I started this new blog series a little over a week ago, on Halloween, with the intention to publish a new post every Saturday. And, well, as the title says, s%# happened over the weekend. Like Wordstock, for instance, our local book and author fair (more on that in a post later this week). And […]
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this Sunday November 1st? Why yes, yes it is, Charlotte. Thank you. So you know what that means: Drumroll, please…. It's time for Nanowrimo! What's that you say? You just crawled out from your writing cave and you haven't heard of Nanowrimo? Well, let me clue you in. […]
Hemingway knew it and used it. I've expounded on it numerous times, including recently. (That juxtaposition of sentences makes it appear that I might be comparing myself to Hemingway, to which I say: bwahahahaha). It is the single most helpful tip for you to get words on the page, and here it is: KNOW WHERE […]
To get more writing done, you could get up earlier, or stay up later. To get more writing done you could close the door to your office and post a sign threatening death and dismemberment to anyone who enters. You could escape to the coffee shop or go on a retreat. You could run away […]
I'm just back from three weeks in Europe, one week for leading a writing workshop, and the other two for fun. However, I am a firm believer that even the two "fun" weeks contributed greatly to my writing career. Yeah, it might have looked like I was lolling about in the south of France, eating tapas […]
And here's one final offering from the archives, back in September of 2012. Yeah, so, you want to write a novel. And you're even thinking of doing Nanowrimo this year. (Nanowrimo = National Novel Writing Month, just in case you don't know, and it's in November.) But then the voices begin: The dreaded blank page. The dreaded […]
While I'm teaching writing in Europe, I'm mining my eight years of articles on writing for you. Once a week I'm posting a link round-up on a certain subject. I'll also re-post an oldie but goodie in full on a different day. And I've got a couple of new posts scheduled for you as well. […]
Years ago, as a freelance writer, I wrote a lot of articles about art. One of them was about the Makk family of artists, who lived in Hawaii. The big thing I remember from this article happened while I interviewed the Eva, the matriarch of the family. She told me how when she was a […]
The tub wads, back when they were young, thin, and innocent This series (we'll see how long it lasts) is my summertime whimsy. I started it last week, with the inaugural Five Things on Friday post. Here's this week's obsessions passions: What I'm Reading. Just yesterday, I started Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult, who […]
I'm happy to share an interview with my friend, Kayla Dawn Thomas, today. Actually, Kayla and I have only met through social media (primarily Twitter and Instagram), but that is about to change. Because this summer, she and her family are visiting Portland. And on July 23rd, the two of us will be doing a […]
