So, it appears I’ve forgotten to post for awhile. In fact, I teased you with a February post just before I attended my first Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Conference in New York, and then I never followed up to tell you how it went, and that was very naughty of me, […]
Idea Generation
Filling the Well
“Filling the Well” is a phrase I first encountered many years ago in Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way.” It’s a concept for writers that’s quite simple to grasp, harder to accomplish. It simply refers to having new experiences, getting out into the world, seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting new things so that you can […]
Turn, Turn, Turn
There’s gorgeous, fluffy snow covering everything this morning. The kids hurried through breakfast so they’d have time to play in it before walking to school. My husband (who actually enjoys shoveling, go figure) happily donned his trapper’s hat and set to work on the driveway. I’m smiling as I write, and thinking, “Well, it’s about […]
Quick! Get my tinfoil hat!
There are moments when paranoia grips my throat so tightly I can’t breathe…when my mind is paralyzed with the thought that someone else out there…someone else laboring alone in her own, similarly sized and ill-equipped writing closet is writing about the very same thing I am! But I had the idea first! Didn’t I? Not fair!Here’s my […]
The Little Man Inside My Head
So, I’ve been having this problem with…um…with… (Hey! Is that a Chipping Sparrow at the birdfeeder?)…FOCUS. After a long (sometimes painful, sometimes exhilerating) struggle to complete my first novel, I’m ready to begin the next one. I have a bare-bones idea for the book, and I’ve been doing lots of background reading, but I […]
Writing by Walking Around
You’ve heard of Management By Walking Around, the MBWA? Today, I practiced the not as well known WBWA, Writing By Walking Around. No words were actually put on paper, but I considered it a good work day nonetheless. I spent a glorious two hours in the fiction stacks of my local library. I had no […]
Trusting Your Gut
So, I’m still writing in my closet and convinced that this is definitely the place for me. This summer, when I have more time, I plan to turn this space into something fabulous. Even now, with badly scuffed walls, diaper boxes on the floor, and my husband’s shirts hanging over my shoulder, this space is […]
Inspiration
I’m supposed to be writing novel #2, but I’m looking out my office window counting the yellow leaves as they fall from my ash tree. I used to have trouble remembering what kind of tree it was, but then I thought up a little hint. If I ask my husband again what kind of tree […]