Winter is for Writing

February’s weather has been like a stew pot–snow flurries, ice pellets, freezing rain, more snow, bitter winds–and rarely a glimpse of the sun as if it’s the bay leaf in the meal.  The days still feel too short with the grey skies and whiteout blizzards and the nights are long and chill the bones. Snow days cancel plans and keep us home. Forget snow shoveling and chipping away the ice built up on your step.  It’s a perfect time for writing.

 

 

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Now Is The Winter of Our Discontent…or is it?

Winter is not my favourite season… and it’s not because of the outrageous heating bills, the terror of driving in whiteouts, the dodging black ice in the grocery store parking lot,  the shortened hours of daylight, the cancelled music concerts,  or the wind that blew most of the songbirds south.

It’s because I need colour.

I am a devout gardener; my front and back yards are riots of colours for three seasons. Spring and summer and fall each have their own colour-filled delights and they never last long enough. And I’m a visual artist. I sell paintings filled with a range of  colours that convey every mood and emotion you can put on canvas. Every room in my house is painted a different colour.

And yet where do I live? In a Snow Belt.  Read more

Have you Fed your Writing Muse Today?

What is it about this writing thing that we enjoy?

Why would anyone want to rise before the sun, to plunk away on a keyboard in the dark and put their precious words and feelings up for the judgement of others?

Is it all about the imagining of a character’s challenges and how they can overcome them in a heroic way? Or perhaps this writing thing is a way to come to terms with our lives or to imagine how the story could have ended differently.

 

When I consider the moments and life experiences that have inspired my best stories, I clearly see the muse for my writing.

Do you know yours?

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Why NOT to Throw Out Your First Novel

Many writers throw their first novels out thinking them beyond redemption. I’ve taken the “dog-with-a-bone” approach and I just won’t let go of it. Every lesson I’ve learned has been through the lens of this novel. And every draft that isn’t good enough yet, is just a draft that needs more revision, or re-writing. For me, I just have to like my characters enough to stick with them. The story can change, my point-of-view can change, but I have to want to spend the time with the characters. And even they can change as I shape and mould my story into something someone else would like to read. Every problem is just looking for a solution. Read more

Applying screenwriting tips to your novel

I recently came across some simple but impactful screenwriting tips. The advice said every scene should be one of three things: a fight, a seduction or a negotiation.

Sound a little too simple? Maybe. But when you think about it, especially when it comes to films or television dramas, there’s a lot of truth to it. Think about your favourite big and small screen scenes. One of my favourite films is “When Harry Met Sally”. Almost every scene between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan is either a fight, a seduction or a negotiation (or all three at once). And man, does that make for a lot of tension and excitement.

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Creating Mood in Storytelling

A prologue that I read recently has provided endless inspiration for me.

I’ve studied it many times, deconstructing the composition and trying to pinpoint what impacted me so strongly. The scene that is depicted seems innocuous; a sunny day in a park, families milling around, but the narrator is focused on several individuals apart from the seemingly ordinary setting. Ever so subtly, the narrator describes an almost imperceptible pall that comes over the scene, creating an uneasy dread in me. In less than four hundred words, the author had set the mood and rendered this reader unable to resist turning the page. Read more

New Year’s Resolutions For Weird & Wonderful Writers

Today is the last day of the year and we shouldn’t spend too much time crying about all the failed resolutions we didn’t follow through with over the past 364 days. Tonight at midnight will mark the moment of a fresh opportunity. We will have a clean slate for 2019. So, what can we do to make our new year as weird and wonderful as the unique souls that live within us?

I made a list of achievable goals specifically for writers ranging from quite simple to complicated tasks. You decide. I’m challenging you to pick one or two things off this list to push yourselves into becoming a happier creative person.

New Year’s Resolutions For Weird & Wonderful Writers:

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