MORGAN’ S CORNER
MORGAN ST. JAMES, EDITOR
This is the page where I always comment on any new features and articles that are particularly timely or informative. I also use the space to update readers on what might be going on in my professional or personal life.
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o, that said, beginning with this issue there is a change in the Life Stories feature which was open to all writers for submission. Well, friends, it has become Life Stories by Keith Bettinger on Page 7, so let’ s extend a big welcome to him as a regular columnist. Keith has won awards for so many of his short stories and most of them touch on some aspect of memories, what makes us who we are, humor or pathos, that I asked him if he would consider sharing one in every issue. The good news is he said“ yes” and the story this month is Why I Became a Cop. Trust me. The story is not what you think it will be.
Also, I have resurrected a feature that author Mike Dennis and I used to write called You Don’ t Say, which you will find on Page 10— a fun look at the foibles in our language. In this issue we talk about Oxymorons. Always good for a couple of laughs.
As always, Fred Rayworth offers us some sage writing advice about Dialogue Saturation, beginning on Page 3. Dialogue is great for moving a plot along without an overload of narrative, but can you overload on dialogue? See what he has to say.
As you can see, things are happening at Writers Tricks of the Trade, including a slightly different format on some of the pages. Invoking Will Roger’ s wise words,“ Even if you are on the right track, you’ ll get run over if you don’ t keep moving.” That’ s what we are doing— moving right along to bring you writing advice, interesting features industry news and a book review by Martha Cheves in every issue. Martha often takes the approach of reviewing books that have been out for a while, not just the latest releases. It is so easy to overlook a terrific read while searching for the“ latest greatest.”
Moving right along, what’ s going on in the life of Morgan St. James? For starters you may or may not know this online magazine is produced in Las Vegas. Like the title says, summertime already? You bet, and along with summer comes our sizzling heat, sometimes hot enough to fry the proverbial egg on the sidewalk. This year we have also had more wind than normal, so sometimes it feels like walking into a convection oven. But we Las Vegas natives have it nailed. We go from our airconditioned homes to our air-conditioned cars to our air-conditioned destination. And, outside of summer we enjoy a won-
WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE
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SUMMER 2018