I am waiting for my writing group to get back to me on the latest overhaul of my novel-in-progress. It’s been a strange time. A half-vacation. Should I write something new? Clean my office? Go through my kids’ toys and get rid of things they don’t play with any more but with […]
Reading and Writing (No Arithmetic): By Elizabeth Stark Read More »
Last week we went down to Cayucos, a small town north of Hearst Castle. We went for our annual get together with my SIL and BIL to watch the waves, write, play cribbage and walk on the beach. One of the methods I use to get my head in gear is to write metaphors or
New Sensations: Guest Blog by Bree LeMaire Read More »
With You When you hear the phrase “can’t take it with you,” it’s generally referring to money and how you can’t take it along when you die. But you can draw a similar conclusion with all of your “good ideas” in writing as well. In the course of the past week, several colleagues in the
Can’t Take It With You: by Devi Laskar Read More »
The late poet Stanley Kunitz gave several talks in and around Manhattan while I was still a graduate student in New York, and I was fortunate enough to hear him speak. One of the themes that ran through his amazing body of work and through his talks, was the theme of mythology. Professor Kunitz always
Making a Myth: by Devi Laskar Read More »
The Great Chain of Being in Contact My friend Jane posted this on my Facebook wall: “Had a lovely imaginary conversation with you yesterday, which made me think it’s time for a real one.” As fiction writers, we spend a great deal of time imagining conversations. It’s important that they seem real, but they must
The Great Chain of Being in Contact: Guest Blog by James Black! Read More »
In graduate school, I was fortunate to be a student of the late great Lucille Clifton. Not only was she an outstanding poet, but she was an exemplary teacher. And she used her wit and sense of humor to convey so many layers of meaning in her often short poems. She frequently spoke about the
Out loud: by Devi Laskar Read More »
I haven’t felt compelled to write lately. Is that bad? Can I call myself a writer if I’m not brimming with ideas and driven by the need to process every thought in writing? I used to feel that need. I felt compelled. Thoughts zapped into my head and came out my fingers as words in
Keep Verbing Until You Noun: Guest Blog by James Black! Read More »
To continue our discussion of the art of self-sabotage or procrastination, first we have to admit that we, as writers, sometimes want the aura of being a “writer” without any of the suffering that the title entails, all the hard work and self-doubt and isolation of being a writer. In his great book The War
Resistance is Futile! (part ii) Read More »
Writers get writers’ block. Happens to everyone at one point or another. It happens to some writers every day. Take me, for example. I struggle every day. Thanks to a recommendation from an old friend, I’ve been reading Steven Pressfield’s really great book The War of Art, which talks about resistance and how we
Resistance is Futile! (part i) Read More »
During a mentoring call in the Book Writing World, I had a breakthrough about writing detailed scenes, an AHA MOMENT that allowed me to internalize something I’ve known but didn’t quite know-know. Elizabeth’s exercise had us select a character and put him or her in a setting that the writer knows but the character doesn’t.
Show, Don’t Tell: Guest Blog by James Black! Read More »
Please confirm you want to block this member.
You will no longer be able to:
Please note: This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.