Who is the Main Character in Rita Williams-Garcia’s Jumped?

If there were Ten Commandments of writing for children, the main character shall change by the end of the story would be among them. Jumped, by Rita Williams-Garcia breaks the rule. I would argue that the main character does change, but she’s not the obvious character. Most of the story takes place in a day […]

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Applying the Tools of Memoir to Fiction – Mary Karr and Jeff Zentner’s The Serpent King

In The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr writes of the need to burrow deeply into the writer’s psyche, to dig beneath the surface of how we want to appear to write with an authentic voice. “The author of a lasting memoir manages to power past the initial defenses, digging past the false self to where […]

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An invitation for Architectural Digest

Updated: Sep 11, 2021 Dear Architectural Digest, I am a big fan of your magazine. I’ve been reading it carefully for several years now, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the celebrity homes, the vacation places, and the adorable country estates in foreign countries. As I turned the last page of your most recent issue, it occurred to […]

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The magic quarter

I’ve been thinking a lot about beginnings: what makes them work? where are the key turning points? how do they relate to the rest of the story? Earlier this month, I realized that one piece of writing advice that we all hear over and over at every conference, lecture, or blog post about beginnings was […]

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A little goes a long way

I’ve wanted to write novels for as long as I can remember, but I’ve always had a hard time getting to The End. It’s daunting, isn’t it? You have this great idea, a character you love, or something that compels your forward and yet…..there are so many words to write down. Over the years, I’ve […]

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Finding inspiration

I’m in a bathroom in a small town in Mexico. It’s the same as at home…but different. You can’t drink the water, toilet paper is not a given, and you check the water before you put soap on your hands because functioning faucets are not a given either….but the people are helpful, the scenery is […]

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Why we need whimsy

It’s the first weekend that feels nearly fall-like here, in North Carolina, and I have that urge to make lists, clean the closets, and reflect on summer. As I was combing through some photos from the summer, I thought about whimsy, and how important it is for my creative soul. Summer started with birds. My […]

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Organizing your approach to social media

If I say “social medial” and you think “I have nothing to say,” your paradigm is about to be totally up-ended. I had the pleasure of hearing President and Founder of The Social institute Laura Tierney’s thoughts this week (she’s on twitter @soLaur) and I’m going to share what I gleaned from her energetic, polished, […]

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Where you do find the time?

I’ve been thinking about time, lately, and the opening scene of I Don’t Know How She Does It (Allison Pearson) comes to mind. The main character, a working mother, is madly “distressing” a store-bought pie at 10 PM after work in an effort to make it look more homemade before she takes it to her […]

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The plot thickens….

I’ve always been somewhere in the middle of the plotter-to-pantser spectrum, but no more. At least not for now. I’ve done a deep, painful, belly-smacking dive into the pool of plotting and I’m pretty sure that’s where I’ll stay. It hurt. There were tears. Notebooks were damaged in this endeavor. But I think I’ve come […]

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