Charles Wiegand

My Blogs

A picture of a person sitting in a chair reading a very thick book

The Perils of a Heavy Book: A Letter to Literary Anchors

Aug. 27, 2024

There’s a special kind of joy in picking up a book so hefty it could double as a doorstop. You know the one—the tome that makes you reconsider your choice of reading posture, the novel that has its own gravitational pull. Roy Alton Blount, Jr. summed it up best when he said, “A good heavy book holds you down. It’s an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic.” And, let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a good excuse to avoid getting up?

The images shows two examples of a pleonasm: A female actress. | kicked with my foot.

Explore Syntactic Pleonasms

Aug. 26, 2024

The title of today's blog introduces the term "syntactic pleonasm." But what exactly does that mean? Have you encountered this concept before? The word pleonasm comes from the Greek word pleon meaning "more" or "too much." Pleonasms have been used since ancient times.

A tabletop with several open pages with a green background

My Writing Journey, so far.

May 13, 2024

My writing journey is only beginning. My writing journey started in 2018, eight years after my wife of 28 years, Cheryl, unexpectedly died of a massive stroke. The intervening years were rough, to say the least. I spent a lot of time during the first year just sitting and contemplating in the Sonoran Desert. We had left the Seattle, Washington area in 2006 and relocated to the much warmer climes of Tucson, Arizona. During those times of introspection in the desert, I learned a lot about myself but I still suffered from her loss. Eventually, I decided I needed a complete, 100% change in my life.

Two hands, one holding a pen, scanning across a piece of paper on a desktop.

How to Self-Edit Your Book: A Comprehensive Guide

2023/12/16

These past few years have seen a huge increase in the number of books written and submitted to publishers, to the point where traditional publishers rarely pick up a book from a first-time writer. In fact, of the roughly 4 million books published per year between half-million and one million are published by traditional publishers. The rest are self-published. The number of self-published books is difficult to determine due to many having not used a trackable ISBN. As of 2022, Kindle had some 12.25 million ebooks listed.

A cartoon image of a writer sitting at a desk with a laptop, many books scattered around, the room, he is gazing out the window, thinking.

Backspacing

2023/11/20

The breeze was light, the sun dimming as it set with shades of orange, yellow, and red emanating from it in every direction. Joanna sat on the log, looked out at that beautiful sight again, for the umpteenth time, and was again, for the umpteenth time, in awe. She moved her hand an inch so her little finger lightly touched the side of Peter's hand. He let his little finger linger against hers, raised it ever so slightly, lowered it against hers, and repeated again, very slowly. She reciprocated. Their little fingers pressed more firmly against each other, then one slid over the other. Joanna continued watching the sun set, Peter watched her little finger as it gently caressed his, his mind flooded with thoughts of what might yet happen that night.

He moved his hand over to cover hers, letting it slide over her soft skin, and his fingers found their way between hers.

Contact

Email Charles At