Have you been working with your characters as we’ve analyzed different aspects of what makes them come alive on the page? I hope you discovered intriguing possibilities for torturing and rewarding the people populating your latest manuscript. In the first week, you learned how to use body awareness to flesh out your characters. Then we […]
Transformational Words
Body Awareness Puts Flesh on Your Characters
I’m taking this incredible course called Writing for Warrior Healing presented by Laura Probert. Our first week is all about body awareness. She asked us today to think about how body awareness relates to our work. You may be thinking, “What? That’s crazy. Writers don’t have to think about body awareness.” Okay, putting aside the […]
Third Wednesday: Insecure vs. Unsecure
It’s easy to make simple mistakes in word use. After all, in the English language so many words sound similar. However, the specific meaning of a word can completely change what we’re trying to express. “County officials discovered over two hundred insecure voting machines only days before the election.” Reading the above sentence, I got […]
8 Ways to Use the Seasons to Spice Up Your Story
Yesterday a flock of geese flew in a low jagged line across my property, their discordant honking filling the air. I watched them pass from sight behind the walnut tree that chose that moment to release of drift of leaves from every branch. These signs catapulted me into the realization that a new season is […]
Write Life in Living Color
Death ushered another close friend from this world last week. I barely recognized my friend as I read the obituary. How did the editor make this man’s life sound so bland? Where was the feeling of joie-de-vivre that filled every day of his existence? The best obituaries I’ve ever read were written—often with great humor—by […]
Editing is Like Cleaning the Garage
As I’m writing this, my handyman is cleaning and organizing my garage. Or I should say he was because he just came to say he’s finished. And the garage looks great. He sorted everything by purpose and frequency of use. I would have had a very hard time getting this job completed so quickly. Not […]
Third Wednesday: Inoperative vs. Inoperable
I know the author of the following sentence meant to create empathy for her character. Instead, I laughed as I imagined the plots of a dozen sci-fi stories inspired by one misused word. “Belinda sobbed in Matthew’s arms as she revealed she had an inoperative brain tumor.” Inoperative – not working; not functioning; without […]
Choose Some Squishy Writing Goals
It can’t be June already! Yet it is. That means it’s time to check our progress against all those goals we set back when the year was fresh and young. For me, the writing workshop series I’m doing with the local library is nearly complete. We’ve had a lot of fun working our way from […]
Falling in Love, Again
I’ve been reveling in the forgotten joy of picking up a manuscript I set aside some time ago. There are moments of joy found in paragraphs and chapters that excite me again as I re-read before beginning the writing process again. And there are minutes of agony over words, sentences, and paragraphs that I now […]