First off, the writer should never take a vacation. At least not from writing. Always be writing, even when you’re out there. Over the next few months, writers will join millions of other Americans in sojourning forth on vacation, by road, rail, wing, and sail. Sipping fruity drinks. Snapping pictures. Living it up. Take advantage; trips provide marvelous opportunities for writing because they throw the new and unexpected right in your face. Good writing lives in details, and there’s no … Read More »

Writing fiction is an odd choice of preoccupation. If you play tennis or golf or surf or run marathons, you can at least say you got your exercise in. If you paint or make pottery, you have a finished objet d’art to show off. Music? Your friends and family can sing along. Gardening? A beautiful yard or produce to share. Playing video games can be active and social. Reading is often considered time well spent for the mind and spirit. … Read More »

Losing Yourself Part I discussed the need to lose ourselves within the character whose point of view we’re writing in order to rise to the top of our writing craft and create characters that stay with readers for a lifetime. But how can we do that? What makes us afraid to sink ourselves deeply into a viewpoint different from our own? And how can we alleviate at least some of those fears? No doubt, most of us have already discovered … Read More »

Every writer hits a brick wall now and then. You can’t move forward and there’s no going back. You can sit there, wailing at the ceiling, tearing at your hair, and gnashing your teeth, but chances are it’s not going to get you moving anytime soon. What do I do when it happens to me? I write. Wait. Didn’t I just say I was writing and got stuck? And then I said the solution was to write? Right! Here’s how … Read More »

What are writers but actors who get to play all the parts? And the most basic tenet of actors and writers? Become your character. Literally millions of us have playacted and beyond that, had some brush with the art of drama in a more structured form. Millions of us learn our languages, learn to communicate in written form, learn to write in the voice of our perceived or imagined selves, someone historical, famous, infamous, or completely made up. As writers … Read More »

The middle-grade mystery that began its life as a tiny glimmer of an idea is finally done (I’m pretty sure). You know how it goes – just one more tweak here, change a word there. But at this point, I’m hitting the ‘save’ button one last time and calling it done. Now, what do I do with those great scenes that didn’t make the cut and the ideas that are still swirling around in my head? I’m considering a series … Read More »