Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
As part of my ongoing series on using brain triggers, today I’m looking at ways we can all use sounds to improve our writing. If you want to learn more about brain triggers and how they work, you might want to head back to my last post, Be a Better Writer, Use Brain Triggers. I’m …
Continue reading “Brain Triggers Part II: Sounds”
We live our lives at dizzying speed. Things pass us by so quickly we miss a whole lot, and we’ve gotten used to this accelerated pace, even come to crave it. I’ve been trying to keep up, but to tell you the truth I often feel uncomfortable, as though I’m trying to fit into a …
Continue reading “Trusting The Reader, Trusting The Writer: Hidden Luxuries Of Literary Fiction”
Dear Internet, We’ve been seeing each other for a long time now. Remember when we met? I was researching something for a high school essay. WWII? Shakespeare? Kittens? I can’t remember, but I asked you for info and you had only five websites on the topic. Back then, you were slow, not very helpful and …
Continue reading “Writer + Internet Relationship Woes”
When I was a kid, my family went to Disney World in Florida. Apparently, the favorite Disney theme park for most kids is The Magic Kingdom, but I loved The EPCOT Center’s World Showcase. Now an adult, I realize this is hardly an adequate representation of the world’s countries, but to a small town girl …
Continue reading “Friday Inspiration: Writer Wanderlust”
A former writing coach once stated emphatically, “Never start with a dream.” He had lots of other rules about beginning a novel: never in a moving vehicle, never at a funeral, or with an alarm clock, with the weather, dialogue, and a whole host of other stratagems of setting. In fact, there were so …
Continue reading “Should Novels Start with Dreams? Dare to Break the Rules!”
Our brains are remarkable machines capable of sorting and storing information we don’t even realize is in there. It’s being able to recall this data that trips most of us up. We can all think of a time we felt a fierce emotion. We know the feeling is perfect for our current writing project. We …
Continue reading “Be a Better Writer: Use Brain Triggers”
As writers, we love (and hate) feedback. However long it takes us to produce a story or a book, in the end, when we feel ready, we can’t wait to surrender it to someone who’ll point out its flaws and merits. But that in a sense is an editor’s job. The job of a beta …
Continue reading “Honoring Creativity: Giving And Taking Critique”
I’ve been working on my current novel since May. Back then it was a vague one-sentence idea. I wrote about four beat sheets a month, feeling out the story and figuring out how to shape it. In October I started outlining, and as I outlined I’d find problems and head back to the beat sheet …
Continue reading “Write, Revise & Repeat – Are You Stuck in a Rut?”
As February ends, the last days of winter smother us. They wear us down, planting within us a keen desire for change, any change, anything to bring light into the darkness of the season. For some of us, snow lingers thickly around our ankles and spring is still an anticipated treat, too far away to …
Continue reading “What We’re Reading For The Dark Days of Winter”
I came to writing through poetry, and as a young writer, wrote dozens of love sonnets. Poetry felt right because to me it captured the essence of experience, and it was through poetry that I developed my love of words and language. There’s powerful contemporary poetry about, but I chose to go back in time …
Continue reading “Friday’s Inspiration: Love Poems To Read To Yourself Or Someone Else”