FIVE Tips to START and CONTINUE Writing

For someone who claims to love writing, I sure can find every excuse NOT to write. Here I am… on a dedicated writing retreat. A clean house, with big inviting windows, open wide to the creativity. The quiet that only a place away from home can provide; with no chores, no dishes, no laundry, no pets… only the sun streaming in and the trees waving their wishes to the wind. The house hums… hums with electricity, heating and… potential.

That’s it. Potential.

I make a coffee. For once, with no rush of the day, no next thing, no must be on time. I’m able to stir. Listen to the tin, tin as the metal spoon strikes and scrapes the sides to lift and mix my sugar, like I’m mixing my thoughts.

Starting, for me, is sometimes the hardest part.

Then… it’s about sticking to it and meeting my potential. That word again. Potential.

After a week away, dedicated to drafting, I need to find the fortitude to continue. This post is a pep talk for my writerly self. I hope you will find a nugget to polish into a gem. Read more

Adaptability – An Essential Author Trait

I was listening to a podcast this morning while engaging in forced labour. By forced labour, I mean working on my husband’s half of our aspirational weekend job list—the list longer than we have the time, physical endurance, equipment, man power or complimentary weather complete.

Photo credit Donna Curtin

My husband grumbled all this winter about how he wanted to cut down the creeping branches along the edge of his fields. Many of our fields are surrounded by bush and eventually, the trees stretch into the unencumbered space to steal sunlight from his crops and barricade his combine.

So, following my husband along the edge of the field as he sawed off pesky new growth, it was my job to drag the bud laden branches into the bush and away from his crops. On the podcast I was listening to, they said we writers need to lean into learning and be willing to grow… to adapt. And this got me to thinking about how, if mother nature can adapt to find the open spaces, surely, we as writers can as well. Read more

How Are You Going to Write About 2020?

I don’t have to tell you that 2020 has been a poop sandwich.

The world wide pandemic, a political and social disintegration for our neighbours to the south thanks to Trumpism, a record year for hurricanes and devastating wildfires. It’s a long and unforgettable list in a long and unforgettable year.

If you’re a fiction writer, it’s a dream year in terms of material. I mean, EVERYTHING is happening. Peoples’ lives have changed dramatically. Our daily life is perhaps forever altered in some very meaningful ways. Read more

Surprise!  How to write a plot twister (and I’m not talking about the weather)

I like a good surprised twist in a book. I love it when a book puts in a major twist that is both believable but that I did not see coming. It’s a tricky balance to manage well. Usually I can spot a plot twister before the wind even gets brisk; mostly because they are set out as if they are slowly spewing volcano.

The smoke is obvious, the billowing soot a give way, so I am not surprised when the volcano “suddenly” spits out the “surprise”.

I am looking for the kind of twist that makes a reader exclaim out loud while reading.  A moment that compels a reader to tell the stranger sitting next to them, “do you know what just happened!”  It’s the whoa – everyone is a ghost – kind of surprise.

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My Life As A Plantster!

For most of my novel writing career, I’ve been a Plotter. I would write pages and pages of notes before I started writing a novel—mostly to do with plot, but also to do with character development. It was my safety net, and I would not start my novel until I was sure I’d thought out every twist and turn (nuanced or obvious) and knew everything there was to know about my characters.

I’m happy to report that, more than a dozen published novels later, I’ve evolved into a Plantster. Which, for those of you who aren’t familiar with these terms, a Pantster is someone who writes by the seat of their pants without a detailed plan. A Plantster is a hybrid between a Plotter and a Pantster.

Now when I start a novel I only have a couple of pages of notes, and they’re more of a guideline rather than rules. I leave myself lots of room to play around, and I’m loving it. Read more

Writers and Failure

Do you sometimes feel like a failure as a writer?

Okay, wait. I probably shouldn’t have phrased that as a question, because every writer has, from time to time, had to deal with feelings of failure. In fact, it’s pretty much like the crazy uncle who keeps showing up to family dinners, whether you’ve invited him or not.

I hear often enough from writers who are struggling to get published say they feel like a failure when they get rejection letter after rejection letter. And that’s to be expected. But I’m also talking about published writers, superstar writers who make six figures, as well as writers who don’t necessarily care if they get published. Read more