Creative writing is a little like cage fighting before an audience of five. Cage fighting might provide more immediate satisfaction. At least there is a live crowd and an occasional cheer. Writers, after several rounds of circling their doubts, may land only one punch—on their inner critic. Common Wounds Sustained by Writers The writer’s wounds are made of commas, unanswered emails, and sentences that looked brilliant at midnight but, by breakfast, resemble something written by a loopy cage fighter with … Read More »

After a recent event at which authors were set up at tables to sell their books, one of the authors commented on how disappointed she was with the way the event had been planned, marketed, advertised, laid out, managed, and handled. No wonder she had sold only four books all day! She could only hope they would do a better job next year or she would never come back. I had noticed this author during the event. She’s someone I … Read More »

The Press The term fourth estate was coined centuries ago in reference to the press and is enshrined in the First Amendment of our Constitution along with the freedom of speech and the right of the people to assemble. Now, in this third decade of the twenty-first century, all three of those freedoms are under attack—especially the press. Consider the recent 60 Minutes debacle along with CNN and The New York Times being called “fake news,” and the intent is … 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 »

It’s difficult enough to be a writer. You slave over words and edits and strive to get published and recognized. And then the scammers move in. Some give flowery praise of your work and promise to get it in bookstores, gift shops and book clubs. All for just a few hundred bucks. I did fall for one scam recently. The marketer, a “book placement specialist,” was effusive in her praise of one of my books and said she could get … Read More »

It’s November again, and that—for those, who have ever participated—may still mean NaNoWriMo. Yes, November is the month when lots of writers across the country used to engage to write a whole novel before the clock strikes December. I’m not so sure rushing out a novel in four weeks is a great idea, myself. It can be done if one enters with all the background research and prep work accomplished. Even still, it has a downside. Although it’s no longer … Read More »