Writing Archives - Ocean Palmer

Midwest Book Review: “Portable Dad”

June 5, 2015 by Ocean Palmer Leave a Comment

June 5, 2015 MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW by Andy Jordan, Andy’s Bookshelf Reviewer’s Bookwatch: June 2015 James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief Midwest Book Review “Portable Dad” by Ocean Palmer 9780976548546 $12.95 www.amazon.com <http://www.amazon.com> “Portable Dad: Stuff to Know Without the Lecture” is a compilation of self-help advice from seminar teacher Ocean Palmer. Portable Dad isn’t specifically a […]

LEARN MORE

How to Name a Story

June 2, 2015 by Ocean Palmer Leave a Comment

The reader hook starts with a title, so here are five tips for how to write a good one. 1. Know your audience of one. Your ‘audience of one’ is the precise target your work is written for. You never want to write horizontally, which means hoping your piece will appeal to everyone. It very […]

LEARN MORE

A New Year’s Resolution for All: Resolve to Stop Using These Words!

December 30, 2013 by Ocean Palmer Leave a Comment

Earlier this month Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, from its home base midway between the bright lights of New York City and the state capitol of Albany in scenic Poughkeepsie, surveyed nearly 1,200 adults to find out which word irritates them most. The winner . . . by a landslide . . . is […]

LEARN MORE

7 Tips for Writing A (Good) Short Film

September 3, 2013 by Ocean Palmer Leave a Comment

One of the wonderful joys of an affordable digital camera is the opportunity it brings for anyone with ambition and an idea to film his or her own movie short. A friend of mine teaches a cinematography class and his student currently face their final exam, the culmination of the program curriculum: combining everything they […]

LEARN MORE

A Peek Behind “The Raven of St. James’s Park” Movie Deal

January 21, 2013 by Ocean Palmer 1 Comment

I optioned a movie recently and for that you can blame Bulova, the old watch maker. On July 1, 1941 they paid $9 to run the first television commercial broadcast in the United States. Because of that I love movies. A New York station, WNBT, ran the ad before a baseball game between the Brooklyn […]

LEARN MORE

“We Got to Play Baseball” Now in eBook Format

September 28, 2012 by Ocean Palmer Leave a Comment

978-1-61897-983-4sample As baseball’s regular season winds down, “We Got to Play Baseball” (60 Stories from Men Who Played the Game) is now available in eBook format. To download a sample, including chapter one, click the hot link to the left (978-xxx). To order, simply click either link on the final sample page. Included in the […]

LEARN MORE

Ocean Palmer’s 20 Keys to Better Writing

August 8, 2012 by Ocean Palmer Leave a Comment

About every three weeks I am contacted by an aspiring writer searching for advice in advance of writing a story or book. Since it is easy to write but hard to write well, here are 20 things I suggest they consider: Have a voice. Do not copy someone else’s style. Find your voice; and once […]

LEARN MORE

New book: “We Got to Play Baseball”

September 4, 2011 by Ocean Palmer 4 Comments

I was very excited this week to finish and submit the manuscript for a new book, We Got to Play Baseball, co-authored with former Major League All-Star Gregg Olson. Gregg and I have been friends for a long time but this project, two years in the making, brought us even closer. Gregg was the 1989 […]

LEARN MORE

2011 Writing Projects

January 6, 2011 by Ocean Palmer Leave a Comment

As the new year unfolds, I’m working on three writing projects. Two are books, the other a motion picture adaptation of a popular novel I wrote four years ago. Each is exciting for different reasons. The projects are: Because People Matter, a business book I’m writing for managing partner Steve Mayer about the inspiring rise […]

LEARN MORE

New Year’s Resolve: 14 Words to Forget

January 3, 2011 by Ocean Palmer Leave a Comment

Congratulations, Lake Superior State University! The Lakers do not play football and their Division I hockey team is 6-10-4 (but has sent a dozen past players to the NHL). Their basketball team is 8-3 overall but 2-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference South Division. That league ain’t big. Just sayin.’ The tiny school […]

LEARN MORE