Articles written by Cliff Ball

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About me - Cliff Ball

I'm 35 years old. I'm currently trying to finish college with a BA in English. I've had some poetry published online at the poetry.com website and I had a short story in high school published in a magazine. Recently published my second novel, "Don't Mess

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Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Life lessons: 10 of 360
Growing up in a racist family, John Miller only knew about blacks from the pictures on television and what his parents told him. In his entire sixteen years of life, he had only seen one black person in downtown Butte, Montana; and that was when he was eight.One morning, John woke up and found himself in a strange bed and in ... More..
Creative Writing > Poetry Poetry: Good-bye, my love: 8 of 69
The Girl Who Got AwayYou ask me how I would remember youI replied I would remember youin both my heart and my brainIn my brain, your physical beauty resides therethough you may get old and graywhat you are now will always staylike a digital photographclear and vivid it will remainYour inner beauty resides in my heartwhere the... More..
Sports & Recreation > NASCAR Christmas 2007: Hottest NASCAR gift ideas: 1 of 5
AS a NASCAR fan, I think the current hottest gift idea would center around Dale Earnhardt Jr, especially if your giving a gift to that person who's favorite driver is Jr. Sine he moved from the #8 Budweiser DEI Chevy to the #88 Amp Energy Drink/National Guard Hendrick Chevy, the merchandise is hard to find, except for maybe N... More..
Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Science fiction: 83 of 291
The Day the Lights Went OutI woke up. I realized that my digital clock-radio hadn't gone off, and it must be around 9 or 10 in the morning. I glanced over at the clock, but it seemed to be dead, so I tried the radio, but nothing came through. I got up, looked for my pre-digital watch, and the time said that it was 10:30. Sinc... More..
Arts & Humanities > Marketing & Selling Writing Should you sign with a legitimate book publisher or self-publish?: 8 of 22
I think there are some benefits to both. If you aren't patient enough to wait six months or more to hear from a publisher about giving them your novel or if they decided to reject your story because it isn't good enough, then re-write it, re-submit it, then wait for an editor to tell you what you need to fix in your novel, th... More..
Arts & Humanities > American Literature Literary analysis: Romanticism in The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, by Washington Irving: 1 of 1
written for college American Romantic Period classThis essay is about the selection of five characteristics of American Romanticism present in Washington Irving's The Sketch Book. I will try to show how man and nature are the chief subjects in "Rip Van Winkle," "Westminster Abbey" shows Irving's interest in the medieval past,... More..
Creative Writing > Poetry Poetry: Confused by love: 217 of 311
Like a Summer DayIn she walked on a clear, summer dayinto my life like a cool summer breezeAs I slowly got to know hermy feelings for her grew, like ahurricane in the ocean blueYet part of me knowsthat no matter what I feelshe would never feel the same for meYet here I try, try as I mightto remain friends with a womanwhom I a... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Personal Morals & Values Honesty is the best policy: 94 of 133
I do think honesty is the best policy. I'm a Christian, raised by Christian parents who saw some of their relatives always lying about something, then getting into deeper troubles because of it. I remember as a child that if I tried to lie, there is something about my body language or facial expressions that showed that I was... More..
Creative Writing > Novel Excerpts Novel excerpts: Science fiction: 127 of 165
Opening scene to next novel(re-posted from my blog)This is the opening scene to my next novel The jist of my novel is about advanced humans leaving Earth around the time of Noah's Flood and coming back a thousand years later, leaving, then coming back a few thousand years more, because they need help fighting aliens. Some of ... More..
Arts & Humanities > Writing (Other) How to write an obituary: 18 of 23
I work in a public library as an assistant and I'm the one who looks up obituaries for people who e-mail the library asking for an obituary. I enjoy researching stuff, even obituaries. They ask us to find every little detail from some relative from the last 5 years or even 100 years ago, unfortunately, at least with the newsp... More..