Barbara V Evers

I saw a meme yesterday that struck a nerve with me. It related reading to empathy development. Research does exist to support the idea that reading offers many health benefits. Empathy and relationship-building happen to be some of them. Not only does reading help develop empathy, but writers need empathy in order to write relatable stories.  What is empathy? I spend a lot of time in my training workshops talking about empathy. Why? Because it's a crucial skill in effective communication. It, also, plays a huge part in exercising emotional intelligence (EI). Now don't scurry away at those terms, I'm going to talk about books, authors, and readers, not effective communication or emotional intelligence (although, they are important skills). Most people define empathy as walking in another person's shoes or feeling the person's pain. Although these definitions are correct, they don't explore the full extent of empathy. Empathy is recognizing what another person is

I can't believe it's been twenty-one days since my last post! I guess I should start looking into getting more posts lined up in advance, but I prefer to write the post on the day it's due or the day before, so it's relevant to what's happening in my world. That means if something goes awry, the posts aren't happening. And, yes, something did go awry over the last three weeks. I'm not going to get into the details, but I'm thankful for those who knew of the circumstances and offered up prayers and kind words and assistance. We often hear that we live in a world full of people bent on self-centeredness. I can vouch that those who care and help in times of need still exist, and my family benefitted greatly from them. Which got me to thinking Do the characters I write about help when others are in need? If they don't, then they won't be very likeable, will they?  Conflict in the story One of the key elements to creating conflict in a story is to put

It's ten days until Christmas and so many thoughts are whirling around in my head. Some are expected. Others? Well, you tell me. Got to ship any remaining gifts today because it's the last day of regular ground shipping. Or maybe, I'll find something on Amazon and send it gift wrapped???? Might be easier. Oh, but there is the one gift I can't do that way. UPS, here I come. As for Amazon, what gives. Every year you mess up the wish lists! Our family uses the lists because it's easy, as long as everything goes according to plan. But when it doesn't, you get duplicates or random items that were never on your list to begin with. Maybe I won't use the lists next year. Yeah, I said that last year. Then there's the lovely engagement ornament I ordered through Etsy to send to my newly engaged daughter. She received it last night, and I didn't get the reaction from her I expected. Why? It. Was. Not. An. Engagement. Ornament! Nope, they sent one of those "