My name will never go down next to Milton Berle’s in the annals of television, but I can honestly claim I was a sort of video pioneer.  No, I’m not talking about the two TV shows I hosted and produced in very recent years on a regular broadcast TV station in South Florida. I’m going back now to the seventies, and the telecast medium wasn’t a regular broadcast channel. It was cable. When New York City, where I lived at the time, got wired up for cable TV, part of the deal was that the two cable companies serving Manhattan...

Back before Google and Siri, when we had a question we needed—or simply wanted—answered, where did we go? What did we do? If we had an encyclopedia at home, we sometimes had to go no further. But not everyone owned a set of encyclopedias, and not every question was answerable by looking it up in that venerable collection of volumes.

In last week’s blogpost I told you I had written a play while still in elementary school. Let me tell you about it…and what followed thereafter. I don’t have any idea what on earth inspired me to write a play when I was in sixth grade. By then I had co-opted my mother’s typewriter and set it up on a bridge table in my room semi-permanently. The writing bug had bitten and bitten hard. Yet, at that age, as I said in this space last week, my ambition when I was asked, “What do you want to be when you...

I hated my sixth grade teacher. I loved school up till sixth grade. Mrs. Hewlett, the sixth grade tyrant, ruined it for me. The funny thing is, though, that today I can no longer remember what was so awful about her. The only thing I remember clearly now is the one good thing about her: She gave creative writing assignments. I loved writing even back then, and when the homework was creative writing—which came about just a few times during the school year—I couldn’t wait to work on my otherwise-dreaded homework. Even in my time—and “my time” was a long...

Writers write and readers read and authors gather—at least the authors and other writers of 4 Authors by Authors do.   I have always wondered what the difference is between a writer and an author.   We all write in some way or other, especially in today’s digital world, where texting and posting on Facebook and Twitter take up a part of our lives.  The world of publishing and writing has changed and continues to change, so how do those who write keep up with the changes and achieve what they want to achieve? Writing is a solitary activity, while reading is...

Are you a writer in search of the “next step” in your process, join us for a day of exploration dedicated in your success as a paid author. We at 4 Authors by Authors are a collaboration of authors, editors, publishers, graphic designers, printers and more that help you through all the joys and struggles from your idea to your published product and beyond. The event is Saturday October 3, 2015. 9am – 3:30pm. Hosted by Keiser University -2085 Vista Parkway, West Palm Beach, FL 33411 To register click the link – $75 includes light breakfast and lunch. Credit cards accepted....

While I don’t believe that every cloud has a silver lining, many do…including my foot and leg issues, of which I have several. As a result of them, I have walked with a cane for over three years, now. And that is what this week’s blog post touches on. As you may have gathered, I am not going to riff on writing, reading, or cooking this week. Instead I am going to riff on human nature. Seeing my cane seems to bring out the best in people. It’s nearly universal. Yesterday, as I was leaving the Post Office, a woman...

I often wonder what drives some writers to write nonfiction while others are impelled to write novels, short stories, and other fiction. My own output leans extremely heavily toward nonfiction. I have written a few novels for adults, and my output for kids includes fiction as well as nonfiction, but of the over-100 books I have had published (if you’re curious, please visit www.cynthiamacgregor.com), the balance is heavily weighted in favor of nonfiction. Maybe it’s because there are no movies playing in my mind. I am given to understand that most writers see in their minds the fictional scenes they...

My very early reading tastes were hardly exceptional, nor did they point in the particular direction of an authorial future. Once past simple picturebooks and easy readers—and I got past those at an early age, reading sixth grade readers early in third grade—I dived right into the Bobbsey Twins. I found their antics, adventures, and attitudes a bit too precious and cutesy, even though I wouldn’t have been able to express it in quite those terms at that time. But I was a voracious reader, and if my mother bought it for me, I read it. I had quite the...