Have you ever wanted to change the solitary writing experience to one of collaboration and teamwork?
The idea of working with a co-writer on a screenplay has been simmering with me for ages and recently bubbled to the surface. I’m ready to take the leap.
Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble
When you’re perfect in every way
— from the song, “It’s Hard to be Humble”
You would think writers are the humblest people around.
They’ve become practiced at it from writing mountains and mountains of words, only for many if not all of those words never to see the light of day in the form of being published. Writers get used to rejections and criticism—from publishers, editors, reviewers, awards or contest judges, readers and even other writers.
With all that adversity, the writer’s ego should be in tatters, paralyzing him or her from writing another single word. And yet that’s hardly the case. Writers are some of the most resilient, tenacious people I know (they have to be if they want to continue doing what they love). Writers are also some of the most stubbornly egotistical people too. Read more
This summer was a hard one.
Someone greatly, greatly loved by me recently succumbed to that bloody awful disease, cancer. Read more
Do you journal? I do. I first learned to write by reading Natalie Golberg’s, Writing Down the Bones and utilizing her method of free writing. Not long after was Julia Cameron’s, The Artist’s Way, and her practice of writing three pages every day. These were my beginning teachers and these are the lessons that still keep me connected to writing even in the most hectic times and some of my hardest times.
This summer we’ve been under renovations and on a mission to clean out old junk and papers. This has been a long-time coming, but a deck and bathroom project gave us the impetus to hire a bin for a week. So we spent our August long-weekend digging out our basement to fill the remaining space with anything ready to go.
Did you see it? Have you felt it?
This weeks blog is brought to you by a complete block of the brain. Kind of like the recent planetary event the whole of North America was pumped up about. Mind you, the eclipse was more of a celebration in the U.S. where one could witness a complete cover of the sun by the moon. Sales of eclipse sunglasses skyrocketed and souvenir eclipse t-shirts flew out of Amazon warehouses.
I was at work when it happened here in Ontario, Canada. The sky grew a smidgen darker, not the kind you notice at dusk, but a different kind. Felt like an impending doom kind of dark. But since it wasn’t a total eclipse, the sun still managed to shine when the clouds moved away. This is how my writing activity has been this summer. Nothing, then a little glimmer of something, then nothing. Read more
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
‘Seriously, I’m freaking out, right now. Holy crap! Is Karin Slaughter actually talking to me? I’m legitimately crying inside, as I’m the biggest Will Trent and Sarah Linton fan ever. No lie, Karin is my favourite female author in the entire world. I ask her for a photo and she’s all smiles (because she looks like a million bucks, standing there in a pair of sparkly diamond loafers) and says, “Absolutely, Lori.” Oh my god, she knows my name? (Yes, I was wearing a nametag, so of course, she knows my name—duh.)’
Starstruck moments happen to everyone, but for me, it doesn’t happen after a music concert when meeting Ed Sheeran (of course, it might, as I do love this guy’s music), and it doesn’t happen after a Stanley Cup play-off game when Sidney Crosby, from the Pittsburgh Penguins says hello and signs your hockey jersey (which this would be awesome too, as he is a great Canadian hockey player and they did win the Stanley Cup this year)… BUT, for me, the ULTIMATE BEST THING EVER is meeting my favourite authors who write amazing thriller novels. I’m a booklover and I love books. I’m a writer and know how hard and how much work really goes into writing a novel. I’m completely in awe of these people AND, I love, love, love these particular authors who write these books. I love them MORE than anyone else in this ENTIRE WORLD (okay, maybe not more than my hubby and children, but you understand what I’m saying—I would travel all the way to another country just to say hi to them and get them to sign my book).
Does this sound crazy? Read more
“It’s just emotion that’s taken me over…” The BeeGees, from the song “Emotion”
Emotion is, well, just about everything when it comes to fiction. Emotion is what engages readers the deepest. Emotion is what makes thereader laugh, cry, cheer, get pissed off, hate, judge. It makes them feel. It makes them forget they’ve fallen into the world of fiction.
Emotion is the one, main element of my writing that’s taken me to a new level the last few years. And it took me awhile to get there. To get how important it is in fiction and to get (or at least somewhat get) how to transfer, infuse, express emotion in my writing. Read more