There are so many ways for writers to invest in their future career as an author.
Ultimately, as a writer, it’s your meandering pathway to follow until you get published… However, what if there were a secret in jumpstarting your career and taking the express highway to publishing, eliminating the many wrong turns along the road?
Would you want to know this secret?
Of course you would… or you should. Read more
The title of this blog was originally, ‘Deadlines be Dammed’, which sounds brash, but that isn’t what I needed to write.
I came across a Writer’s Digest course being offered by Paula Munier, called the Plot Perfect Bootcamp and something in the title called out to me.
Not to mention, I thoroughly enjoy sitting in a lecture room while Paula captivates her audience with her smile, her love of dogs and her bold encouragment to do better.
So, I signed up.
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
I have a confession to make, I haven’t been writing much at all. I was, once again, making progress on my novel re-write after my last writing lull. I even had a moment of epiphany on how to make a nice transition between scenes. This is why it’s important to always make note of your scene ideas, or any ideas: You never know when life will happen and you can’t get back to it as soon as you’d like. Which is me, I’m in the gap and I hope I can pick-up where I left off.
I’ve had a few life events to deal with, like we all do, but my two major distractions have been politics and Words Aloud. Politics has just kept growing in intensity as every moment feels like history is being made. It’s like a big story unfolding in front of us. The only good thing I have to say is, at least it’s all being laid to bare. And it’s pretty darn ugly. And I can’t look away. Somehow I feel I have to bear witness to what is happening. And a part of me always longs to understand–so I read more. Read more
Sometimes, I feel like I have the power to make a difference. Does this ever happen to you? Are you harboring tiny pockets of power that could be used for something good?
What if YOU could be the reason someone smiled today?
What if YOU could make a small difference in someone else’s life?
What if I finished a novel, published it and it was because of YOU that it hit the New York Times Bestseller List? Read more
This spring I bought a trailer. It’s a small, 11 foot, teardrop TAB trailer that my car can tow. I love tent camping in the wilderness. Lately though I have been camping in parking lots and fields and decided to upgrade to a trailer. I named my new acquisition, Quill, as she has a porcupine shape to her. And I hope she will be a productive writing partner.
I have a romantic vision of roaming the countryside with Quill, camping by lakesides and writing while the sun emerges from the horizon. Read more
It seems some days, I will never learn from my mistakes.
You would think, from the number of examples I can remember, of my utterly dismal performance, that I would improve, get better, and learn how to re-read my work before submitting.
However, recent events would suggest otherwise. Read more
Ah, September and the smell of books is in the air. Even after many years, it’s hard not to think of this time as “back-to-school”. Of course, my daughters are getting ready to do just that, so it’s not that hard to forget. September always feels like a mini-new year to me, maybe even more so than the actual one. Any new year marks a time for reflection, reviewing past goals and accomplishments and setting new ones. I never get as much writing done as I imagine I will in the summer. The promise of loose schedules leads more toward chaos than it does free time. There’s such a hustle and bustle to the summer, a desire to enjoy every golden moment before it’s gone, do all the summer things and then ask ourselves at the end, Did we do everything we meant to? Read more