Observations from an Introverted Novelist
Marketing is hard for introverted novelists
Read moreTag Archives: Writing
Patty Wiseman: Where it All Started
This month’s guest blog post is from Award Winning Patty Wiseman who writes stories of strong women overcoming insurmountable odds. From historical to contemporary these romantic and suspenseful tales carry the message of survival by extraordinary women. Find Patty on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and Amazon. WHERE IT ALL STARTED I was that kid with the flashlight under the covers every
Read moreSelf-doubt: An Authors Worst Enemy
Authors are plagued with self-doubt and worry over silly things. Harper Lee, for one, threw her whole manuscript for To Kill a Mockingbird out her NYC window while editing. Fortunately, her publisher made her retrieve and finish the book. See, Fling Manuscript From the Window. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s daughter, Rose, stated in a diary entry the she doubted her mother’s manuscript
Read moreLife is Messy…
Some days, you just have to spread everything across the floor and sort it out.
Read moreWriting Slump
Chocolate makes it all better 🙂
Read moreThe Downside of Critiques
There is a downside to receiving critiques from multiple writers/readers. For example, ten people will have ten different opinions on grammar and views of the story which, although helpful to catch minor issues, also adds discouraging doubts into the mix. I end up revising the story and characters so much I hear my main character screaming, “Leave me alone.” Which is exactly what the
Read moreThat Comma Thing
Oscar Wilde is credited with the following quote: “I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.” Source: Definitive analysis of Wilde’s comma remark: http://oscarwildeinamerica.org/quotations/took-out-a-comma.html I try, I really do. But as I read all the rules for when, how, where, and why a comma
Read moreIt Begins With Passion
The kind of passion family and friends accuse us of being obsessed about because we neglect them at times. We’ve stayed up too late meeting a deadline, finishing a thought, or tweaking one more sentence. Fellow writers are the only ones who understand. We follow and friend each other for support and higher social media stats. One of my favorite quotes comes
Read moreFling the Manuscript Out the Window
An interesting story is told about Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird (1960), by biographer, Charles J. Shields in his book, Mockingbird (2006) (Summary mine) Sometime before publication, Ms. Lee was struggling with revisions. She opened the window of her apartment and flung the manuscript into the darkness. Years of work scattered in the snow. Thankfully, her editor
Read moreSo You Want to Write a Novel
Some moment in time the desire entered your mind, “I want to write a novel. How hard can it be?” Well…remember the first time you tried to juggle as kid? “I can to do that,” you said. The clown at the circus made it look easy but when you tossed the first ball into the air, followed by a second,
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