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Apr 16

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Spark story ideas by asking these five questions

One of my writing friends and I were kicking around story ideas this week so we could send out pitches for freelance assignments. I analyzed how we formulated our ideas and thought I’d share these questions in case it helps spark ideas of your own.

These questions are also good for generating ideas for other writing projects, including memoirs, novels, and short stories.

What is misunderstood? Sometimes, something that you think is wrong, or misunderstood may lead you to write about it to right the wrong, shed light on a problem, or improve a process. Read more

Apr 13

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Three poetry sites to inspire your muse

In honor of National Poetry Month, here are three poetry websites I subscribe to and why:

Academy of American Poets at www.Poets.org.  I lead a busy life, so I especially love receiving the poem of the day in my email. I may not have time to peruse the entire site each day, but I do have time to open an email and read the poem of the day. I feel as if I’m enriching my life a poem at at time. Read more

Apr 12

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Take the sting out of rejection with the Rejection Generator

Some creative minds at Stoneslide Media have built an invention to liberate writers from the pain of being rejected. Inspired by psychological research showing that after people experience pain they’re less afraid of it in the future, the Rejection Generator helps writers be pre-rejected.

You simply choose a category of rejection, fill out your e-mail address, and you will immediately receive a rejection note. Stoneslide Media reports that each letter is ingeniously painful and discouraging. Read more

Apr 11

A poem about a poem becoming a poem

Considering my love of all things related to writing, it makes sense that I like poems about writing.  A friend recently sent me the poem “Workshop” by Billy Collins–a poem about a poem becoming a poem.

You’ll have to read the poem to understand what I mean.

Collins’s poem sparked my own idea for a poem. Double bonus.

Exercise: Pick a favorite poem about writing and use it to inspire your own.

Happy National Poetry Month!

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.

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