That title offers a pretty bold promise, huh? But I really do believe that what I'm going to write about today will help you write more than you imagined possible. What might this mystical thing that I'm going to write about be? Are you ready? Wait for it. It is writing practice. Also […]
The other morning, I had a lot on my mind. Tasks to finish, things to get organized before a trip, stuff to do. I rose early, as I always do (my eyes pop open at 5:30 pretty much routinely), got my coffee and went to the computer. I looked at email but didn't answer it […]
Keep calm and carry on. The saying is a cliche of the highest order by now, its initial message as positive propaganda during World War II long since co-opted for commercial purposes. But for some reason it popped into my head a few days ago and wouldn't leave. Maybe because my life has been anything […]
(Brief aside: you know how you can remember the difference in spelling between dessert and desert? You want more of dessert, and thus it has two of the letter s in it. My seventh grade teacher, Charles Nakvasil, taught me that. He owned movie theaters after he quit teaching.) Last week I was out of […]
(Note: I was going to call them damn words in the headline, because sometimes the words feel like they need cursing. But then I censored myself, because this is going out in my newsletter, and I don't want to offend people. Do words like damn offend people? I don't know. You tell me. I wouldn't […]
Last weekend, I was at my desk. I had just started a new chapter. (I'm almost to the halfway point in my WIP, so I'm well into the dreaded muddle of the middle.) And I was throwing horrible combinations of words at the page. Really, when I say horrible, I mean horrible. Feeling a […]
This is one of those posts that I write because I don't know the answer and I'm trying to figure it out. (Ha! Like I ever know the answers.) So bear with me as I sort it out. Imagine: –a writer, talented but still raw, without a lot of words beneath her belt, finishing a […]
I finally did it. I cleared away appointments (except for one) and committed to participating in Milli Thornton's 10K writing day. (Regular readers will remember the guest post Milli recently wrote for me.) I've wanted to do this forever but other commitments kept getting in the way. Until yesterday. And so, I rose at […]
I'm working on a project that puts me into a trance. My fingers fly across the keys and I'm totally and completely absorbed in it. Time passes and I have no sense of it–if you asked me what the hour was, I wouldn't have a clue. Dim thoughts that I should get up from my […]
The other day I was looking for something on my computer. (I spend a fair amount of time doing this. I probably need to get my files a bit better organized.) And I ran across an old guest post I wrote a few years ago, the title of which was something to the effect of, […]
