Sometimes we all need to read really GREAT writing.

Yesterday I was reading an article and then I idly clicked on this article and was in writer’s heaven! The writer takes the death of a lonely hoarder and writes a masterpiece of humanity and information. Bloggers, this man is an award-winning writer, and his work will take your breath away. Since its source doesn’t have the features I need, I can’t reblog it, so I will give you the beginning, then you can follow the link to the full article.

The Lonely Death of George Bell

Each year around 50,000 people die in New York, some alone and unseen. Yet death even in such forlorn form can cause a surprising amount of activity. Sometimes, along the way, a life’s secrets are revealed.

They found him in the living room, crumpled up on the mottled carpet. The police did. Sniffing a fetid odor, a neighbor had called 911. The apartment was in north-central Queens, in an unassertive building on 79th Street in Jackson Heights.

The apartment belonged to a George Bell. He lived alone. Thus the presumption was that the corpse also belonged to George Bell. It was a plausible supposition, but it remained just that, for the puffy body on the floor was decomposed and unrecognizable. Clearly the man had not died on July 12, the Saturday last year when he was discovered, nor the day before nor the day before that. He had lain there for a while, nothing to announce his departure to the world, while the hyperkinetic city around him hurried on with its business.

Neighbors had last seen him six days earlier, a Sunday. On Thursday, there was a break in his routine. The car he always kept out front and moved from one side of the street to the other to obey parking rules sat on the wrong side. A ticket was wedged beneath the wiper. The woman next door called Mr. Bell. His phone rang and rang.

Then the smell of death and the police and the sobering reason that George Bell did not move his car.

Each year around 50,000 people die in New York, and each year the mortality rate seems to graze a new low, with people living healthier and longer. A great majority of the deceased have relatives and friends who soon learn of their passing and tearfully assemble at their funeral. A reverent death notice appears. Sympathy cards accumulate. When the celebrated die or there is some heart-rending killing of the innocent, the entire city might weep.

A much tinier number die alone in unwatched struggles. No one collects their bodies. No one mourns the conclusion of a life. They are just a name added to the death tables. In the year 2014, George Bell, age 72, was among those names.

George Bell — a simple name, two syllables, the minimum. There were no obvious answers as to who he was or what shape his life had taken. What worries weighed on him. Whom he loved and who loved him.

(click link to read the whole article) The Lonely Death of George Bell

Accepting the “Creative” challenge…

RCGale (http://rcgale.com/) has put out a challenge asking people to share what gives them the courage to create, our doubts, and how we find our first word. Challenge accepted, but based on what I sometimes read on the internet and blogosphere I suspect that my response will not be something with which very many can relate, but no matter, you asked. The real challenge will be to write about myself since I prefer writing about ideas, but here goes.

Am I a truly a Creative? I wonder… I write because I am a writer, a “teacher,” a sharer of insights, ideas and information – I am a Wordsmith. It takes no courage for me to write in the same way it takes no courage for a bird to fly – it is the outpouring of who I am, with no tinge of arrogance or indifference. So if I do not wrestle in this way, do I even qualify?

It is gratifying when others appreciate my offerings, but lacking a huge following causes no sense of doubt, fear or angst because being just another voice in a big world is a fact of life, and I have done my best. I don’t write to be validated. I am not seeking to impress or offend, receive accolades or awards and, since I am not paid to write, I cannot be fired – I am free! Agree or disagree, follow or ignore, I continue sharing what cries at the door of my soul to be let out, be it practical, thought-provoking, humorous or profound.

It also helps that I am not twenty-something, thirty-something or even forty-something  — maturity makes a difference. I have…

• read enough – and broadly enough,
• observed and learned enough,
• lived long enough in enough places,
• and (most importantly) walked long enough with my Maker and Savior

that I have developed the perspective and confidence to simply Be.

Sometimes the impetus is that I see, read, hear or learn something, but it is incomplete, not all there, or not well expressed, and then I feel impelled to write about it, and if nothing strikes me, I don’t. My first words come about because they best express the idea. Yes, taking the time to find the right words and craft them into a form that is succinct and well-written, even arranging them just so…can take hours or even longer. It is work, but then again how can one truly call something work when it is so satisfying?

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This is the kind of information all bloggers need to know (me, too!). I recommend following that blog, too.

WordPress.com News

As soon as a blogger publishes their first post, their first question is: Where’s all my traffic? Everyone assumes they’re the only one seeking attention, when in truth nearly everyone is. It takes time to build an audience and no one gets much traffic without putting in the effort.

Here at WordPress.com we want you to get more traffic, and we build features and services to help. It’s been awhile since we’ve told you about them, so here are our top recommendations:

1. Update your About Page. One of the first things visitors to your site will want to know is something about who you are. If you don’t update your About page to include a short bio, and they find a generic page instead,  they’ll be disappointed. But if you briefly explain (two paragraphs is plenty) what the blog is about, and who you are, they’ll be more likely…

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More Rules For Writers

I’m sure many have seen this before, but given what I read out on the internet, it bears repeating. In addition, I can also use the reminders myself.

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1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague.  (They’re old hat)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don’t use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary.  Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Kill all exclamation points!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
27. Eliminate quotations.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations.  Tell me what you know.”
28. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

And finally…

34.  Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.