The New Social Writer

Seana Moorhead 2 Comments

I registered for an online course this year. It started with a 2 day virtual retreat since no one is meeting in person with the pandemic. I was apprehensive about spending two entire days on zoom and with a group of strangers. Craving to learn something new, I signed up. Thanks to the organizers, it turned out to be excellent complete with a scavenger hunt and learning how to make a new cocktail (neither actually related to the content of the course, but side benefits). And I realized how much I missed meeting new people during this past pandemic year. 

I would describe myself as an introvert. I need time by myself and when I don’t get it, I get grumpy. And miserable. Most likely this is my subconscious attempt to make people go away so I can get my alone time. I’ve always liked the vision of the solitude author, hidden in a cabin and surrounded by trees and rocks, ideally near a lake, and no one in sight or hearing distance. Somedays, I hold onto that mirage like a thirty person in the desert. 

Read more

On Narrowing Down Your Pursuit

Kelly Babcock Leave a comment

I could be a romance writer …

Or, Why Writing Is Hard!

If someone is trying to solve a murder mystery, or even write one, they need to provide the suspect with three things. The suspect has to have means, motive, and opportunity.

When you’re writing, your work has to have a story to tell (means), it has to be told in a palatable way (motive), and it has to be made available to people to be read (opportunity).

And sadly, all three of these tasks fall, to a certain extent, under the heading of Read more

My Most Difficult Subject Yet

Tracey Richardson Leave a comment

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about death and dying.

Mostly it’s because I’m starting a new romance novel that features a character who is a death doula (cue the jokes and the confusion about writing a romance novel around death, haha!). But I suppose it’s also because I’m in the latter half of my own life now and have elderly parents and in-laws, and so it seems like the right time to delve into this great and final mystery. Plus, I like to challenge my writer’s self with unusual topics.

There is another reason, too. Frankly, I’m a bit haunted.

A former colleague and friend died more than three years ago after a very sudden and short terminal cancer diagnosis. He was only in his early 50s, with two teenagers at home and a wife who was battling her own health issues. He didn’t want to go, understandably so. In the short time he had remaining after his diagnosis, he could not come to terms with his own dying. He became depressed. He cheated himself out of talking about it, of comforting his family, of allowing himself to be comforted, and of coming to some kind of peace with how his life was going to end. Things progressed so quickly, that my goodbye had to be in the form of an email that was read out loud to him. Read more

Boosting Your Writing Productivity

Lori Twining Leave a comment
Lori Twining ~ Writing during a pandemic is hard

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: 

Read more

Stories in Letters

Bernice Connell 1 Comment

“Dear Bern,

It’s Friday night and I’ve started my second glass of wine. Tom is watching some no-brainer tv so I thought I’d settle in and write to you.”

Thus, began an especially long letter received from a close friend in 1988. The letter flowed like our conversations, covering everything going on in our lives. At that time, when we lived far apart, receiving a letter was the next best thing to having a visit. In this letter, she shared news of the kids, workplace struggles, my sister’s upcoming wedding, her softball team’s calamitous night out and so much more. There was even a little sketch of a hooked rug she was working on. It was a lot of fun to read it so many years later.

I tucked this letter and several others she’d written, into my friend’s Christmas package, returning them to her. 

Read more

A Writing Place of My Own – Part 2

Donna Judy Curtin 2 Comments

How do you take an eight by ten foot room above an unheated garage, still holding the remnants of a boy growing into a young man, and turn it into a writing oasis? With spider webs, discarded nerf bullets, spilled chocolate milk curdled into the hardwood and holes punched in the dry wall from baseballs, hockey sticks and frustrated elbow jabs, this room was far from my imagined writer’s nook.

When my son moved downstairs, I sensed an opportunity. Not unlike plotting a novel, this idea of having my own writing space, started with a question—what if I could create a space all of my own?

Read more

Fall Harvest Sauce

Seana Moorhead 2 Comments

I invented a new condiment. 

I know you’re probably thinking we don’t need a new condiment. After all, we’ve got ketchup, soy sauce, mustard, relish, plum sauce, salsa…is there space in the fridge and on the table for another one?

As a writer, I sometimes wonder if I have anything new to contribute to the book world. Occasionally when I enter a bookstore I have a moment of panic. There are so many books in there and how can I write another one to jostle for space on the shelves? Would anyone even pick up my book if I ever get published?

Read more