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I often feel sorry for people who don’t read good books; they are missing a chance to lead an extra life. ~ Scott Corbett ~Read More →

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New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~Mark Twain via Quotegarden.com (which no longer seems to exist). Which, I suppose, one may be.  But I prefer to stay positive.  I’m not failing–I just still have things to learn. In that vein, what do I want to learn this year? To write, in some fashion every day.  I mean every day, whether I feel like it or I’m tired or I’ve got kids running around.  Every day.  I have learned that I write best when I keepRead More →

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You need to stand out, and that means swallowing your fear (and your pride) and showing all of you, even the hidden parts. via The Babbling Flow of a Fledgling Scribbler: On Fear and Baring Your Soul.Read More →

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I hate character charts.  I see them everywhere.  I’ve bought books on character development that had 10 page(!) character charts.  Sample questions:   Astrological sign? Who cares?  I don’t check my horoscope.  I mean, I guess, if I had a character who was all into that, it might matter to them.  I guess, I’m saying if it doesn’t matter to my character, why should it matter to me? Political leanings? Unless my character is a politician or an activist or a lobbyist, why do I need to know this?  Will her views on global warming affect her reaction when she’s forced into a marriage ofRead More →

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Everyone’s process is different.  I’m still figuring mine out.  Some people make collages or use whiteboards or a special type of pencil.  Here’s a list of the five things I could never write without: My notebook.  Right now, I’m using a hardbacked steno notebook.  It’s smaller and easier for me to deal with.  But I’ve used hardbound journals, 5 subject notebooks, even scraps of paper I stick in my pocket.  The point is, I get ideas all day long, but I have a window of real writing time.  If I didn’t write it down, I’d never remember a thing. My iPod shuffle.  First, I makeRead More →

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Today, I’m going to recommend a book that I don’t even own (yet).  So ordering it today.  Anyway, this book: was recommended by Jennifer Crusie in her essay “Emotionally Speaking: Romance Fiction in the Twenty-First Century”. The psychology of the characters will dictate how and why they fall in love, and their growth as human beings will dictate whether or not the reader believes they’ll stay in love. That’s why, along with researching the genre, it’s a good idea to research the psychology, anthropology, and biology of romantic love (a good place to start is Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving ). The product descriptionRead More →

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At the begininng of Nano, I wrote a post about getting “it”–what Nano is about. It’s about writing.  Just writing for the love of it and with the abandon we deserve, the abandon to write badly, but to have written. And I still believe that.  I still believe getting into that habit of writing daily, of thinking about your story as often as you can–even when you aren’t writing, storing up those ideas like a squirrel in winter–is crucial to becoming a good writer.  And I believe in not editing yourself, constantly.  It’s sort of a relief to just write.  So, good did come ofRead More →

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It amazes me how supportive nanoers are to one another.  When I tried this a few years ago, I felt so alone and couldn’t see my way through it.  But interacting on twitter, though it can be distracting, has shown me how supportive other writers and NaNo participants are.  I’ve received more than one reply to my tweets of frustration or success.  If you’re NaNoing, definitely follow the #nanowrimo hash tag there.Read More →

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This is the first year I’ve participated in NaNo.  I’ve thought about it a couple of times.  Once I started but dropped out early, citing the reasoning that it just didn’t work with my “process.”  But, I think I get it now. It’s sort of like when I actually became a writer instead of a person who wants to write.  At first, I wrote because it would be cool / financially gainful / fun (ha!) to write a book.  But then, it wasn’t all that fun–at least some of the time–and odds are not in anyone’s favor to actually sell a book or for itRead More →

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WordPress doesn’t like my “live” badge, so I’ll stick this one in here.  Yeah, I’m going for it.  My goal: 2k words daily.  I’ve never written a word without planning the hell out of it, so I’m kind of excited to try this.  Check the twitter updates on the left to see how I’m doing.Read More →