Jessica Baverstock has been a great friend and loyal reader of this blog (she's also written a couple of guest posts for me), and when she told me she would be publishing her 100th post last month, I wanted to do something to celebrate. And since I'm a curious sort and have always wanted to […]
Are you a Write in Order Writer, or an Anything, Anytime Writer? The Write in Order Writer insists on writing scenes in strict chronology. The Anything, Anytime Writer writes whatever part of the novel she feels like without regard to order. All my life, I've been a Write in Order Writer. And this is […]
When you're a writer, you are always pulled to write. If you're like me, and I fancy that you are, because we writers share odd (yet wonderful) traits, you're constantly thinking, I should be writing. Or, I wish I was writing. Or, why aren't I writing? The pull of the story is always with […]
Gazing at me may make you feel calmer. Yesterday I told you I had a kick-ass (one can only hope) post on letting go ready for you. Then I got distracted by the need to write about the Sopa Strike. And now here you are and you're reading a post on nerves. What gives? […]
I often tell people that writing every day is an excellent way to build momentum. And then they look at me blankly and wonder why in the hell they need momentum, since they are writers, not rocket engineers. I tell them (and I'm telling you now) that momentum is what gets the novel (or memoir, […]
I'm about three chapters into a new novel and the other day when I was making some notes on themes and events to come, the thought occurred to me that I'm writing a Remake Your Life plot. I made that name up, but these kinds of plots are staples of women's fiction. For various reasons, […]
You've all heard the party line about getting ideas for writing (and I say it myself, often): you can't sit around and wait for inspiration to strike you, you've got to make it happen by sitting down and writing. It's good advice because it's true advice. Except for when it's not. Last week when I […]
I like to call my little December promotion a writing contest, because, after all, you do have to write a comment to win. But even if you wrote the crappiest comment in the world and the random selector chose you, I would give you the present. So don't worry about composing the Great American Novel […]
It's been awhile since I've given you a prompt in my ongoing Promptitude series, and earlier this weekend I had a brainstorm. (That said brainstorm was on Saturday morning and i'ts now Sunday evening and I'm finally getting around to posting gives you some idea of how busy this weekend has been.) So here's the […]
Okay, it wasn't exactly a writing contest, though you did have to write a comment. But, somehow that headline sounded better than anything else I could come up with. So, are you ready to know the winner? Drum roll, please….. Every time I hear that phrase I think of the scene in the movie National […]
