Something I learned about writing today: Say. It. Fast. And. Mean. It.

February 25, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

I have been somehow obsessed with word count and page numbers lately. It’s like there’s a restless kangaroo pounding at my belly and urging me to hurry up and finish that manuscript already you useless idiot! Or maybe that’s just my three year old. Either way, I am always wishing I could do things faster […]

Something I learned about writing today: The Joy of Delete

February 17, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Stephen King, On Writing. I received some feedback from an agent friend of mine a couple weeks ago and have been doing a lot of work revising the manuscript in question lately. However, when I got to the part where she suggested I cut out any words not […]

Something I learned about writing today: Read it out loud!

February 10, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

Flawless, smooth, and without a single misplaced comma to be found. That was pretty much what I thought of my manuscript excerpt when I brought it to my monthly writing group last Thursday. Naturally I was totally wrong. As I started to read the pages out loud to the group, a myriad of mistakes suddenly popped […]

Something that I learned about writing today: Good feedback is like bad weather

February 8, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

I got some pretty critical feedback regarding a manuscript last week, and I won’t deny it, the comments left me feeling pretty DEVASTATED at first. What do you mean that character wasn’t developed? What do you meant there are lots of loose ends. What do you mean it’s not totally perfect!! However, like a torrential […]

Something I learned about writing today: to write or have written?

February 5, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

“Why do you write?” My mom asked me this question yesterday afternoon, and after my automatic eye rolling response had passed (there are some parts of adolescence that just won’t die) I thought of a quote from Gloria Steinem: “I do not like to write – I like to have written.” (sourced from goodreads) Do […]

Something I learned about writing today: This is not easy

February 3, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

“They just started casting for the movie—when can you fly down to Hollywood?” Despite all the times I’ve been told publishing is a highly competitive industry, I can’t help it. Every time I send a manuscript off to my agent contact, part of me can’t help but hope that this it. She is going to […]

Things that inspire me to write #26: Pinky Dinky Doo

January 3, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

You know have a toddler in your life when all the shows you are up to date on include at least one talking animal. Still, as the bronies phenomenon can attest to, there are some pretty quality children’s shows out there these days, providing not only reasonable entertainment but also promoting animal conservation, problem solving, […]