More than 170,000 writers are lining up in the starting gates at NaNoWriMo, blowing the dust from their computer keyboard, shaking their pens to get the ink flowing. In the less than 48 hours left until the starting bell, wouldn’t you like to check out the race-track? Here’s the challenge: Write a short story for […]
Month: October 2013
Working to Deadlines is a Winning Skill
If you’ve never worked to a deadline, you haven’t had the opportunity to build that skill into your writing life. If you think you’ll never be held to a deadline that probably means you don’t see yourself ever writing for a magazine, a newspaper, or for any publishing house. It means you’ll never find yourself […]
Third Wednesday – Alluded vs. Eluded
Here’s the way the sentence read in a major news report: “She admitted the concept of using social media in marketing alluded her.” Yikes! I’d been reading fast, but my attention snapped back to the error. ALLUDE – To refer to a person, place, thing, event, etc., indirectly. The important word in the definition […]
Where the Wild Ideas Play
Still struggling to find your story idea for NaNoWriMo? Don’t you know that somewhere story ideas run and play, wild and free, until some lucky writer manages to lasso one and corral it into his manuscript? Maybe that’s not so crazy. I believe there are an infinite number of ideas available to everyone at all […]
Thinking About Writing
I’ve been thinking a lot about writing. Have you? Have you spent time mentally creating a story, holding plot lines to the light, shifting them here or there, looking for the best fit? Have you focused your attention on where you’re going? Don’t be in a rush to whip through your manuscript. It takes time […]