Category Archives: Writing

Wide Open Spaces (Required for Writers)

My family and I spent spring break in a rented house on North Andros, the largest island in the Bahamas but one rarely frequented by tourists.  There are no large resorts or mega-hotels, no gift shops, no high end spas. … Continue reading

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You Do NOT Have To Save the World

On VivaScriva.com, a blog about critique and the writing process, I recently blogged about using Publisher’s Marketplace to get a handle on what kinds of manuscripts are and are not selling in today’s YA market.  (Get the nitty gritty details … Continue reading

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Keep the encouragement close to your heart #writing @drydnbks

We writers have lots of voices in our heads. Some of them move our stories along. Some are just bitches. When we do hear the voice of encouragement, how easily it can be lost among the cacophony. Don’t let it … Continue reading

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One true thing

Much of the time writing is NOT fun.  In fact, at a recent writing retreat with my critique group, Viva Scriva, Liz R. and I were discussing the things we like to do more than writing (at least when we’re … Continue reading

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Dealing with failure in a business full of NOs

Choosing the writing life means choosing to put yourself up for rejection over and over again.  Why do we do this?  Are we lunatics better suited to religious practices that involve self-immolation? I don’t know why.  But it’s hard to … Continue reading

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When writers read: inspiration, encouragement, or despair?

In recent weeks, my pile of books-I-want-to-read-because-I-want-to has been greatly neglected.  As some of you know, I continue to be dogged (or whaled) by 493 pages of Herman Melville’s weird-not-really-a-novel treatise on whaling, Moby Dick, which I have been trying to … Continue reading

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Ideas into stories–the compost/rock tumbler approach

Perhaps the question most frequently asked of authors is Where do you get your ideas? When I heard William Gibson speak,  he said that he imagines he has a compost bin attached to the back of his head.  He throws things … Continue reading

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Give me a sailor and let me run away to sea

This is the thing about writing…  I get to fall in love over and over again.   And not just over shiny story ideas.  I know writers gush about that a lot, but I tend to make an idea prove … Continue reading

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Graph Your Novel (Seriously!) – Guest Post by Me @wilwrite

I’m excited to be on the faculty at the Willamette Writers Conference  in early August.  I’ll be talking about using critique to enhance your writing life, and I’m bringing my Angel Punk manpack to talk about transmedia. If you want … Continue reading

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Flash fiction – Vicks VapoRub

Recently, I was on the faculty at the South Coast Writers Conference in Gold Beach, Oregon.  I had a wonderful time teaching and connecting with many talented writers.  I also was lucky enough to get to attend a workshop taught … Continue reading

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