Dead Air
I seem to have taken up semi-permanent residence in Revisionland. Not only am I working on draft 3 of Wolfie, my own novel in progress, my recent jobs have included two critiques of first novels and a...
View ArticleWhen Chitchat Takes the Wheel
Dialogue is a challenge. It’s got to sound real, but it can’t be too real because in real life people often go on at great length without saying much of anything. If your characters go on at great...
View ArticleBe Brave
Writing does take courage. It takes courage to sit down (or stand up, if you use one of those newfangled standing desks) expecting words to appear on the screen or sheet of paper in front of you,...
View ArticleGoing Public
Recently I critiqued two book-length manuscripts, both novels and both promising. Before the authors contacted me, no one else had read either manuscript all the way through. I say this not because...
View ArticleLearn the Biggest Secret of Every Good Writer
Originally posted on Business in Rhyme: We all know that nobody is born as a good writer. It is a constant process of becoming. And I do believe that the difference between good and bad writers it’s...
View ArticleThe Power of Place
As a writer, I love revising and rewriting. As an editor, I do almost none of it. Critiques, yes. When a writer I don’t know asks me to edit a book-length manuscript, I generally suggest critique as a...
View ArticleA Writers’ Group Is Born
Last fall, in “Going Public,” I blogged about Writers Read, a writers’ group hosted by the library in my town of West Tisbury, Massachusetts. At each meeting, six or seven writers read short works or...
View ArticleKeep Yourself Accountable – Find a Writing Buddy
Originally posted on Business in Rhyme: Solace. I always emphasize how solitude is your great companion in writing. Stillness of environment allows the quietness of mind to take place and gives you...
View ArticleBut That’s How It Happened!
“You’d think that basing a novel on real-life people and real-life events would be easier than making it all up from scratch — but it isn’t. Strange but true, the fact that you knew at least some of...
View ArticleIt’s An Illusion
Originally posted on BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog: Entertainment at the annual Brevity office party A few years ago I studied at Writers In Paradise with the wonderful Laura Williams McCaffrey. I brought...
View ArticleC Is for Critic, Criticism & Critique
I may be going too far with this multiple-word thing, but these three are closely related: they all derive, says Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, from the Greek kritikós “discerning, capable...
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Workshops 4 Writers
I’ve long had a hankering to offer workshops for writers but never had a space to do it in. Finally, somewhat serendipitously, the perfect space appeared, and even more serendipitously, it’s on the...
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