Last weekend, I chatted with my mom about a scene from the current novel rewrite I cut. Then a friend (Rick Coste) and I chatted in email about the phrase: Kill your darlings Killing Your Darlings I once knew someone who went through a story and cut all their favorite scenes. Not analyzing so much […]
A Little Time (Out)
Some very good things have been written on an hour a day. – John Updike I work on a weekly podcast with a friend in the cracks. By that, I mean I never schedule time to work on the show — I only work on it when it crosses my mind and I have a […]
In Praise of Slow Writing (Part II)
I’m a big fan of slow writing. I love that recent Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See) was a book that took 10 years to write. A previous winner, Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, took a decade as well. (Right now, some NaNoWriMo writers are thinking, “Damn, I’m slowing […]
Roller Coaster Writing
The advice usually goes something like this: Hook your readers with action right from the start, and then…every single word, sentence, paragraph, and page must drive them through more action — until the end, when readers can barely handle any more excitement! I understand wanting to write (and read) something that feels like this: But […]
All the Things
This week, I seem to have bumped into articles and videos about how multitasking and other hurried methods of producing usually have a negative effect on production…or it’s just where my mind is at this week and those articles stood out more. (My guess: the latter situation.) Sometimes I think about moving on to a […]
Surrounding Yourself (with Writing)
One of my favorite podcasts is Otherppl with Brad Listi. (If fact, it’s the only podcast to which I’ve subscribed to premium content; after all, it’s less than $10.00/year.) I love the way Listi digs and gets writers to talk not just about their writing in ways they usually don’t discuss, but their lives and […]
A Time to Write
I got into a bad habit the past week. I allowed myself to do other things before writing: Let me edit this podcast… Let me clean the kitchen… Let me run these errands… Let me do this and that…and then I’ll write. The problem is, I haven’t written as much as usual since returning from […]
Get to the Desk
There is a part in this Otherppl With Brad Listi podcast interview with Stewart O’Nan where O’Nan talks about waking up early and getting straight to one’s writing desk as quickly as possible without other things getting in the way. O’Nan says: It’s always about getting back to the desk because that’s where the good […]
The Lucky Writer
It’s always seemed to me that some people either feel uncomfortable about discussing the effect of luck when it comes to “making it” as a writer (or with any creative endeavor), or that people really do believe that hard work and talent is all it takes to become a huge success. I’ve written before about […]
What Goes Into A First Draft
I didn’t write this past weekend. Well, I didn’t work on the novel-in-progress this past weekend…because I’m calling it a done draft! Sure, there are some rough edges and parts where crude notes like MAKE BETTER! and DESCRIBE MORE SHIT! linger. Some parts — most of the novel, really — is pretty readable (which is […]
Why You’re Not Writing
Ask someone who wants to write (but isn’t writing) why they aren’t producing, and you almost always get this answer: I don’t have time. When I hear someone say, “I don’t have time,” I ask them what their favorite TV shows are. They usually rattle off 3-5 shows; sometimes many more. If you watch more […]
Some Thoughts About Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding. For some writers, it’s everything. Before characters, plot, or anything else, it’s all about creating a big world…even going to great lengths to spend time making up things that are never even seen in the story, for “greater understanding and authenticity…” I may be an exception in my views, but those who go to […]
Perfect Writing
I’ve struggled with the idea of perfection in life. In juggling, in writing, and other things that mattered to me, I fixated on a perfection I’m not sure exists. It’s a nice thought that I can finish a piece of something perfectly before moving on to my next thing, but in my life, I’ve only […]
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