Yesterday we talked about how to Combine Babies and Bylines. There are challenges galore when writing with newborns and babies in the house. At that stage, we usually daydream of that magical day when the kids will be in school and we’ll have all those uninterrupted hours to write. Yes, it is easier to write […]
writing life
Do Facts Equal Truth?
About ten years ago, someone said to me, “You write fiction because you can’t handle the real world.” I was stunned by the accusation. For one thing, my fictional characters were very real to me! And I tackled real situations in my books–often based on actual events. From my childhood on, I’d learned a lot of […]
Writing Life: the Reality
“Life is difficult,” wrote M. Scott Peck in his famous book The Road Less Traveled. “This … is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it… Once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” I’d like to amend Peck’s quote to say that “the writing […]
My Writing Life in Pictures
This is my story the past few weeks… I’m writing every day, many hours per day. I’m reading and researching every day. I have several contracts to fulfill, which is pleasant. (Story continues below…) This is me most evenings. A darkened room, five minutes of reading for fun, and then blessed sleep. (Story […]
Lions, and Tigers, and Bears…oh my!
Deadlines, and funerals, and a computer virus…oh my! It’s been one of those weeks! (Photo courtesy of http://the-english-spot.blogspot.com/2009/11/cartoon-idiom-to-be-swamped.html) A Few Days Later It’s the weekend, and I’m more tired than I’ve been in a good long while. And with the holidays coming, I’ve plotted my deadlines and weekly/daily writing “must do” lists on a giant […]
When Deadlines Meet the Holidays
I love having deadlines. I really do. It means money will be coming in for my daily writing, as long as I meet those deadlines. But when overlapping deadlines meet Thanksgiving and Christmas (and all the dinners, shopping, cards and company that go with it), I feel my internal panic button set to go off. […]
A Writing Retreat with Friends
Retreat… Just saying the word is soothing. While it is taking some planning and shifting of events, I believe I’ll be able to carve out two or three days for a personal writing retreat. Given the price of gas and hotels, though, I’m looking seriously at Judy’s ideas for how to do a retreat at […]
Writing Fast or Writing Slow: Which is Better?
I’ve always been a fan of writing rough drafts at high speed. Turn off that internal editor! Get those words down as fast as you can! Don’t read anything till you get to the end. And after absorbing Anne Lamott’s classic book on writing, Bird by Bird, I gave myself permission to write really rotten […]
A Call to Excellence
Have you lost your passion for writing? Is it harder to get to work than it used to be? Is it writer’s block or burnout? Not necessarily. You may have lost your passion for writing because you’ve lost your passion for excellence. In the beginning of my writing career, even though I was tripping over […]
Regaining Your Love of Writing
Before my three-month sabbatical started, I printed out a few articles that struck a chord and that I wanted to take time to ponder. One such article was “When the Thrill is Gone.” Here’s a bit of what it said, and I hope you’ll read the whole article. In recent weeks, I have had conversations […]