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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Two years ago, I was poking around in an antique shop in Lenoir, North Carolina, a little furniture factory town in the mountains on the western side of the state, and I came across this book of postcards. Flipping through the soft, faded images, I felt like the universe was whispering to me. As I […]
I’ve been doing a bunch of reading about magic – not the fantasy kind, the stage performance kind – and have concluded we can learn from magicians. As writers, we pull our readers into a world of our shared invention. We can’t make a good story without someone to read it, to react to the […]
I’ve lost my head for perfume. When I’m writing, I can’t give up reading altogether, as some stronger-willed writers do. Instead, I gravitate to topics unlike whatever I’m writing. Instead of dutifully whittling down the pile on my nightstand, I add to it. This is a trait I apparently share with many fellow writers. I […]