I should add two words to the title of this post and that’s for writers. Sometimes I know I should be writing but instead I’m searching Netflix and soon I’m watching a movie and time slips away. However, last month I took a different view of time spent away from my writing. I was watching this one movie and…
Tag: writing
Get To Know Your Characters before You Write Your Novel-Part Two
Here’s the second part of Beth’s guest post… Interview Your Characters Imagine one of your characters is sitting across the table from you, sipping a beverage, and looking at you. Keep your story in mind as you ask questions. Interview them and take notes. If you don’t know your story at all yet, all the…
Monday Motivation-What’s Your Passion?
I know you can interpret quotes in many ways. However, as a writer I like to think this one means if writing is your truly you’re thing and it’s that thing that excites and you can wait to sit down and write then you’re going to get the work done. I also think you’ll be good…
Dear Susan-Should I Quit Writing?
Our first Dear Susan post of the year. Joy sent me this e-mail… I’ve been writing for five years, sent out what seems like lots of stories. I know I’ve been close to getting published a few times but it doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to happen. Any advice about when I should…
Story Length-Does it Matter?
Say hello to the first guest blogger of 2019, Barbara Plum whose post takes us back to our school days… Remember those dreaded high-school English themes? Did your teacher, when asked about length, compare the assignment to a skirt? “Long enough to cover the subject. Short enough to be interesting.” Say what? How does this…
Goal Setting for the Pantster??
Say hello to our last guest blogger of the year, Shannon Nemechek… Goal setting for the pantster? Sure, why not?? As a pantster born and bred there has always been one GOAL- well maybe a few but basically my number one goal has always been write, write, write. I have tried to plot but…
Friday Ramblings From An Author-Organizing and Planning
The ground is now covered in snow and the backyard was visited by six deer looking for food. You could say it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. This is the time of year I start to think about the new one and my projects. I’ve been sorting through old files and found one…
The Compulsion to Publish
Say hello to guest blogger, Meredith Bond, who tells us why she writes… There’s recently been a thread on a discussion group I follow (I rarely participate, but I always read the postings of others) about why people publish what they’ve written. There have been some really interesting responses. Some people want immortality, to be…
Wednesday Writing Prompts-Your Selling What!
I always say when you’re lost for story ideas look at your life. We all get those annoying phone calls, trying to sell us something, or wanting us to upgrade a service. That’s what happens to your character. He or she gets a phone call from someone selling them something strange. What is the…
The Blank Page-Friend Not Enemy
I always tell my writing students to not overthink their plot, their characters, and to simply get what’s in their head down on paper. It sounds easy but some of them tell me they’ll still struggling with that blank page. I know I’ve been in their position at one point. New exercise book open…