As a writer, try to imagine, after your death, someone in your family who's not a writer going through all your work, past and present, drafts, false starts, deleted files, scribblings-- all of it-- … Continue reading >>
Why do some writers torture themselves with procrastination? Some writers fear failure, and you can’t fail at something you aren’t doing. But not writing at all is also a failure, so then guilt sets … Continue reading >>
Here’s a totally different take on outlines from Elmore Leonard, from an interview for The Detroit Free Press.
He never uses them
If you aren’t familiar with Leonard, he is “The … Continue reading >>
A plan! A plan!
I stumbled on The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, written by agent and author, Evan Marshall:
“By following this 16-step program, any writer can fulfill the dream of completing a … Continue reading >>
I don't mind rejection, but not when it seems arbitrary. Ah, the whim of editors. One declined my manuscript because her pet peeve is present tense, and she’s also looking for multicultural stories, … Continue reading >>
At the Rochester Spotlight on the Arts show, I saw something I’d never seen before: Authors, sitting in a booth with their books stacked in front of them on a table. There was a Michigan mystery … Continue reading >>