As many of you know, I’m a fan of all kinds of novel prep, including creating character dossiers to allow me to learn more about my characters. I use them to keep a record of the external stuff (really helps when you need to remember someone’s eye color mid-way through a book) and to start […]
What I’m Reading: The Couple Next Door, by Shari Lapena, a book I picked up on a whim from the “Lucky Day” shelf at the library. I started reading is Saturday evening after teaching all day, read after two small boys I babysat that night went to sleep, read with breakfast Sunday morning, and finished […]
A while ago, one of my wonderful clients mentioned that after a good writing session, she felt exhausted. Boy, could I identify with that, because I often have the same experience. After a particularly intense stint at the computer, I sometimes feel like doing nothing more than crawling away and collapsing in a quivering heap. […]
Ah, the excitement of beginning a new writing project. The energy! The enthusiasm! The high hopes! This, you think, is going to be the best novel yet, the best essay, the best short story, the best article. You whip open your computer, open a new file, place you hands on the keyboard and….sit staring at […]
We’re coming up on two weeks into the new year. Ack! Wasn’t it just Christmas? Didn’t we just do Thanksgiving? Soon we’ll be talking about fireworks displays. I’m still seeing a lot of posts about how to plan to make this your best year yet. I confess, I read almost every one. Because I love […]
I just finished reading a book that purports to share the secrets of writing a bestselling novel, and I found it fascinating. The BestSeller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel is by Jodie Archer and Matthew L. Jockers, and what it uses is text mining to uncover the shared elements of bestsellers. As I understand […]
The other day I wrote a post about how writing has become a bit of a slog for me lately. One of my clients (Hi, Mitch!) asked me about it, saying, “You’re a professional. That’s not supposed to happen to you.” He was kidding. I think. But it brings up an excellent point. Because, as […]
Just about every morning, I wake (naturally–it’s just when my body is ready to get up) around 5:30, stumble downstairs, drink some water, then grab my coffee and head to my computer, after being careful not to trip over the cat in the predawn darkness. And then I get right to work and don’t move […]
Black Friday is still a few days away and I don’t know about you, but I’m already being inundated with special offers from the big box and mall stores. The idea is that you’ll get out early on the day after Thanksgiving and buy, buy, buy! But I have a better suggestion: stay home and […]
Last week was rough for me. I was distracted by the election news and I didn’t get a lot done. My daily habit is to rise early, get coffee and spend a few minutes checking on what happened over night before getting to the page. This early morning writing is when I wrack up the […]
