Charlotte Rains Dixon

I’m baaaaack

Please forgive the long absence (well, its only been a week and a half or so. But that's an eon in blog years.) I have not been blogging for two good reasons: 1. I was out of town. 2. I have been having Thoughts, of a deep nature. Thoughts about what, you might ask? Well, […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago11/03/2015

Writing

Free Book Offering: Going To A Place Far, Far Away

Well, its not that far, really. I'm heading up to the Washington coast to visit my Nashville friend Sue at her father's place. What makes it feel far, far away is that there is no internet service and no cell phone service. No blogging! No Twitter! No text messaging! However, I'm only going to be […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago11/03/2015

Writing

Overcoming Flat Scenes: Rising and Falling Action

This is the third post in a series on scenes, and specifically, flat scenes. You can find part one of the series here, and part two, here. What is a flat scene? It is one in which the emotional tenor is the same all the way through. For instance your heroine may start out the […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago12/12/2015

Writing

Feel the Fear and Write it Anyway

We interrupt the current series on scene to bring you this post on writing, fear, and creativity. I was having breakfast with my wonderful Nashville friend Sue (wait, should I say she's from Nashville if she is originally from Portland?) this morning and we started talking about feeling skittish and being nervous and anxious. (Did […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago11/03/2015

Uncategorized

Elements of a Scene

Yesterday, I wrote about the problem of flat scenes (not to be confused with flat screens) and how they can be very dull and boring. As I emoted about the dullness and boringness of flat scenes and planned to write about how to avoid them, the thought occurred to me that this might be a […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago11/03/2015

Writing

When The World, Or Your Scene, Is Flat

I've been having issues with flat scenes. Flat scenes are problematic because you may not even know that they are flat. You have a vague notion that something is wrong with the scene or chapter. It is boring, or it just doesn't work for some reason. You struggle and struggle to improve them, to make […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago11/03/2015

Writing

Gift Ideas for Writers: The Wordstrumpet Christmas List

Christmas season has officially begun and even though I went to an awesome wine tasting and sale last night, it wasn’t at a mall or even a traditional store so thus I did not officially participate in Black Friday. I did, however, buy a handcrafted Christmas ornament and started getting in the spirit of the […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago12/14/2015

Social Issues

Oh, What a Night

It is Thanksgiving Eve here in the states and I, like so many others, have much to be thankful for. Health, family, a career I love, a house that isn’t going into foreclosure, new energy in the country after the elections….I could go on and on. Tonight is a night that many of us are […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago12/15/2015

Writing

In The Body: Writing and Running, Part Two

A few days ago I wrote a post about writing and running. Since then I've been staying in Laguna Beach and running the canyon. Okay, I run down and walk back up, but then so does nearly everyone else. It is a looong way back up. Yesterday as I hit the last and steepest hill […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago11/03/2015

Writing Exercises

Writing Exercise: The Bluebird Canyon Special

The Santa Anas are blowing and fires are erupting all over southern California where I am currently ensconced at the top of a canyon overlooking the Pacific. It is not quite as idyllic as it sounds, though I admit it is stunningly beautiful here, because I am here to care for a friend. Perhaps it […]

Charlotte Rains Dixon 17 years ago11/03/2015

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