Creativity
Which Comes First, The Novel or the Title
While I’m out of town visiting family and waiting for the arrival of the new grandchild, I thought I’d share a blog I wrote for Fresh Fiction in June of 2009. A search tells me it never appeared here, so enjoy now. I’ll be back with new blogs next week. Which comes first, the novel…
Read MoreDigging for Gold In My Own Backyard
Since I’m traveling today, I thought you might enjoy a blog I wrote last fall for Suzanne Beecher who runs “Dear Reader” book clubs online. Suzanne’s book clubs are a great way to have book excerpts sent directly to you each weekday, in a genre you choose. For the record, and a year later, I did NOT…
Read MoreCreativity by Ingredients: Recipes and Plots, Cooking and Writing
Those of you who have “fanned” my page on Facebook know I like to cook. In fact you’ve probably figured out that I like to cook from the Internet. And it’s true. The Yahoo homepage I stare at every morning, is a one of a kind original, with feeds and “widgets” chosen by me. My page…
Read MoreDon’t Push The River; It Flows By Itself: Creativity and Deadlines
Sometimes, there are no words. It’s that simple. There are entire days, sometimes stretching to weeks, when putting together an intelligent sentence is a remarkable challenge. Most often these days occur when I’m writing a synopsis. A synopsis is a story summary. Picture me sitting down over coffee one morning to give you a blow by…
Read MoreBrainstorming in Sunny Climes–Five Authors and a Blizzard of Ideas
As I’ve told you before, I’m a confirmed Brainstormer, or BSer, as my group fondly calls itself. I just finished a week in Sarasota, Florida with my brainstorming friends working on ideas for our upcoming novels. Please remember, the plans for this event were laid months ago. We didn’t check weather maps or consult a…
Read MoreA Rose By Any Other Name–Robin, Rachel, Ruth, Rita?
What’s in a name? If you’ve ever named a child, or even a pet, you know the answer. We don’t take this lightly, do we? “Oh, we’ll call the new puppy Rover, that’s easy. We’ll call the new baby Jane or Mary because they’re easy to pronounce and spell.” Rover, Jane, Mary? All perfectly good…
Read MoreRecipes–or what do books and bread have in common?
It’s been quiet at Southern Exposure. I arrived home from Europe all set to do the final read through and editing of Fortunate Harbor, next summer’s Mira and the sequel to Happiness Key, which is at your bookstore now. Since my husband went on to Greece, I had a quiet house, and nothing on my…
Read MoreIs Your Skills About to Expired: Spam and Free Verse
Waste not, want not. In this time of scarcity, anxiety and making do, I recently felt compelled to use something I have in abundance. I bet you have it, too. That’s right. Spam. And not the kind that comes from Hormel. Maybe I have too much time to think, or maybe some of the hilarious…
Read MoreNo Cause for Alarm
“Tomorrow March 25 between 9:30 and noon, CBS Paramount pictures will be filming a TV scene on the Potomac River near the Key Bridge in which special effects (loud noise and fire) will simulate a small water vessel being blown up. This will be a heavily monitored and controlled event lasting only a few seconds. …
Read MoreDreaming Large
A story begins with a dream. Not necessarily the kind that involves pajamas and firm mattresses, but the kind we all have, that waking moment when our minds go spinning into outer space imagining what could be instead of what is.
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