So, I didn’t win, or even place, in Jeff’s Goins’ You Are a Writer contest. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I was one of 138 writers who publicly stood up and declared our innermost identities. Isn’t that the most important thing? That we claim our talents and make use of them – […]
words
One Day It Will Be Too Late: Write Your Family History Now
Two deaths in the family – one on each side of the tree. Too many stories lost because we don’t pause to sit and say to our elders, “Tell me about…” Write it down now.
Keeping the Covenant: It Takes Work
There’s one reality we cannot repudiate. Without a steady diet of well-spun stories, without examples of both fine word craft and cringe-worthy phrases, we can’t understand what makes a story work. Glance over your bookshelves… you do have multiple shelves, don’t you? Which books do you hoard to savor multiple times? I’m betting they’re the […]
Step Away From The Keyboard: Read For The Sake Of Your Craft
I’m addicted – to reading, that is. I read an average of 500 books each year. Sometimes to the detriment of my own writing time. And to all the authors reading this, yes, I buy 95% of them new. A few are passed on to me from family and friends. No, not all those books are literary masterpieces. […]
Take a Book to Dinner: Today is World Book Day
This is one holiday I never have a problem celebrating. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve stopped in the middle of a busy day for a quick meal, and spent more time than I realized – because I was reading a book as I ate. Now, come on. Admit it. You’ve done […]
Writers Write Down Goals: It's The Baby Steps That Get You Published
We’re just past a month and a half into 2012 today. How are you doing in meeting your writing goals? What’s that? You don’t have any goals? I know, I know. A lot of us clean house, schedule surgery, or leave the country to avoid those things called “New Year’s Resolutions.” Believe me, I’ve been […]
Home Again
It’s been too long since I’ve posted here. You know how it starts. Some problem crops up that absorbs your attention for a while, and then it is so hard to get back to what you should be doing. For me, it started when my internet provider managed to turn off my service. Nearly every […]
Let Me Count The Words
While the Oxford Dictionaries admit it is impossible to make an accurate count, they allow that there are more than a quarter million distinct words in the English language. This doesn’t count the inflections, technical words, and regional vocabulary we use every day. If you add all the variants and forms of words, the slang and dialect […]
Transformed – The Power Of Words
A word is a word is a word – except when it’s not. Don’t you just love words? Big words, little words, sibilant words, harsh words. Each with its own specific meaning, feel and sound. I love that the writer can lay a pile of words on the page, shuffle them to and fro, toss […]