Charlotte Rains Dixon

All the Different Ways to Write (A Post on Process)

I’m sitting at a table on a terrace in Ceret, France, thinking about writing processes. (That’s my view in the photo to the left.) Okay, I’m also thinking about the wine and cheese and bread we’ll have for dinner. And taking a walk through the charming town in a little bit. And the delicious quiche […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago

Love letters Travel

Steady Improvement (A Love Letter)

So here I am in Ceret. (If you missed the story on this, click here to read all about it.) And I’m not going to lie, it is glorious. The temperatures are just starting to warm into the sixties, flowers are blooming, and the sky is a deep, deep blue against the worn stone of […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago03/09/2018

Uncategorized

Planes and Trains and Bomb Cyclones

I am in France. In Ceret, a small town in the Languedoc region, to be exact. I am here on a writing retreat and this morning, I’ve hit my goal of 2,000 words (a little over, actually), wandered around the town, then drove to the seaside village of Collioure to buy Soupe de Poisson. (Fish […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago

Travel

On Travel and Writing (A Love Letter)

As you read this, I’ll just be settling into my home-for-a-month in Ceret. (Follow me on Instagram for lots of photos.) Because I will be spending several days in transit, I went in search of an older post to set up ahead of time and this one from 2015 seemed especially appropriate. Enjoy! I love […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago02/25/2018

inspiration

Open to the World

I once told a mentor that I’d had an epiphany–to be a writer, you needed to know a lot about the world. And I believe this is true. As writers, we need to understand character in order to create ones that leap off the page. We need to understand nuances of place, so that our […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago02/25/2018

Love letters

On Chaos, Retreat, and the Solace of Writing (A Love Letter)

Things are hopping around here. I’m preparing for a major life transition—we’re in the midst of planning an addition so that my daughter and her family can move in. Yep, soon I’ll be doing the multi-generational living thing, attempting to keep up a full writing schedule with a six-year-old and a two-year-old running around. But […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago02/24/2018

Rewriting

Rewriting: How to Deal With Comments

Okay, so there it is–your manuscript. You’ve just gotten it back from your beta readers. Or your editor. Or your agent. Perhaps it is a lovely stack of papers with writing all over the page. Or maybe it is a file on the computer, laden with those little comment boxes. You’ve read over all the […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago02/20/2018

Quick Tips Rewriting Uncategorized

Rewriting: Draft Passes (A Helpful Writing Tip)

Ah, rewriting. So fun! So engaging! So intense! I’m serious, I actually really like it. But it can also be mind-boggling. Where to begin? How to approach it? What to do? One concept that may be useful to you is that of draft passes. I’ve done this myself and recommended it to others, but I’ve […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago

Love letters

Whining on the Yacht (A love letter)

One of my dearest friends read last week’s post with the subject line, a love letter about winning, and wrote me that she thought it said whining. To which I responded, what an excellent idea for a newsletter. And so here we go. In the spirit of the Olympics, I am a championship whiner. I can whine about anything, and I […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago02/16/2018

Uncategorized Writer's Block Writing Process

Indecision is the Devil for Writers

Indecision is my downfall. If I know where I’m going next in my writing, it is no problem to sit down to my computer and get words on the page. I can wrack up a good word count in no time. But if I’m not quite sure what to write next, forget about it. My […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 8 years ago

Looking for a Great Read? Look No Further!