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Understanding Rejections30 Sep 2021 • 11 min read • 3 0Before I begin, I am hereby wishing a very happy birthday to Shelf Life’s biggest fan, Joe. Several people have self-identified as “Shelf Life’s biggest fan,” which—don’t get me wrong!—is something I ... -
Specificity Trap28 Sep 2021 • 11 min read • 2 0“It’s a trap!” —Admiral Ackbar I’m like Bojack’s agent Marv in that I always want article titles to be as short as possible: Two words, max. Attention spans these days are very short, so we have to ke...
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Redirection Insurrection23 Sep 2021 • 11 min read • 3 1Good morning and welcome back to your regularly scheduled Shelf Life. Today we are fomenting an insurrection. We are planning a forceful uprising to take over the greatest authority in our lives—our b...
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Evernote Templates for Writers21 Sep 2021 • 9 min read • 2 1Now for something completely different: I hope you like administrivia. Mostly I try to compose Shelf Life articles on the nuts and bolts of writing (and doing it well), on the philosophies of writing,...
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Rush Product16 Sep 2021 • 11 min read • 4 3“A delayed game is eventually good. A bad game is bad forever.” —Shigeru Miyamoto Today’s Shelf Life is going to be a rush product. I am going to rush it out the door so I can do other stuff with the ...
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Parity Test14 Sep 2021 • 11 min read • 2 0Litmus is a substance made from lichens, I guess, which is most commonly infused into little strips of paper that you dip into a solution to check the general alkalinity. Litmus paper changes color de...
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Shelf Life Year One in Review09 Sep 2021 • 7 min read • 2 1I won’t bury the lede because I never bury the lede: I always let you know what you’ll be getting, right up front. I will continue to write Shelf Life for as long as I have topics of interest (to me, ...
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Bearer of Bad Muse07 Sep 2021 • 11 min read • 4 5I hope everyone has had a pleasant Labor Day and put summertime firmly behind them. Yes, I know it’s still meteorological summer but the end of Labor Day weekend is the end of cultural summer with suc...
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Idea to Manuscript, Part II02 Sep 2021 • 9 min read • 2 0I hope everyone is safe and drying out if you got pummeled by Hurricane Ida this week. We had storms roll through resulting in two very scared good girls (dogs) but otherwise all fine. I promised less...
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From Idea to Manuscript, Part I31 Aug 2021 • 8 min read • 3 0Today’s article is dedicated to occasional Shelf Life reader my Grandpa, whose birthday is tomorrow: Many happy returns to you, whether you are reading today or not. This article is more than usually ...
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