The Writing Process
Diary of Eight Novels: Brainstorming 2011
I’m in rainy Ohio, shivering with my brainstorming group. Ohio in the late spring is newly green and outside the windows of my son’s house, both a Japanese magnolia and a pink dogwood bloom. I feel glad to be here no matter what the weather. Last year we were together in Florida, so our venue has changed, but our group…
Read MoreSomething Old, Something New, and Not Just for Weddings
I am endlessly fascinated by feedsacks. I don’t mean the burlap variety farmers use for hauling hen house manure, or the ones the foolhardy leap into for Fourth of July sack races. I’m talking about cotton feed or flour sacks adorned with cheerful prints that were designed to be emptied, washed and used for quilts or clothing. The practice…
Read MoreStill Haunted By Things I Don’t Know
Some of you who pop in an out of my Facebook page know that I’ve been working non-stop on character sketches for the first book of my new series, which will debut in August of 2012. Not all authors bother with this. Some are content to allow the character to reveal him or herself as…
Read MoreEbooks, Treasured Novels, and Becoming My Own Publisher
So there I was last October, in a packed room with treasured colleagues, authors I love, authors I’ve admired, and newish authors with infectious enthusiasm for this crazy career of ours. And in the front on the panels? Some of the most powerful people in publishing. Novelists, Inc., an international group of multi-published authors, is the only…
Read MoreEndings and Beginnings, Careers, Novels and Quilts
Although I have never started a novel I didn’t finish, I have a host of quilts I’ve begun that are still waiting for their final stitch. I quilt because it’s fun. Not because I need warm covers on my bed or bright patches of color on my walls. The real reason I quilt is because it…
Read MoreWhen That Pesky “But Maybe. . .” Comes Calling
Last month I submitted a proposal for a new series to my editor and agent, both of whom liked it. A lot. How lovely. Whether an editor and agent like a book is not the first hurdle an author experiences. To begin we must come up with the germ of an idea, then expand it into something…
Read MoreThe Fine Art of Letting Go
So there I was on Christmas Eve, getting ready for the big day and all the celebration. The Christmas carols were turned up full volume, and the house smelled like baking bread. Cookie dough was waiting its own turn in the oven, but with all this good cheer, I still couldn’t shake an unusual sense of…
Read MoreKeeping It Simple is Much Too Complicated
Albert Einstein once said: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Who am I to argue with Al, whose theory of relativity was as simple as 1, 2, 3 to the power of infinity? Last night as I stood in my kitchen among the remnants of a delicious and ultimately overcomplicated…
Read MoreThe Write Way: Sometimes We Just Need A Hand
You’re moving right along on your new project. The characters are no longer one dimensional, the plot’s moving at just the right pace; then suddenly you sit down at the computer/typewriter/legal pad and nothing happens. You’re stuck. Nothing is more chilling to a writer than an empty page. I outline extensively to avoid them, but…
Read MoreWhich 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…
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