Sometimes I run out of steam. Sometimes I run out of ideas. Sometimes I run out of time. Sometimes I just plain get stuck. Whatever the reason that forces me to stop writing, I make sure I won’t have to face “blank screen syndrome” when I settle back into my chair (not completely, anyway). Before I shut my computer down, I like to have some specifics of where the story is headed upon my return. My mind will keep exploring … Read More »

After submitting for consideration a short story for FWA Collection 7, Revisions: Stories of Starting Over, I noticed I had split an infinitive like an atom. Although the result may not be as devastating, it may prevent publication. On second thought… The Star Trek introduction, “To boldly go where no man has gone,” influenced the way I spoke during formative years in rural North Carolina. Grammar school grammar lessons were forgotten as soon as I rushed home, to veg out … Read More »

Questions about manuscript formatting pop up frequently in online discussion groups for writers. Sometimes you’ll get great help asking virtual strangers, but just as often the advice you receive will conflict, not apply to your particular situation, or be just plain wrong. (And how many novels could we write with all the time used on online forums to “debate” whether there should be one or two spaces after a period?) This post was inspired by an online discussion where one … Read More »

If I were to ask you to describe a writer, what would your response be? If someone posed that question to me, initially I’d describe someone hard at work at a desk, typing, staring into a computer screen, or balling up wads of paper and tossing them into a wastebasket (perhaps as they tear at their hair in frustration). All of those images are clear in my mind, but I also do a good share of writing away from my … Read More »

The first ideas drafted for my middle-grade novel were done via pencil and lined tablet. Once I settled in front of my computer, I entered a delusional state where I believed the document on my screen would be the only one I’d need to worry about for the rest of this story’s creation. In my college creative writing classes, my professors spoke of creating character profiles along with other notable, vital story timelines and elements. I thought it a tedious … Read More »

We can probably all agree that time slows down painfully when someone is reading our writing in draft. And we’re particularly anxious about what our first reader will say about a first draft, yes? When you decide your work is ready to be read for the first time, who do you ask for feedback? A spouse? A friend? Another writer? Your writers group? Recently I came across an article from Poets & Writers that I’ve kept for a long time. Kevin Nance interviewed novelists … Read More »