Where Writers Get Ideas: What Do You Do on Vacation?
I’m on the high seas today, taking a holiday after finishing When We Were Sisters. Here’s a blog I wrote after another trip almost exactly two years ago, and I thought you might enjoy a second look. I’ll be back next week with new tales to tell. *** Let’s take a little quiz. Do you…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: To build a ship
I’m leaving today on a 7 day Caribbean cruise, so you can understand why I’m so moved by these words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery. I grew up in Florida, so the ocean–or in my case, the gulf–has always been an important part of my life. I find water not just beautiful but transcendent and inspirational. I love…
Read MoreTrigger Points for Novelists
If you read last week’s blog, you know about one of my personal trigger points. I don’t always like being edited. I have an excellent editor, who listens and supports me. Still, I don’t like the editing process. I’m sure I’m not unusual, but at the same time, as I pointed out, many of my colleagues don’t…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: JellyBean Time
Last Sunday it was golf balls, and this Sunday it’s jellybeans. The theme is similar: how are we going to choose to spend our time on what’s important in our lives. You might call it JellyBean time. This creative video reminded me that time on this earth is short, and if we don’t pay attention…
Read MoreLet It Stand: Editing a Novel
Writers differ on what they like least about the process of turning an idea into a novel on bookstore shelves. A fair number of my colleagues hate writing a synopsis because they don’t know ahead of time what’s going to happen. They want to be surprised and they don’t want to do the plotting up front. In case you…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: What’s Important?
Last Sunday I encouraged you (and me) to block out time in the coming year for what’s important. But first we have to answer this question: What’s important? This is the perfect story to help do that. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began,…
Read MoreHoliday Hangover
What do you get when you cross the holiday season with a root canal? Actually, the answer is pretty pedestrian. You get a writer with a proposal to finish, edits to check, and too many fretful nights. So tune in next week when I suspect that writer (me) will be fresher and more alert. (And don’t worry,…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Block it Out!
So how are those New Year’s resolutions coming on Day 3? I shared my writing resolutions for the new year here at my blog on Wednesday. The problem with resolutions in my mind is that they are too abstract, idealistic, and impractical. My philosophy when it comes to resolutions is the same I have for…
Read MoreThe Writing Process 2015: Resolutions For the New Writing Year.
If you’re new to The Writing Process 2015, these posts are a chance to share my journey through my latest novel, starting at ground zero. 2015 will be over soon, and so will this category of Southern Exposure. I’ve so much enjoyed recounting a year of work on When We Were Sisters with you. Since…
Read MoreHoliday Inspiration: The Wise-Man Star
Every once in a while I share this reading at Christmas. The excerpt comes from my novel Fugitive, which was released as part of a romance trilogy from Silhouette Books in the 1990s. I’m hoping to re-release all three of these novels again in the near future. Tate, the heroine, has moved to a cabin on land in the…
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