A lot of well-worn advice gets passed around a writing workshop, things like “Show, Don’t Tell,” and “Write What You Know.” Students learn all sorts of “rules” about writing in their introductory classes, and then they get to ADVANCED WORKSHOP where they learn to forget the rules and trust their instincts, but the problem is, […]
Novel Revision
I am so proud of my protagonist!
I’m revising. It is messy. If you’re a regular old reader who simply enjoys books, and really cares not one whit how they get made, then avert your eyes. You are about to enter the sausage-making factory and NO ONE wants to see that! Still here, eh? Okay, here’s where I’m at. First draft […]
Falling in Love, Again, With Your Book
So, you may have read in a previous post that I finished a first draft of a novel. After I typed THE END, I had a glass of wine and then I shoved the book into the proverbial drawer, meaning I closed my computer file and pinky-swore, with myself, not to open it for 2-4 […]
Redesigning my writing, my life, and my closet
For the past year, I’ve been rewriting my debut novel, “Come As You Are.” And I do mean re-writing. I had completed many surface revisions in the years prior, had pursued agents thinking that, the next one I contacted would be the one, all the while pushing down the nagging thought that my book might […]
Still Crazy
Last night, I was at a party with some people I hadn’t seen in awhile, which means I had to answer the oft-repeated question, “How’s the book coming?” This question isn’t so easy to answer anymore. First of all, which book? The one I thought was “finished”? The one I just started? The one I have […]
Flexibility
I had coffee with a friend this week who is also the mom of two young children, and she asked how my book was coming and then asked me how on earth I have time to write it. This is something I get asked a lot, and I explained that I have to be very flexible. I’ve […]
Writing Exercises–Not Just for Beginners
I’m embarking on another rewrite of my novel this week. I think this is number five, though it’s hard to decide what constitutes a rewrite. I’m always fiddling with things, of course, at the sentence level, but for my purposes, a rewrite starts with a list of things I want to address that often seep […]