Writers can have unpredictable days. On some, writing pours out effortlessly (and it’s beautiful when this happens). Yet on others, sentences require more determination. Certainly, writing doesn’t get any easier if you don’t start. Waiting for inspiration to strike is a fool’s errand, and even when that chapter wasn’t finished as quickly as expected, just… Read more »
Writing a book is both exhilarating and terrifying. There will be times of blissful creative abundance and periods of deep wordless frustration. Surrounding yourself with a support network of family, friends, and other writers is vital to weathering the emotional storm of novel crafting. But what happens when our cheerleaders become hecklers? Kind words of… Read more »
Coffee addiction used to be enough to get me up and writing at 5 a.m., but I’m a mom now. Sleep deprivation I expected, but not relaxation deprivation. Most nights, the toddler finally stops leaving her bedroom by 8:00, and if I want to be up at 5:00 to write before she wakes up (hopefully),… Read more »
As a freelance writer, I have written for and on behalf of celebrities, CEOs, public companies, private businesses, newspapers, print magazines, online publications, startups, and regular Janes and Joes. One day my writing was voicing a C-level recruitment agency’s, the next I wrote for an online publication for professionals. Being a Jill-of-All-Trades is an understatement,… Read more »
The process of creative writing is a wonderful feeling. There’s the indescribable sense of flow when the words pour out oh-so-effortlessly, there’s that stroke of brilliance when a plot twist strikes out of nowhere, the feeling of creating something no one else has before. Every one of those feelings is motivating and rewarding and necessary… Read more »
What’s the fastest way to lose your readers’ trust and interest? Sprinkle your text with grammar mistakes: mess with subject-verb agreement, write only in fragments or run-ons, add apostrophes where they don’t belong, and for good measure, get creative with spelling. If, however, you want to maintain credibility, you’ll need to mop up grammar errors… Read more »
So, you’ve written a novel. You’ve put in the time and effort. The many years. Sweat, and certainly tears. But, what now? How do you turn that mess of words into a workable story that people actually want to read? Not that I’m saying the work you’ve slaved over is a mess, but to paraphrase… Read more »
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one becomes a master.”—Ernest Hemingway Writers are, by nature, dreamers. We dream about finishing a book. Then we dream about getting an agent. A book deal. Hitting the New York Times list. On and on and on. But here’s the thing: each one of these dreams,… Read more »
Inspiration is more than reading between lines. Inspiration is about carefully dissecting lines and considering all potentialities falling between them. It is about deep considerations, personal cares and frustrations, and snippets of words watered and grown like weeds. Inspiration is what lies beneath what is most obvious. It is a spark, a flicker, and a… Read more »
What is a reader thinking when he or she reads your work? We all experience an inner dialogue about the world around us. During reading it’s the same: consuming words wakes up the voices in our heads. What we really want is for our readers to be asking the right questions. Things like ‘what happens next?’… Read more »
