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Jul 3

Wisdom from singer Boz Scaggs about developing your own style

Passion for music led singer, songwriter, and guitarist Boz Scaggs to a successful career. Passion led him to find his own unique style. And you can do the same as a writer.

Scaggs picked up a guitar when he was 12 years old and immersed himself in music in the 1950s, listening to every style he could find on the radio. Despite that, he said in an interview recently in Luxury Las Vegas magazine, that he doesn’t think he’s a particularly gifted musician compared to vocalists like Sam Cooke, Ella Fitzgerald, and Michael McDonald. While he can emulate the nuances of Sam Cooke and other singers, Scaggs said Cooke has a texture to his voice that is uniquely his. Read more

Jul 2

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Don’t write what you know, write what sets you free

Common advice given to new writers is to write about what you know. This can be good advice. For example, if you want to write legal thrillers, then having a background in law will save you research time and lend a sense of reality to your story.

Having been a paralegal for seven years, I have a background in law, but if I had to write a story with a legal theme, I’d end up as crazy as Jack in “The Shining.” So maybe better advice to a new (or seasoned) writer is to write about what interests you.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What are you passionate about?
  • What makes you come alive?
  • What new things would you like to learn?
  • If you had all the money in the world, what would you do?

Exercise: Set a timer for 10 minutes and answer the questions above.

In my next post, I’ll share a technique I use to help discover what interests me.

Jun 29

See how other writers are following Ray Bradbury’s advice to read each day

Because reading is so important to learning the craft of writing, I wrote recently about the late Ray Bradbury’s advice to read a short story, a poem, and an essay each night.

So when I saw this post from Michael Haynes (@mohio73), who has also been influenced by Bradbury’s advice, I had to pass it on. Read more

Jun 28

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Banish your fear of writing with this exercise

“I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. . . . Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation.”— Stephen King

I’m starting a new book with the goal of finishing my first draft in 90 days. I started writing the book last year but was sidetracked with other writing and editing projects. I was also sidetracked by fear:

  • The fear of getting it wrong;
  • The fear of not being good enough;
  • The fear of getting halfway through the story and not knowing how to end it;
  • The fear of writing myself into a corner;
  • And about 100 other fears.

As Stephen King suggests, I’m learning how to let go of my fear to become a better writer. Read more

Jun 27

Want to write a bestseller? Reveal your protagonist’s psyche

The trick to publishing a best selling novel just might depend on how deeply you build your protagonist’s emotional intensity.

In an interview in The Irish Echo online, best-selling author Michael Connelly explained why his first two novel writing attempts didn’t work. While shadowing a homicide detective on his job as newspaper reporter in Florida, Connelly noticed the detective – intent on his investigation – would place the earpiece of his eyeglasses in his mouth as he examined the crime scene. Later, when the detective took off his glasses, Connelly noticed that the detective had bitten a groove into the earpiece.

That telling detail revealed the depth of the detective’s internal emotion and intensity for his job. Read more

Jun 26

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Practice your storytelling technique through the eyes of a child

When meeting a new person, sometimes I mention that I used to be shy but now I can’t shut up. Though I say this jokingly, it’s true. When I quit my job and went to work for myself years ago, I had to break out of my shyness in order to survive and eventually thrive out there in the big, bad world.

I modeled people who seemed to be naturally outgoing. It took years of practice to overcome my shyness and even now, after being in my own little writing world for too long, it’s an easy mode to slip back into.

On a recent trip, I was forced to be around people and so practiced being my outgoing, extrovert self again. One way I did this was through storytelling. Read more

Jun 25

5 tips to get back into your writing groove

Do you ever feel rusty?

Maybe you’ve had to take a break from writing due to a health issue, a day job that is sucking the life out of you, or to round up a rogue band of unicorns that’s been terrorizing your neighborhood.

For whatever reason, the ideas aren’t flowing, the words aren’t coming, and you need to regroup. I’ve been there. Here’s how I get back into my writing groove and how you can too.

Revisit my routine. For the most part, I think humans thrive on routines. If I have a set writing schedule, my brain knows it needs to get into writer mode. If I’m off track, I know it will help to get back into my routine. Read more

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