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Posts from the ‘Writing Life’ Category

Apr 10

Write a six-word story about why you belong at the library

This week is National Library Week, and it reminds me of how my addiction to libraries began. I struggled with reading until I got into the second grade. But once I could really read, I fell in love with books – and libraries.

When we were kids, my friend Tracy and I would ride our bikes to the library during the summer. We’d take brown paper grocery bags and stash them in the shrubs. Then we’d go in and check out a huge stack of books, put them in our bags, fold the top over our handlebars, and ride home. We’d pour ourselves a glass of fruit punch, line up our books in the order we wanted to read them, and launch ourselves into other worlds. Read more

Apr 9

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Writerly habits of perseverance

Writer’s write. We know this. But sometimes life happens. Lately, my life has been one big interruption. In February, my mom passed away, two days before her funeral our bathroom flooded, and since then we’ve been living in the midst of a remodel.

We live in a hundred-year-old house, so one thing uncovers another and it never seems to end. A person could get bleak. A person could give up writing for the interim—especially considering that I have two (small) useable spaces in the house fairly clear of sheetrock dust, contractor tools, and supplies. When you work from home and have nowhere else to escape to, it can be a problem. Read more

Apr 6

Boost your writing progress with advice from three bloggers

Backstory can get a bad rap, as Janice Hardy says on her blog, The Other Side of the  Story. Backstory is a critical element of your story, you just have to know how to use it. Read her post, “Baby Got Backstory: Dealing with Backstory in Your Novel,” to get the scoop.

Do you want to write a page turner? Then make your writing exciting at the sentence level. KidLit.com blogger and agent Mary Kole shows you how.

I’m always in awe of anyone who can work full-time, raise children, have non-writing interests, AND complete a manuscript. Everyone has their own way of fitting writing in their life. In, How to Write a Book When You’re Really, Really Busy, Writer’s Digest editor Chuck Sambuchino tells how he wrote his most recent novel while, among other things, working full-time, going to school at UCLA, and training for a 50-kilometer footrace.

Apr 2

Ray Bradbury 1975
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Improve your writing craft with this assignment from author Ray Bradbury

Renowned author Ray Bradbury has an assignment for writers who want to improve their craft.

Read one short story, one poem, and one essay every night for 1,000 nights.

At the end of 1,000 nights, your head will be full of ideas and metaphors along with your own experiences and observations of the people in your life. His aim is for us to make new metaphors out of all of these ideas and images that are bouncing around in our heads. In other words, stuff your head with literature. Read more

Mar 30

Hone your craft with these three writing posts

Writers are some of the most avid learners I know. We want to know about everything. That’s why I love reading other writers’ posts. This week, these three posts taught me something new. Enjoy!

Finding Your Natural Writing Voice by Charlotte Rains Dixon. Some great ideas on finding the “voice” of your story.

Keep ’em Hooked by Laura Griffin. Are you making these mistakes in your chapter endings? If so, try these fixes.

Realistic Expectations for Writing a Memoir by Bill Roorbach, with Kristen Keckler. My favorite part of this short article is the last paragraph on polishing your work.

Mar 29

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How writing changes us so we can change others

I have a theory that writing poems, or any form of literature, makes the world a safer, kinder, more peaceful place, not just for the meaning expressed in the sentences, but the effect the act of writing has on the writer and in turn readers.

Writing is a great equalizer — a way of connecting with people and by extension, the world. Because no matter where they live, people share the same feelings of loss and joy in the midst of tragic and hopeful circumstances.

Writing celebrates universal moments of surprise, love, and humor. It helps put perspective on our troubles. Transforms. Many people have been silenced until someone else’s words or images shined a light on their suffering, giving a voice to the voiceless.

Remember for a moment the heartbreak and joy we feel as we write — that connection with our characters and our humanity. Now imagine that when we do this for ourselves, we do it for the reader.

How has writing changed you?

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

Mar 28

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One way to exercise your writer’s mind and have fun

In Ayn Rand’s The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers, she recommends exercising our writer minds long before we actually put words to paper. Then when we do begin to write, the ideas and words flow. I like her advice and think of it in terms of being playful and having fun.

As I read, sometimes a sentence or phrase stops me in my tracks. When this happens, I like to examine the sentence, learn from it or just play around with it.

This happened to me recently when I read this line: “Men do not often boil a woman’s rabbit.” I was reading best-selling author Bob Mayer’s description of different archetypes of men and women. At first, this sentence stopped me because I didn’t understand it. I had to take a few minutes to wrap my brain around it. Finally, I got the meaning—we often see women “boiling a man’s rabbit,” but not vice versa. Read more

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