Yawn. I suppose it’s time to let the memories of sleeping in and afternoon drinks slip gently into the background. Even just a few days away from the reality of task lists and cooking duties was enough to help me feel refreshed. In true vacation fashion, I didn’t complete the one writing task I put…
Category Archives: Writing Tips & Tools
The Orphan File
Angela talked on Tuesday about how organizing and decluttering her house reminds her of editing. She’s packing up some of her treasures because they don’t work for the house’s needs right now. Maybe, in a new space, they will have different meaning, maybe they won’t seem as precious in a different context, maybe she’ll unpack…
Editing and Selling Houses
We’re considering putting our house on the market. I say considering because if I say we are putting our house on the market, it means this incredible list of tasks does, in fact, have to be completed instead of being a suggestion of things to do this spring. As I pull books off bookshelves to…
Short Stories and the Beauty of Spring
Short stories blink and twinkle, a small opportunity for writers to find something like spring. Novels can stretch ahead of you like a long winter, excitement and beauty wrapped in layers of coats and scarves, its magic found in its complexity. Flash fiction is a glimpse of sunshine, but a short story offers the writer…
Let Them Make a Mess
Months ago I started organizing my work space. I bought binders and bins and envisioned creating a tiny oasis in the corner of my living room in which I could be productive in spurts throughout the day and longer periods after the kids went to bed. The chair is just about the perfect height for…
The Cobblestone Path
None of us need the reminder that there is no one path to “become” a writer. “Writer” isn’t a destination, a town nestled along a picturesque route where words work as currency and reading is considered a reason for blowing off even the most concrete plans. We know that writing is something we do, something…
How Do You Remember?
Lost Highway was the first David Lynch film I saw, curled in a armchair in my not-yet-husband’s basement room at Michigan State. When Bill Pullman talked about his aversion to video cameras, preferring his remembered perception of events to a concrete record, I knew it didn’t bode well for his reliability as a character. At…
More Than Just An Author Platform: Your Creative Writing Blog in Action
We blog to share parts of our stories, our lives, our craft. Some of us blog casually, some of us are building a business or creating an author platform. Writing every day hones our craft: We all know it’s true. Daily writing helps us flex our creative and technical muscles. Angela talked on Tuesday about…
The Importance of a Foundation
Their towers climbed through the air of our living room, LEGO pieces snapping into place atop each other. Eventually small fingers would haphazardly add a piece too large for the single width tower, and their word would tumble to the ground. My gentle suggestions of starting with a wider base, of strengthening the bottom portion…
A Sense of Place: Writing A Location You’ve Never Visited
Write what you know. All well and good until a story requires your imagination to travel somewhere you’ve never been. For today’s purposes, we’ll stick to the known world, for fantasy and science fiction writers have their own tips and tricks for setting and location. My aim today is to share some of my best…