I love to read horror, suspense, mysteries, and thrillers, all books that fall within the category of genre or popular fiction. Probably because I write them as well, it disturbs me that even people who love those types of books at times refer to them as “trash” or feel embarrassed about reading them. I’m not sure where this idea came from. Shirley Jackson wrote horror, and I read her short story The Lottery in honors English class in high school. Perhaps a book needs to be a certain age to be c...
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Author: admin
Sin, Sex and the Art of Persuasive Writing
My parents used to subscribe to a Catholic magazine with a column for young adults. When I was in high school, I read one of the columns that advised teenagers that the Bible clearly showed pre-marital sex was wrong - just look at the Sixth and Ninth commandments. I didn't remember anything in the Ten Commandments about pre-marital sex. I checked my parents' Bible (no Internet at that time, so I used the index - remember those?). The Sixth Commandment prohibits adultery. The ...
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The Military, Make Up, and Rereading Katniss (Favorite Books Post No. 1)
Recently I reread the Hunger Games trilogy. It was great fun, and the themes seemed particularly timely. (I'll do my best not to spoil any of the plot for those who haven't read the whole trilogy.)(1) Women in Combat: In the Hunger Games, each combatant (known as a tribute) competes to become the sole survivor. The arena for the games changes from year to year and even within each game. A combatant might face mountains, drought, fire, floods, or all of the above. Author Suzanne Collins...
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In Which I Realize I Don’t Need To Use The Health Insurance Marketplace (Post No. 6 of Adventures in Health Insurance)
In my continued journey to obtain the private health insurance now available due to The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, I've been checking the status of my application at https://www.healthcare.gov/. After two weeks, it's still "in progress." I called and easily reached a real person at 1-800-318-2596. Unfortunately, he said there was no way to provide potential plan information until the application finished processing. At the very least, I'd hoped for an overview of the differences between...
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In Which I Probably Applied For Health Insurance (Post No. 5 of Adventures in Health Insurance)
Since my first attempt, I've been periodically checking the Illinois insurance exchange to apply for health insurance coverage under Obamacare (The Affordable Care Act). I'm self-employed and have coverage now through an Illinois program that allowed me to purchase what is basically an extension of COBRA coverage. COBRA, for those not familiar with it, is a law allowing someone covered under a group employer health plan to extend that coverage for 18 months after leaving employmen...
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First Day Trying To Get On The Health Insurance Exchange (Post No. 4 of Adventures in Health Insurance)
This morning I tried to get on the Illinois Health Insurance Exchange. As I talked about in previous posts, I am self-employed as an author and attorney. I bought health insurance through an Illinois program that allows people to continue their COBRA coverage. I was turned down for individual health insurance, so I'm hoping that through the Exchange I'll have some more options for coverage.First, I needed to find the exchange. I googled "Illinois Get Covered" because I'd heard on the ...
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Virtual Camping Out in Line for the Health Insurance Exchange (Post No. 3 of Adventures in Health Insurance)
Being both a writer and a lawyer, I have hard time turning off my brain (or maybe that's why I became a writer and a lawyer). As I wrote in my two previous posts, I'm self-employed, so I have no group insurance option, and I was turned down for individual health insurance. So I did some preliminary research on the exchanges. Below is what I learned.Differences in types of plans: The main difference I found between the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum plans that will be offered is the est...
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Once I Became Self-Employed (Post 2 of Adventures in Health Insurance)
On a sunny day about about a month and a half before I planned to leave the large law firm where I worked, I played tennis for the first time in years. I felt great. I'd arranged for office space for my own practice, FindLaw had finished my firm website, and I'd set up my landline and bought a Blackberry. As noted in the last post, I'd been very healthy, didn't smoke, and was the appropriate height and weight (see photo -- that's me). But I'd had an exclusion a decad...
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From Then Until Now (Post No. 1 of Adventures in Health Insurance)
Many people in both my professions (writing and law) are self-employed and, as do I, face the on-going issue of how to pay for healthcare or obtain health insurance. With the changes occurring due to Obamacare or the Affordable Healthcare Act, whichever you like to call it, I thought it might be helpful to share my journey. I plan to check out Illinois' healthcare exchange on Tuesday, October 1, 2013 and will report on my progress.I first purchased an individual health insu...
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Anatomy of (Rewriting) a Thriller
A few people have asked me where The Awakening II is. Which makes me very happy, as I hope it means they read The Awakening. The answer makes me less happy: It's on my dining room table. That is, the first draft of it is. A second/third draft (I rewrite in pieces) is in the laptop. I should add that, actually, first I outline, which sometimes takes longer than the first draft. So I basically write from point to point in my outline, in sort of a mad dash to the end. &nbs...
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