On the very first day that I “cared enough to send the very best” for a living, I sat down with the Editorial Director of Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. As someone who routinely wrote book reviews for The Sunday New York Times, Web Schott was the most serious and erudite person I’d ever met. I admit I felt intimidated. After welcoming me to the Writers Room and telling me how things got done, he asked if I had any … Read More »

Be Positive. Really? Not everything we hear about living a long and happy writer’s life includes the practice of maintaining a positive outlook. So many writers describe their efforts as misery, trying to come up with the opening line that’s a grabber, the descriptive details or dialogue that sell the character, the solution to the “soggy middle” of the story that can ruin everything. The Curse of the Blank Page Writing’s many challenges sometime make it too easy to take … Read More »

One of the primary goals of a fiction writer is to create a strong, unforgettable lead character. Yet, most of us have likely discovered that the full measure of many great characters is brought to light by their sidekick, partner, or buddy. This is a person who might share in the story’s adventures. Maybe it’s a character who plays the part of the reader by asking the questions the reader would ask or pointing out what the reader may or … Read More »

The first lesson we typically learn as writers is to write what we know—good advice. After all, we want the reader to step easily into the story, sensing its truth and authenticity. But that idea can also stifle a writer. A woman I was coaching told me she would only be able to write about her divorce. “I really don’t want to re-live it,” she said, “but it’s all I feel qualified to write about.” First-hand experience may be a … Read More »