Nov 28
As winter sets in for many of us, it’s more important than ever to have a plan in place for power outages.
One day last winter, I left my day job to dive into my writing at home. I hoped to interview someone for a project with a looming deadline. As I drove into my neighborhood, I realized the power was out. The sun was beginning to set, so I quickly collected several flashlights and loaded them with fresh batteries. Read more
Sometimes, I take the title of “writer” too seriously. I worry and fret about my stories and characters. I stress out that every choice I make is the wrong one. When I get in this mode, I forget the joy of writing. I forget why I write in the first place. Writing, I’ve discovered, is not for the faint of heart. This is why I’m so excited as I read author Alan Watt’s book, The 90-Day Novel: Unlock the story within.
Instead of promoting a stiff set of rules for finishing your first draft in 90 days, Watt encourages writers to spend a good amount of time loosely playing on the page. He has a list of prompts or questions to write about from the protagonist’s and/or antagonist’s point of view. He suggests setting a timer for five minutes per prompt and just writing down what comes, not worrying about whether or not you’re going to use it. Read more
While I aim to live each day with a spirit of thanksgiving, I love having a holiday to reflect on gratitude.
Expressions of gratitude reinforce the good I see in my life and remind me that the intangible gift of creative passion and the chance to make a difference with words are more important than any material object money can buy.
This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for everyone who has inspired and fueled my writing passion: Parents who supported my aspirations from the very beginning; teachers who didn’t give up on me, including a second-grade teacher who helped me learn to read; and mentors who read my very bad first drafts and still saw the promise of something good. Read more
Sometimes, getting into my writing groove is about as easy as slipping on my favorite pair of jeans from my freshman year in college. In other words, it’s impossible.
I have various tricks for when my muse needs to be conned into action: wearing headphones to help myself focus, doing a five minute timed write to warm up my writing muscles, or giving myself a reward when I reach my word quota for the day—maybe a small piece of chocolate (hmm…is this why I can’t fit into those jeans?).
Sometimes, I write to music to help myself stay focused. For my current project, I’m creating a playlist that so far includes Moonlight Sonata, Adagio for Violin, Bach, and Lorenna McKennitt. While writing my memoir, I listened mainly to Norah Jones and Brandi Carlile. Different books inspire different music and vice versa.
But sometimes other sounds can help me write too. Read more
One of the pleasures of reading a new book is sinking into the world of the story. But almost nothing annoys me more than being ripped out of my dream state by having to back up and re-read the beginning of a story to figure out what is going on.
I experienced this recently and in my quest to be a better writer, I decided to analyze a few stories to figure out what was pulling me out of the story world. Here’s what I discovered:
The author introduces too many characters at once. Readers have a hard time keeping the characters straight and knowing their roles in the story because they haven’t had a chance to get to know them yet. Read more
In my last post, I discussed how to use the five senses to make your story world more believable—even if you’re writing about real-live gods and the dead coming back to life like author Neil Gaiman in American Gods. But what about the sixth sense of intuition? How can you use what is unseen, what is beyond the five physical senses to enrich to your story?
Contrary to what you might think, your character doesn’t have to be a psychic or a mind reader. You can activate your readers’ sixth sense by using foreshadowing or details that set the mood of a scene. Again, it comes down to using telling details based on the other five senses. Take a look at this passage from “American Gods.” What does it evoke in you as a reader? Read more
Do you ever feel like you’ve hit the writing wall and you’re not sure what to do? Relax. Read these posts to reveal a strategy that will put you back on track.
Stuck on what to write about? Consider these big ideas
Do you have a deep desire to write but aren’t sure where to start? Find the answer by asking the right questions. Read more
