We all know opposites attract—it seems to be a fundamental law of physics. It is as if the one end of the magnetic spectrum supplies a needed missing element for the other, something they can’t resist.

In literature, polarity gives your theme dimension. Remember, the theme is the backbone of your story, the thread that runs though it and connects the disparate parts. Themes are often polarized: One obvious polarity in literature is good vs. evil. Another is love vs. hate.

The circle of life explores birth, growth, degeneration, and death. Young vs. old is a common polarity—many times we find opportunities for conflict within the family. Both sides of this age-old conflict tend to be arrogant and sure of their position in each skirmish.

Wealth vs. poverty offers the opportunity to delve into social issues and inequities.

But looking beyond the obvious are the subtle polarities we…

Donald Trump, it would appear, has decided to disavow the very Constitution that he swore to uphold a short 17 months ago.  He has decided to take the law into his own hands and do what he wants to do, deporting immigrants without either trial or appearance before a judge.  This is a direct violation of the Fifth Amendment that states, in part, “No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”  Is Donald Trump above the law?  He obviously thinks he is.

“I don’t want judges. I want border security. I don’t want to try people. I don’t want people coming in. Do you know, if a person comes in and puts one foot on our ground, it’s essentially, ‘Welcome to America, welcome to our country’? You never get them out, because they take their name, they bring the name down…

by AR Huelsenbeck

I read a lot of blogs. I follow nearly 300, and I check out new blogs all the time. If you follow me or you’ve left a comment on ARHtistic License or you’ve tweeted something that interested me, I’ve probably taken a look at your blog.

There are thousands of great blogs out there. And, sadly, there are thousands of terrible blogs out there.

How do you know if your blog is one of the bad ones? Here are some signs.

by Andrea Lundgren

I’ve been thinking about how we humans clean things up. Sometimes, we do it begrudgingly, sometimes compulsively. How we feel (and how close we are to a deadline) usually determines whether our efforts are frantic or methodical. When rushed or pressured, we can get rid of stuff we really should’ve kept, and I think this applies to editing, too.

Trump signed an executive order earlier this week that did … nothing.  Nonetheless, that didn’t stop him from preening and patting himself on the back.  While thousands of children remain terrified and separated from their parents, held in old warehouses, tent cities, and wherever the U.S. government can find room to stow them.

Administration officials admit that there is no immediate plan to reunite these children with their families.  Melania Trump visits them wearing a jacket that says, “I don’t care, do U?”  Fox television host Brian Kilmeade says we should not be concerned because “These aren’t our kids … it’s not like he is doing this to the people of Idaho or, uh, or, uh, Texas. These are people from another country.” Members of Congress, congressional candidates, and the press have been denied entry to tour the facilities.  A senator was escorted from the premises by police…

Whoa, just look at that flowchart! That’s way too many steps!

Why, yes. Yes, it very likely is.

Few self-published authors can afford all of these editorial production steps. Few would want to even if they could.

But the truth is that this does mirror the traditional editorial and revision process.

If a publishing company that’s banking its profits on producing quality books goes through all of these steps, a self-publisher with a personal stake in their product should make a pretty good effort to replicate that process.

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The super-duper secret behind this flowchart

Down by where I work a Toys r Us is in the process of shutting down. Big signs in the front windows say that there’s only seven more days left. Until recently, I had only been inside one time. This was back shortly after Star Wars: Episode I came out in 1999 and it had every Star Wars book, toy, and collectible imaginable filled the shelves. Every other commercial back then seemed to remind us all that we were Toys r Us kids, and just about every child’s favorite animal from the earliest age was a giraffe.

Walking through the store almost twenty years later, it’s shelves bare and no employee seeming to give a damn about their jobs as the end drew near, I almost choked up. It had never been a big part of my life; I remember my brother and I every time we passed by the…