Fiction is not lying. That’s not what I’m talking about when I talk about the lies some writers tell. And writers aren’t liars for writing fiction. Far from it. They’re telling a sort of truth that is purer than any fact one might produce from experimentation and research.
How so? They’ve told you in advance that this is fiction. Therefore what you are reading is what is understood to be their thoughts, their creation. What could be purer or truer than that? Read more
“The most exquisite paradox: as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can’t have it. The minute you don’t want power, you’ll have more than you ever dreamed possible.” ~Ram Dass
As writers, sometimes we want so badly to be published, that we will do just about anything to make that success happen. What ultimately happens is that we get stuck on a gerbil that’s spinning so fast, we can’t get off.
I have a simple goal: I want a writing career.
Unfortunately, it is not as simple as quitting my day job and writing the damn novel. Other things factor into a writing career, besides having money to pay the bills. In 2021, as a writer, it is essential to have a social media presence, network with others, be searchable on Google, be knowledgeable and experienced with the craft of writing, have an agent, have a publisher, and the list goes on and on. It is endless.
Is a writing career something I can do alone?
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If someone is trying to solve a murder mystery, or even write one, they need to provide the suspect with three things. The suspect has to have means, motive, and opportunity.
When you’re writing, your work has to have a story to tell (means), it has to be told in a palatable way (motive), and it has to be made available to people to be read (opportunity).
And sadly, all three of these tasks fall, to a certain extent, under the heading of Read more
This summer, I have been learning “how to edit” my first thriller novel (Commercial Fiction) with the help of a professional editor. So far, it has been an enlightening experience. I had no idea there were so many different levels and layers to the editing process. If I did, I might have quit writing years ago. *Joking! I love the torture.*
Last week, I tackled the “Passive Voice” found within my novel. I am currently sitting between 2-3% Passive Voice. A score of less than 5% in your manuscript is acceptable. While educating myself on how to remove it, I stumbled upon something else. Before I tell you, I want to ask a question:
Do you know why some novels only sell a handful of copies and other novels sell millions?
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Everyone’s path to publication is different. We’ve all seen the success stories–author’s publication tales–tweeted out to the world, where an author shares their journey to publication. I like to think of it as the Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike Gold Rush.
Some adventurers make it over the pass, find a parcel of land, strike gold, make it rich and head home. I’m not naïve enough to think they didn’t sacrifice and work hard and have in equal measure talent and good fortune, but that isn’t every prospector’s story.
Everything is cancelled… ALMOST!
I know! I know!
We all had some major plans and a detailed vision of how 2020 was going to go for us, but then everything we had planned exploded into tiny pixels and all we can see in the near future is the everlasting smoke clouds circling around us. We are impatiently waiting for the sunshine to break through.
Several of my plans for writing retreats and writing conferences have been cancelled for this entire year, as I isolate myself at home. This sounds like devastating news, however, there is a silver lining to all of this…
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Today is not a national statutory holiday in Canada, but in Ontario, Family Day is celebrated on the 3rd Monday of February (and many of us have a holiday away from our daily jobs). This holiday was originally created for people to spend time with their families, however, it also allows a day off between New Years Day and Good Friday (which are three months apart). These three months are a loooooong stretch of time when the sunshine goes on vacation to Florida (to hang out with my parents). When this happens, the Canadians end up battling snowstorms every other day and need to deal with the extremely cold winds whipping through the land freezing our facial expressions of sadness until mid-April.
Family Day is great for people who have young kids that want to celebrate by playing board games all day in their jammies by the fireplace, or going snowshoeing, skating or skiing together in the -35 degree weather. But, if you don’t have children, or if you are like me, your kids have grown up and have moved out, Family Day becomes more of a “Catch-up-on-all-the-other-stuff-you-have-procrastinated-doing” Day.
If you are a writer, it also becomes a “Finish-My-Novel” kind of day or a “Let’s-Write-A-Short-Story” kind of day. After reading Seana Moorhead’s blog post on 10 Reasons to Write Short Stories on January 27th, I thought I should investigate all the possibilities of where to send these newly-created short stories. Then, I decided to share the information with you. There is no better feeling of sending out your work and having it be a finalist (or a winner) in a contest.
Okay, that was a little lie above…
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