s educational system, my wife, Emily, took charge of educating our youngest son. For five years she did this, and it was thrilling to watch her initial, and justifiable, apprehension and uncertainty become confident proficiency. Julian, now 11, is hard-of-hearing, and has shunted hydrocephalus,…