While I’m in France, teaching writing, sitting by the Mediterranean, eating good cheese and bread, and drinking lots of wine, I’m offering either a collection of writing prompts, story starters, or exercises each week. This week, I have suggestions for how to get ideas for you. I hope it helps you to generate all kinds […]
Many, many, many, many, many, many (okay, I'll stop now), years ago in college, my favorite perfume was Je Reviens. This was a perfume that stopped men in their tracks, causing them to ask me why I smelled so good. I clearly recall one instance of this when I sat studying in the EMU Fishbowl.* […]
Are you an idea generating machine? Ha! Me either. But if you're a writer, you better be. I don't think I am by nature. But I have trained myself to be better at it–and you can too. Generating ideas is on my mind because I'm writing synopses for my next two books. (And by the […]
On Wednesday, I gave a presentation at a local retirement center. I talked about how and where writers get ideas, and interspersed readings from Emma Jean's Bad Behavior. Afterwards, I got to sell books. It was a lot of fun! Anne, the organizer (an amazing dynamo of a woman) told me that the room could […]
This is you, with all your ideas aglow in your head. It's a shiny new year and many of us have worked hard to note goals and dreams for 2014. No matter what your writing goals, they are all dependent on one thing: a plethora of ideas. So I thought it might be a good […]
A couple weeks ago I was greatly taken by a lecture I heard about the writing life, given by Helena Kriel at the Spalding MFA spring residency. The talk was, essentially, about how everything in the world feeds into our writing lives and our writing–if we are but present to the world. Further, when we […]
I've been doing some interviews (I'll have links soon–like tomorrow soon)for the release of Emma Jean, and one of the things that comes up is how I got the idea for the novel. I always have to stop and think about this because there's not one clear light bulb moment. It was more like an […]
I needed me an idea. For this very blog post that you're reading, in fact. I have been posting on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule and that works well for me. Doesn't seem to be too overwhelming for readers and it's not so far apart that you'll forget about me. Usually, I have an […]
You've all heard the party line about getting ideas for writing (and I say it myself, often): you can't sit around and wait for inspiration to strike you, you've got to make it happen by sitting down and writing. It's good advice because it's true advice. Except for when it's not. Last week when I […]
Like Oprah, here are three things I know for sure: 1. Energy breeds energy 2. The more you write, the easier it gets. 3. Ideas generate ideas About that last truism, I have this theory that ideas actually breed like rabbits. If you note ideas in your journal, or corral them in an idea book, […]
