I recently completed the Muskoka Novel Marathon for the third time, which, considering we raised over $30,000 to support adult literacy programs, is amazing, but this year that marathon was at times, a painful struggle. As I reflect, sitting on my deck, watching my cats make peace after an earlier squabble, I realized that I as well needed to forgive. To forgive myself for poor writing and to give myself permission to write, even poorly. Read more
I’ve been crafting this blog in my mind for weeks and then today, my blog was hijacked by Abby.
I had it all planned out. I completed my research, aligned my information points and was prepared to deliver you the hard facts on creating the perfect author website. I had a series of blogs planned in order to share my experience as a writer, who, in denial of the times, was holding to the statement that I didn’t need a website. I would chronical how I finally caved to logic and I was going to use my blog to share what I’ve learned and will learn through this adventure so that other authors may embark on creating their own website. Read more
The immense benefits of a writing group are not always obvious from the beginning of an adventure. You may have mixed feelings as you sign up for a writing course or attend a conference or sit in on a writer’s group meeting as an observer, but I can tell you, there will be benefits you could never have imagined. Read more
As I was researching for this blog, I found myself thoroughly confused. So this blog post comes from a place of sincere learning – no preaching. I don’t have a literature degree. I have no formal writing courses other than the many conferences and lectures I have attended. I simply love telling stories and think I have a unique perspective and the heart to tell a pretty good story.
My lack of training does not mean I take any less pride in my craft. I want to express myself eloquently in a word frugal fashion that will capture my reader and wow those who are formally trained. The worst crime I could commit, would be to place a reader’s imagination into a fantastical place, only to rip them from that reality when they stumble into a passive sentence. Read more
Early in my writing career, I was telling instead of showing. Recently, I discovered I’ve been showing through repetitive flashbacks and my writing has become predictable, often times reading like the chapters of a Biology textbook. Although my writing has a veterinary medical background, when I’m creating fiction, I need to alter my style to be sure my flashbacks serve their story telling purpose.
I’ve researched how to conduct a health check on my flashbacks to ensure they fulfill their purpose of delivering backstory, highlighting a character’s motivations or adding context and meaning.
When flashbacks are done well, they add depth and emotional resonance. Done poorly, the reader can become confused, bored or disengaged with your story. Read more
Writing, or the art of finding new and creative ways to express ideas that have for the most part already been shared in some fashion, is rejuvenating and exhilarating. Nothing beats the sensation of putting to paper an emotion or conflict that has moved your life in some manner. To explore an imaginary world, to re-write an experience so your heroine comes out the victor, or at least bests your nemesis with wit and candor.
As writers of fiction, we agonize over the flow of events that carry our characters through their conflict to a resolution. Ask yourself, what if Harry Potter had never met Ron on the train platform? Would they have bonded over trading wizard cards before the house sorting? Would Harry have wished himself into Gryffindor with such vigour?
You may call it networking, however, I choose to believe that the amazing individuals who have entered my writing life were gifted through moments of serendipity. When I completed my first draft and was looking for writing support, I made a comment to a local bookseller and she gave me Diane’s name. Diane and I formed a writing partnership. We met over a two year period; reading aloud, encouraging each other and eventually we planned our own writing retreat to exchange our full manuscripts. To this day, it still amazes Diane and I both, how ‘fate filled’ our relationship has and continues to be. I have been waiting (rather anxiously) to hear back from an agent, and at lunch this week, I unexpectedly discovered Diane in the same restaurant and her support brought me immeasurable comfort.
(Making time to write when you think your life is too busy!)
If you are going to write, if you are going to call yourself a writer, then write, finish something and put it out there. At a leadership conference I attended recently, part of the training was focused upon scheduling your time. Believe it or not, it wasn’t all about the proper way of saying something or modeling something; a huge chunk of time was spent teaching us how imperative it is to schedule the important stuff.
The gist was – in your life there are the big rocks, the stones, the things you want and must do to achieve success in whatever you do. The time for these things, like writing, is competing with everything else in your life… and let’s face it, if you want to be successful a writer, you need to write. You need to write, and often, until you are so good at it, that someone says, “Man, we gotta publish that!” The other stuff, like watching less than averagely good looking guys wrestle alligators on television, randomly surfing the internet or creeping facebook… is the stuff that will not help your writing career – that stuff is the pebbles, the sand, the dirt. If you fill your jar with pebbles and dirt first – then there is no room for the stones.