If you’ve ever completed a story or a longer manuscript you’ve experienced a freeing rush of relief. You’ve invested days, or at least hours, in the writing. Endured the anguish of writing your hero into an inescapable corner. Perhaps you even shed a few tears over your hopes of ever finishing the piece and getting […]
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What’s Your Biggest Fear About Editors?
Unless you’re an editor, you can’t imagine the glow of delight created when a client says they love what I’ve helped them do with their words. That feeling not only strengthens my resolve to help other writers but empowers my client to continue writing. Without a solid base of story, character, and plot, there would […]
When a Writer’s Real Life is Too Crazy for Fiction
Friends who know I write persist in asking, “So how do you get your ideas?” And no matter how many times I explain that ideas are everywhere, even in real life, they insist on an example. “No, really. Tell me how you got the idea for what you’re working on right now.” So this week […]
It All Began With an Idea
Everything that’s moved our world ahead, and some events that have moved civilization backwards, began with an idea. One night, sitting beside a campfire on a grassy savannah, a caveman had an idea to make bringing home the sabre-tooth-tiger-bacon easier. Refining his idea several times, he experimented with chipped rocks, laced one to a straight stick, […]
6 Fun Ideas from a Writer’s Christmas Wish List
All the little (and big) naughty and nice writers are hunkering down to make lists of fun writer swag they’d like to find beneath their Christmas trees. To help you get started shopping for the writer in your life, I’ve collected a few interesting ideas sure to surprise and please. 1. Does your writer complain […]
Writing: I Love It. I Hate It. I Do It Anyway.
There’s no way to describe the mad scramble we sometimes put ourselves through for the sake of our writing, other than the truth. We love to write. And sometimes that means other parts of our lives suffer. Then there are the times we suffer at the hands of our passion. Those days and nights when […]
Celebrate Words on Dictionary Day
I hope you’ve got a yummy cake mix in the pantry. You can stay up late and bake it, because tomorrow we’ll be celebrating Dictionary Day. If you’re a writer, you’re a lover of words. In all their possible arrangements. I’m enjoying a mental image of Marilyn Monroe performing her “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” number. […]
Uprooting and Replanting Your Words
I was looking at my garden this week. Okay, that’s a joke. I was looking at the area that used to be a beautiful garden. It’s full of something green, and fluffy. But I’m really sure it’s not the flowers I planted a few years ago. Whatever this is has completely taken over every inch […]
Under, Over, Around, or Through: Beating Writers Block
More than once in the past weeks I’ve heard writers say they’re blocked. They just can’t think of anything to write. Maybe they’re thinking too much. Maybe it’s all about perception. Because we understand how the human mind works, we know that there is no time during consciousness when our minds are entirely free of […]
Rejections Pave the Road to Publication
A new writer friend and I were chatting the other day and the conversation turned to rejection slips. We agreed that while having a manuscript or article rejected really isn’t a personal dig from the editor or agent, it sometimes feels that way. Because I’d been doing this for a while, I told her that […]