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Christmas Songs That Must be Banned for Offensive Content

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This really points out in a very humorous way how far out of hand political correctness could get.

Kathy's avatarPesky Truth

Since all the ruckus about “Baby Its Cold Outside”  please boycott the Christmas song “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” because it exploits endangered hippos.

While we are at it the same goes for:


“Santa Clause is Coming to Town” = Fake News
“Little Drummer Boy” = Gender Neutral
“White Christmas” = Racist and xenophobic
“O’ Come all Ye Faithful” = Exclusive
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” = Anti-Feminist
“All I Want for Christmas is You” = Stalking
“Blue Christmas” = implies male/boy righteousness
“The 12 Days of Christmas” = anti-Semitic (8 days)
“Santa Baby” = Reverse #metoo and exploits handouts
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” = Pro Jew and xenophobic
“Winter Wonderland” = dismisses wonderlands that don’t have winter
“Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” = exclusive against 4th of July and summer
“Let it Snow” = Not fair to those where it does not snow
“Do…

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Today’s Writing Tip

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I’ve probably said this before, but when I get stuck trying to visualize something, I go out to Pixabay or simply google whatever it is to find some pictures. It can really help me describe something when I’m having difficulty finding the right words. If you can’t see it in your mind when you describe it, the reader probably won’t, either.

Having a visual “story board” fits well with this. Grab some pictures of your characters as well as various scenes from your story. This is especially helpful if you tend to write primarily action and dialog. They’re important, of course, but imagery is important to make the story really come alive. Otherwise, it may wind up reading like a screen play, which really doesn’t establish a bond with reader like visual and emotional details.

Today’s Writing Tip

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There are multiple ways to maintain suspense. Withholding information is one technique, but sometimes you can actually build more suspense by telling the reader more instead of less. Blatant surprises your reader didn’t see coming can backfire when they find them irritating.

You can still keep the reader wondering what will happen by giving them more information. If the reader knows what’s going on behind the scenes and that the protagonist is in danger, they’ll be biting their nails, wanting to warn them, and wondering how the hero or heroine will handle it.

One way to think about this is to consider whether stories about the Titanic are any less suspenseful for knowing how it ends?

Today’s Writing Tip

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I was actually surprised when I discovered Amazon giveaways work rather well. You have to “buy” as many copies as you want to give away, but the good news is that it actually counts toward your ranking!  If you lower the price before doing it, you can do so for relatively little cost. Some places charge your horrible fees to give away your book, which is ridiculous for us indie authors! Plus, they usually insist on print copies while Amazon lets you do a giveaway with your e-books.

This is one way to get Amazon to help promote your book. They do the distribution, which simplifies the process. I have found it to be one of the most cost-effective promotions available, especially if you lower your book price before setting it up.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Authors all want to gather positive reviews, not only because they’re encouraging and feed your ego, but because they help readers decide if they’ll like it and then, hopefully, buy it. Being an active reviewer yourself is good karma and helps you network with others.

You can learn a lot about writing from other author’s work, both negative and positive. Once in a while something in a book may drive you to distraction. When this happens, think long and hard about whether you’ve ever been guilty of the same faux pas. When you read something that makes you hope you can write that well someday, spend some time analyzing what made it so outstanding so you can incorporate a similar technique in your work.

Today’s Writing Tip

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As an author I don’t know what I’d do without Wikipedia. It is the first place I go when I want to get a fundamental and easy to understand glimpse at something. If I need to do more research, I do, but more often than not I find everything I need for the purposes of a novel right there. If you haven’t used them, you should try them.

They are a nonprofit who relies on donations and hopes to keep it ad-free. If you use them, I encourage you to donate. They are a tremendous resource and it’s beyond refreshing to be free of ads distracting your attention.

Today’s Writing Tip

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It’s been said your first novel is often best seen as practice. Thus, you might want to set it aside and start your next one before trying to publish it. This, of course, is hard. It’s your baby and you think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Unless you were born with incredible talent, had plenty of training, a top notch mentor, and an outstanding editor, sorry, but it’s probably not. If nothing else, rest assured your next one will be better. Same with the one after that and the one after that.

However, any readers who pick up your first book will judge you by what they see there. If it’s not so hot, they won’t be back, regardless of how much your subsequent books may actually be the best thing since sliced bread.

If you can’t bear to throw that first novel in the trash, at least set it aside to rework later. If nothing else, you’ll be able to see it with fresh, more objective eyes. You’ll probably be glad you didn’t put it out there. If you still care enough about it, you can now rewrite/edit it with your newly honed skills.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Organizing notes and research can be a huge challenge. I have dozens, even hundreds of online bookmarks, which can be difficult to sort through to find what I’m looking for again. I’ve found that it helps to copy & paste excerpts into a document with the URL, which makes it easier to find the source again.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Writing is a skill & the only way to learn it is by doing. Like any sport, you can read and study all you want, but you won’t master it until you do it and practice, practice, practice. There are no short cuts. Some people are born with incredible talent and may need less, others may never get good enough no matter how hard they work, giving ghost writers a living.

More often than not, a talent is no more than having sufficient interest and desire to pursue a particular activity. This implies that if you want to write, you can learn to do so. Just be prepared to work hard.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Yesterday I went on a bit of a rant about book spamming. On a more positive side, engaging with your fans and other authors is your best bet for gaining sales. The personal touch makes all the difference. Selling yourself as a person is likely to sell your book(s) more effectively. Once you build a fan base and people know and love your stories, then you can start gathering some momentum, but this often starts one person at a time.