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Mar 14

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How to murder your darlings…or cut what doesn’t serve your story

In my last post, I wrote about finding my real story while writing my memoir. I ended up with about 110,000 words in my finished manuscript. When an agent recently suggested I cut between 25,000 and 45,000 words I was stunned.

If you could hear my thoughts, it might have sounded something like this: No way! Really? Well, maybe I could cut SOME words but not that many! I need those words! There’s some really good writing in those words. 

I put the project away for awhile and worked on something else. I knew I was too close to it to see it clearly. As I worked on my other project, I gradually thought about sections of my memoir. I asked myself the questions I wrote about in my last post: Find your real story by asking these questions.

Then my mom passed away and everything was a blur for several weeks. During that time, I came across a contest for memoirs just a few days before the deadline (which happened to be the day of Mom’s funeral). I really wanted to enter the contest–mainly to use it as a deadline to make those dreaded cuts–and the contest had a page limit that fit what the agent had suggested. Read more

Mar 13

Check out this poetry class in a book

I’ve always loved poetry. But it wasn’t until I studied for my MFA that I really began to delve into the craft of writing it after one of my advisors gave me the assignment to annotate poetry. By directing me to study poetry, she knew I would understand the power of words in a new way.

While poetry wasn’t my main focus, that taste of learning about it at a deeper level spurred me to continue studying on my own. Besides writing and reading poetry, I’ve found several books in which poets discuss their approach to writing. Read more

Mar 12

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Find your real story by asking these questions

Like my life, my memoir has been a work in progress. The manuscript I have now barely resembles the one I started six years ago or what I thought was the finished product of two years ago. Writing it has been an evolution–of my emotions, my identity, and my story. Or, what I believed was my story.

My first draft was my mom’s story. My next draft or two was my father’s story. Finally, in my latest draft, I focused on the story of how my intuitive gifts developed throughout my childhood and into my present.

I’ve learned more about who I am and what my “real” story is in the last year then the 40-some years before.  And, I’m getting closer to a completed manuscript. I can tell because my story is generating more interest from readers and agents alike.

To focus my memoir and find my real story, I asked myself these questions: Read more

Mar 9

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Three stellar posts about writing

One of the things I love about writing this blog is how much I learn in the process.

Today, I’m highlighting several excellent posts from other bloggers who inspired me. Enjoy!

In this post, Joe Bunting writes about How to use motif to enhance your writing.

Chuck Sambuchino shares Five tips for writing a novel/memoir synopsis.

Tiffany Lawson Inman writes about character emotion in Too quick to tears: Emotional timing is everything.

Mar 8

Craft your writing mantra with these six tips

In Carly’s post “Boost your writing ambitions with a personal writing mantra,” she writes about the benefits of developing your own writing mantra. At the beginning of this year, when I set my writing goals for 2012, I decided to give this a try.

My main goal was to build up my publishing credits by submitting my work to literary journals and contests. I have plenty of work ready to submit but over the last few years, my life got ultra busy, and I just wasn’t taking that extra step to get my work out there. So I decided on the phrase, “Progress on Purpose,” because it reminded me that any progress I make is because I am consciously and purposely making it happen.

It was a nice idea but I found that I could never remember the mantra! Maybe my brain stuttered over the alliteration or maybe they were just words that I wouldn’t normally use (being the laid-back-country-girl that I am). Just this week, during one of author Bob Mayer’s online courses, I discovered a new writing mantra that I can easily remember and that has more meaning for me: “The more I do something, the easier it becomes.”

Read more

Mar 7

Try this revision tip: Look for sticky words and sentences

I’m always looking for ways to step back from my own writing so that I can see it more objectively through the eyes of a reader.

One way I do this is by editing for various elements, including what I like to call “sticky words.” I call them sticky because — for better or worse — they stick in my mind when I read them.

Without trying to be too analytical, I take a colored pen or pencil and circle any words or sentences that strike me or stop the flow. I might not know why they hit me a certain way, but I’m trying to follow my instincts.

The sticky words and sentences might indicate:

  1. Overwritten text or purply prose. In this case, I fix these sentences by rewriting or deleting them. Read more

Mar 6

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My favorite writing journals

I have a confession to make. I’m a journal-a-holic. It’s serious. It’s bad. I should be ashamed. I don’t always write longhand–often I use my laptop–but when I do write in a notebook or journal I want it to be special.

I’ve always liked bright, shiny things. They make me feel happy. So, naturally, I want a sparkly writing journal. And, because I have several journals going at once for various projects, I use my label machine to make a label for the front cover. (It satisfies my O.C.D).

Below are a few of my favorite journals:

The Spirit of Flight Journal. I have two of these — one for poetry and one for my fantasy book. I like the picture on the outside cover. It reminds me of the protagonist of my next book. Read more

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