Everyone wants to not discuss writer’s block, including me. For many years I couldn’t understand why anyone actually experienced it. I had always assumed it was just poor planning until I was recently up against it myself. The good news about writer’s block is that it’s very easy to work through it. The bad news…
The only thing writers do more than write is give advice about writing. May as well put in my two cents. I’ve thrown together advice I’ve been given but didn’t understand until recently.
One of the greatest compliments I have ever received was from a colleague who had just read one of my sarcastic emails sent to inform the rest of the staff about something unimportant. Sue: “You will never get away with sending an anonymous letter.” Me: “Whaddya mean?” Sue: “Because I don’t even have to look at…
When asked, I don’t normally participate in round-robin, tag team kind of things unless there’s a good reason. Sometimes the reason is not what was asked but who asked. Whom asked. By whom it was asked. Dammit. In this case, I was asked by the lovely, talented tease by the name of Dana, aka, DCT designs,…
Write what you know, write what you love. We’ve all heard this before, and we usually practice it. Usually. Doesn’t matter what it is or when, as long as you enjoy your time at the keyboard. Right? Usually. Back in April or May of 2012, I was visiting a friend’s blog and saw a picture…
The purpose of this is not to educate you or any other writer. I don’t pretend to know things that you don’t because I’m actually hoping for the opposite – in that I am detailing this process in case someone knows more than me, has accomplished these things already, and can help me avoid the…
Book report, essay contest, published novel, self-published novel, Createspace, kindle, nook, ebook, Smashwords, Goodreads, My Disney Scrapbook 2000-2005 all have something in common. Step 5: publishing. What does “publishing” mean? It means you’re done to whatever degree you have decided is done. The book on the right is my novel Room 317, written piece by…
Some call it proofreading, some call it editing, and I don’t really care which. Step 4 is easy. Punctuation? Spelling? Grammar? All good? Done. MSWord and spell check are a great help, but things will slip by. This step – for me – is almost unnecessary because I’m making an effort to proofread during the revising…
For me, revising is the worst part of writing. It puts me to sleep, bores me to tears, and leaves a literal pain in my butt and shoulder. However, without it, stories would suck. Revising mainly involves reading, re-reading, and asking questions. “Does that make sense? Will the reader see what I see?” “He said he…
When I write a story, specifically fiction, I’m writing a movie. I assign actors I think could play my characters. A movie plays in my head. The chosen actors play the parts. I watch. I type what I see. That’s all I do. If a scene doesn’t work, I essentially yell “Cut!” and delete/backspace and…
