Some days, we come to the blank page with the fires of creation burning bright in our hearts. Other days, we sift through the cold ashes and wonder what the hell happened to our creativity. As writers, we depend on our creativity — it’s the fuel that makes us work. Waiting for inspiration is a [...]
The Worst One-Star Amazon Reviews… Ever!
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Note: This is not a collection of hilarious one-star reviews, but rather a post on reviews that are not hilarious. Or useful. Or worth writing. I generally try to remain positive on this blog. Today, however, I’m going to be as negative and sarcastic as your average one-star Amazon reviews. I read a lot of [...]
Are You Starting New Writing Projects to Avoid Finishing Old Ones?
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If you haven’t been reading Ava Jae’s blog, this is a great time to start. Ava posted a great piece on what it takes to finish writing your novel, a struggle every novelist knows all too well. One passage in particular from Ava’s piece stuck out to me: You need to understand that if you [...]
Dramatic Scenes and Dramatic Irony: Eight Easy Fixes
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Do you struggle to make your writing soar? Does your “dramatic” scene lay there like a dead haddock, refusing to move the action forward? Do your characters blather on about some sort of danger or action that might take place in the future, even while the characters themselves (and probably the reader) glance at their [...]
Revision and Editing: Every Editor Matters
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A short one today. In continuing a bit from an earlier post, I’d like to talk not about one’s blog readers and how much they matter (hint: a lot), but rather about the people who read our work — the editors, the beta readers, the friends and family who take time out of their day [...]
Writing Criticism: Taking It Gracefully
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Criticism! So you’ve finally done it. You’ve completed your writing project. Your baby. The Story You’ve Always Wanted to Tell. And now you’ve put your writing in the hands of your loving beta-readers or peer editors for perusal. Breathlessly, you await their criticism, craving the keen insight they will no doubt bring to your – [...]
Writing Your Rough Draft: The Show Must Go On
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Many years ago, I attended a showing of The Phantom of the Opera. What does that have to do with writing motivation and your rough draft? Stick with me. If you’ve ever seen the play, you’re familiar with that bit where the Phantom bellows out the final verse of “The Music of the Night” and [...]
Lucky 7 Meme: WIP Excerpt
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I was tagged by Anna Meade of Yearning for Wonderland for the Lucky 7 WIP meme. Here are the rules: 1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP 2. Go to line 7 3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they’re written. 4. Tag 7 authors, and [...]
