I am as much a writer as I am white, or female, or anything else that I was born into. From the moment I could string letters together coherently, I was writing essays: A day in the life of the family Doberman, what our summer cottage meant to me, a letter to my best friend [...]

Continue reading...

I read two great posts earlier today.
Five Simple Ways to Increase the Reach of Your Blog
I love the points about social media and commenting, but I disagree with article marketing. I tried it, and it didn’t work for me. That said, I know there are a great many niche bloggers who have built up a [...]

Continue reading...

I recently discovered that I write better to Lady Gaga than to Bob Dylan – for blog posts and web articles anyway. If I’m writing something cathartic (diary, creative non fiction), Joni Mitchell is perfect. Tom Waits is rarely a good idea!
It’s amazing what triggers the brain to pump words out onto a blank page. [...]

Continue reading...

For the past four months, I have been living a nightmare I can’t wake up from. I know that the story is one that should be told, and I’ve sat down many times to try to write it all down.
It makes me cry.
Reliving the pain, the hurt, the shame of my experiences is gut-wrenching. There [...]

Continue reading...

The change of the season from Summer to Fall always gets the creative juices flowing for me. Something about the chill and freshness of the air. So different from Summer’s stagnant humidity. Autumn air is alive. It is rich with possibility.
Part of it is the back-to-school thing. It makes me crave clean notebooks and [...]

Continue reading...

I faced a rather retro writing challenge today. I needed to write a letter. With like, a pen. And paper. To an 80 year old man.
So I dug out my dusty stationery that really doesn’t get used often enough, grabbed a pen, and then stared blankly at the page. Wow. To think, I used to [...]

Continue reading...

I work from home. I don’t have a fancy office setup in a fabulous den or anything – I work at an old Ikea dining table in the living room, which holds my laptop on one end and my roommate’s various and sundry computer bits on the other. I use a dining chair, even thought [...]

Continue reading...

A very unique and rare opportunity has cropped up on the internet. Alan Rinzler, lifelong editor, is offering to receive book proposals and critique your work for free!
You’re all invited to send in an abbreviated 15-page proposal, fiction or non-fiction, which should include the following elements:
1.  “Hook” or overview (one page)
2.  Chapter outline (three pages)
3.  [...]

Continue reading...

Further to Sunday’s post on the exploitation of bloggers and web writers, the boys at Men With Pens have a great article on that very thing.
Go. Read. Learn.

Continue reading...

I was up to my ears in projects this week (yay! bills can get paid!), but I will spend this weekend working on my e-book and my NaNo outline.
I admit that I’m not great at outline writing. When it comes to fiction, I have a tendency to just sit down and hope for the best! [...]

Continue reading...