Lori Twining writes both fiction and nonfiction, with her stories winning awards in literary competition and appearing in several anthologies and magazines. She’s an active member of many writing groups: International Thriller Writers, Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters In Crime, and Ascribe Writers. She’s a lover of books, sports and bird watching, and a hater of slithering reptiles and beady-eyed rodents.
Find more info at www.lvtwriter.com
Accountability Partners: Colleen Winter & Lori Twining
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.
Some of my writing buddies have been struggling to find the words lately. I’m no different. There are days I sit at my desk and stare at a blank page and wonder why I am even bothering to get up. Seriously, I could be sleeping right now. I never get enough sleep.
However, there are also days that I plunge my mind into other things besides working for someone else and wrestling with the words on the page. Sometimes, I like to immerse myself in other creative activities such as sketching, painting, and photography. Sometimes, I create colourful quilts and blankets from scraps of material found in a material bin. Sometimes I spend hours designing a new baby blanket (because who wants to use someone else’s pattern). And, sometimes, I bake cookies, experiment without a recipe, and eat every last one of them.
The thing is, I have found a way to get my writing mojo back during these other creative moments in my life. I’ve been multi-tasking.
On Monday, April 5th, I posted a blog about “Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone,” and I dared you to do something completely different from your regular routine in your writing life… doing something that might scare you. If you haven’t already read that, you should. You can find it HERE.
It has been seven days since my scary adventure ended. I still can’t stop thinking about the incredible and invigorating weekend I spent with 19 other like-minded and passionate writers. I survived the daunting inaugural session of the UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTERS & INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS (#UCIJRetreat2021) virtual writing retreat presented by Ralph Walker. My fears were unwarranted. I absolutely loved it!
Many different kinds of writing events catch my eye, but this was my first virtual writing retreat where you are on a ZOOM call with 19 other writers—most of them strangers or people I have only met online. The schedule was intense, Friday night to Sunday night (approximately 17.5 hours), but it was designed that way with pure intention. It was brilliant. I didn’t want to miss even one minute of the conversations.
Today is Easter Monday. For some of us, that means it is a day just like any other; only you have a chocolate hangover to go with your early morning coffee. Other people get another day off to add to the already extra long weekend. I’m jealous.
Last week, Seana Moorhead wrote the blog post, The New Social Writer. If you didn’t get a chance to read it, go HERE. Seana talked about registering for an online leadership course that runs for a year, but they started with a two-day virtual retreat online together.
When I heard about this, I couldn’t help but smile. I, too, applied for a virtual writing retreat in early January with the #5amwritersclub on Twitter. I got in! I paid my fee, and then I started to panic.
My weekend retreat is all about writing, not leadership. Honestly, I’m quite worried about how it is going to go for me. I’m stepping way, way out of my comfort zone on this. I’m usually more of a loner when it comes to writing. Plus, I rarely share my work with anyone. I show my husband and possibly one other writer, but that’s it. I don’t want so many opinions on how shitty my work is that I get confused on how to fix it. Read more
Most writers struggle with finding writing time in their busy lives and they search for ways to be more productive with the time they do have. During a pandemic, it has become even more of a problem than ever before. As a writer, we have many other things to do besides write the novel.
Some of us are juggling extra “writerly” tasks such as:
Let’s face it, 2020 was tough on some of us, if not all of us.
I know that my writing plan for last year was sailing smoothly from January to February, and then, by mid-March, it skidded into a crazy tailspin, halting at our first lockdown. From March 17th through to the end of December, it felt like running over a bed of sharp nails—known as a contagious pandemic—which flattened all four tires in a matter of seconds. It left me feeling extremely anxious about my family, my friends, my health, my wellness, my job, and my writing career (what there is of it at this point). As of December 26th, we landed back into another 28-day lockdown that may hang-on much longer than we want it to.
So, what do we do? How do we plan for a possible 365-day lockdown in 2021? I know that I don’t want to repeat the mess I waded through in 2020, that’s for sure.
What does the term “Rabbit Hole” refer to? And why would you want to escape it?
These are both great questions.
The popular term is “falling down the rabbit hole” and for most people, it is a reference to Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice in Wonderland, where Carroll described a character disappearing into a world full of chaos or confusion.
Speculation in the literary world suggests that Carroll was also describing what happens when a person takes a hallucinogenic substance that depicts a wild and freaky drug trip. Others compare it to a metaphor for the entry into the unknown, the gate into a new and exciting place full of adventure and somewhere where you can just get lost and you don’t have to return from it.
What does the freaky trip into the unknown mean to me?
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?
