where deadly meets fabulous
Like the forever sagging waist band on my stretch jeans, something about my latest manuscript is not working. Despite a few strong elements, it just doesn’t seem to crackle, pop, or even fizz, and I wasn’t sure why till I read this quote from Shannon Hale about the importance of telling a story that doesn’t come […]
Read MoreIf it was up to me, I would probably spend every minute I am not sleeping or drinking coffee so I don’t have to sleep, or going to Starbucks to get said coffee, or peeing in the bathroom because coffee always has that effect on me, writing. Naturally, it took me a very, […]
Read MoreMy mom is away this week, visiting my sister in Montreal. And though it’s only been four days so far, already I am going a little crazy without someone to sub me off of Toddler-dom and set my fingers free. Yes, I love spending time with my son, but creativity, when not regularly unleashed […]
Read MoreDon’t quit your day job—at least so says Oscar Wilde in a recently discovered letter, advising a young writer that one of the most important things a successful writer can do is not depend on their craft for income. For those of us that would love to devote our time to that thing we are most passionate about, […]
Read MoreWriting groups. Like blogs and sea monkeys, they are born with such enthusiasm and yet so often stall and die after a very short time. I have been a member of at least three that have long since expired, which was why I was very much inspired to read this post by Alaya Dawn Johnson, […]
Read MoreI read somewhere once that going somewhere new is a good for the writer’s mind, the unfamiliar surroundings stimulating creativity and fresh ways of seeing. I just got back from an island retreat with my girlfriends and our collective kidlets yesterday, and was happy to discover a pile of plot tweaks nestled among my sand filled socks. Maybe […]
Read MoreThe first page is the most valuable property in a book. If a reader doesn’t feel compelled to get beyond those first few paragraph than the rest might as well be pi numerals. I have been told this many times by editors, and yet one of the biggest pieces of feedback I got about a recent manuscript was that […]
Read MoreDoes this shirt make me look like a sack of onions? Should I really have spent that much on a cup of coffee? Did I actually just say that? My life is full of self doubt, and the time I spend writing is no exception. And though I don’t know if there is any real […]
Read MoreI love Pixar. Pretty much any time I see a lamp hopping across the screen at the start of a show I know I can expect the next two hours to be a good time, full of all kinds of fun and silly unexpected twists. SQUIRREL! Which is why when Emma Coates says jump, I say, when, […]
Read More“When you stop [writing] you are as empty, and at the same time never empty but filling, as when you have made love to someone you love.” – Ernest Hemingway (sourced from Brain Pickings) Someone once complimented me on my writing discipline. They were wrong. Thing is I don’t write because I am ultra strict when […]
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Book reviews, the occasional rant, and more
