Writing about Tough Subjects: Award-Winning Debut Memoirist Shares Her Process

Katherine Quie's memoir, Raising Will, Surviving the Brilliance and Blues of ADHD, received three golds in the Independent Book Publishers and Midwest Book Publishers awards this year. These awards were hard won for this first-time memoirist on two fronts: in navigating the challenges of parenting Will, her brilliant son, a blues musician who struggled with ADHD, and crafting of her and Will's story in a way that would benefit others.

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What's at Stake? How to Ratchet Up the (Necessary) Tension in Your Book

Stories tell about dilemmas--someone facing a problem, someone learning, someone solving a mystery, someone growing. Dilemma is that question or quest your book addresses, small or large. Whether it's the best method of growing a bonsai garden or learning who killed the victim in a murder mystery or figuring out a new identity after a great loss, dilemma, also known as the dramatic arc, forms the path your reader travels through your book.

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Planning a Brighter New Year for Your Writing Life--Are You Ready to Look Ahead?

Hard to believe, but 2020 is almost behind us.

Quite the year. If your writing has benefited from the retreat of forced isolation, you're one of the fortunate ones. Others, I know, felt too flat with exhaustion and worry to nourish any creativity.

Looking back, it took me to midsummer to regain my stride. Changes in my work life from suddenly teaching on Zoom took vast amounts of learning and preparation time I hadn't planned for. I had to revamp all my class materials--not a bad thing, in the end. But it ate into my writing time.

I had to lean heavily on my writing partner and writer's group to get started again--we were all in similar places, so we helped each other.

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Fostering Gratitude for Your Writing in Uncertain Times

Two of my private clients emailed me this week, saying they hated their books. I don't usually hear such strong statements, especially from experienced writers as these. But life, not just the books, had worn these two writers out. Family illness, the spread of covid, exhausting politics, and dread of winter combined with difficult revision tasks put them over the edge.

It wasn't that they really hated their books--I knew that, I'd read both manuscripts, and they were good ones.

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Wordsmithing the Heck out of Your Revision--Ten Steps to Make It Shine

After the gathering stage, after the storyboarding and brainstorming your book's flow, after the first and tenth drafts are created, comes wordsmithing.

Wordsmithing is the final craft we book writers need to have in our toolbox. It's what makes the actual writing shine and sparkle.

Without the other steps, though, it's a wasted effort. I often think of it like putting curtains up on a framed house--window holes but no walls. The framing needs sheet rock, mudding and taping, sanding and painting, and glass in those windows, before the curtains go up.

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How to Send a Manuscript to an Agent--and What to Expect Once You Do

If you've been writing like crazy during the past months of isolation, you may be ready to send your manuscript off to an agent or two in the new year. One of my long-time students is in that scary and exciting place, and she asked for any tips on how to go about it.

(I've written in many past blog posts about how to know if you're really ready. You can search for them on my blog if you want to read them again. Enter "manuscript" or "agent" in the search box.)

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Writing Real-Life Characters: How to Get to Know the People You Already Know

I got an email from one of the students in my last online Afternoon Character Intensive. Since the workshop, he'd had a mini-breakthrough about his memoir--specifically the cast of characters he's trying to include. His mixed-up, even dangerous, family history means the players onstage are very individual, with quirks and tendencies. But he knew them so well, he'd not written that individuality onto the page.

It was hard enough coming to terms with their effect in his life. He wanted to write what happened, not who done it.

But he also knew that characters in memoir must be memorable--as memorable as those in a good novel--for readers to really grasp their importance and impact.

As he worked on one of the charts we use in the class to track key character arcs (growth of different characters who matter to the story), the breakthrough came.

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Editing-Writing-Storyboard Dance--When to Do Each One to Create the Best Book

One of my past clients has been working hard on her memoir. She emailed me a few weeks ago with a good question about the best rhythm for book writers who are in revision. How do you know what's needed next--more editing, more writing, or the long view of a storyboard or charts? What are the signs that it's time for each of these all-important tasks?

I call it a dance. Ideally, there's a predictable flow between each activity, with markers along the way to tell you when to change partners.

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When Your Characters Fade from the Page--Tips to Find Out Where and How to Revive Them

Combing for new ideas, insights, and writing exercises to offer in my upcoming characters class on November 7, I found a scratchy list I'd made while working on a client's manuscript some months ago. It had everything to do with fading characters, why they disappear inadvertently and how to bring them back.

This writer was finishing her first memoir. A good writer, a careful one, and her real-life characters were amazingly depicted--people you'd definitely remember, both for good and not.

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Poets and Writers New List of "Best Writing Books"--and My Personal Favs

 Around this time of year, maybe because the back-to-school energy has tempted me, I begin to look at buying another writing book or two. I mark them up, use them in classes, and study them all winter during prime writing time (hibernation). This week, I came across the latest list from Poets and Writers, a wonderful resource for all of us. (If the link doesn't work, go to their website and search for "best writing books.")

It's a very comprehensive list, but I thought I'd add a few favorites of my own, books that have been well-thumbed and underlined over the years. You'll have your own favorites too.

It pays every now and then to get what I call a "smart boost" by refreshing your craft skills. Hard to do when you're neck deep in a manuscript, or trying to meet a deadline, but if you can give yourself a couple of hours this week to go back to a favorite craft book or check out a new one.

A few of my favorite writing books:

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Submitting to Contests: Worth It or Waste of Money and Time?

A great way to get your writing out there, seen by readers and possibly your future agent (agents browse literary journals and magazines and website), is contests. Writing contests, if you have the happy experience of winning or even placing as a finalist, can also boost your query letter/resume considerably.

Quite a few of my clients and students submit to contests regularly. "It's great practice to have a deadline," one of them told me. She tries to submit something every month, even has the next submission ready to send as soon as she gets a rejection back. "Rejections are no fun but they're part of the writing life if you want to get published. It helps me not get discouraged if I can keep sending out my work no matter what."

Why contests? They cost. (A past student emailed that she was getting ready to send an essay and some poetry to a Writer's Digest contest. Then she found out about the fee. "They CHARGE you to enter," she told me. "Is this legit?" Short answer: Yup. Many contests charge. There are also a lot of free ones.) But they also give you an entry into journals and lit magazines.

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When Your Book Has a Mission--How Do You Keep the Story Personal and Engaging?

Mindy Greiling was a Minnesota state legislator when her son Jim threatened to kill her. It was his first psychotic episode. Mindy's new book, Fix What You Can,is an account of twenty years with her son's schizophrenia and her lawmaking efforts to change policy for people with mental illness.

It launches next week (October 8) from the University of Minnesota Press. (Click on the title for more information or to preorder.)

Mindy came to me for coaching a few years ago, challenged by the teaching points she wanted to bring into her memoir as a member of her state's legislature and the mother of a son. She wanted to make sure the story itself wasn't overwhelmed by the book's mission. She also wanted help on writing about the very tough subject of living with mental illness in her family while working a high-profile job.

After years of hard work, her book will soon be in the hands of readers. It's a book to be proud of. I wanted to interview her for this week's blog post, so readers who are also bringing agendas, or strong teaching points, into their memoir (or even fiction) can learn from her success.

I wanted to interview her for this week's blog post, so readers who are also bringing agendas, or strong teaching points, into their memoir (or even fiction) can learn from her success.

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Character Names: How to Find the Ones That Feel Just Right

A blog reader recently wrote me: "As I write a middle-grade mystery book on pet detectives, I have changed some character names three or four times. I can't see to get that 'feels right' fit for a particular name."

Names are tough for me. Some I just know, even before I start writing. I knew Kate and Mel from a short-story written before my novel, Qualities of Light, that expanded their story, was published. Kate was always a Kate, just because I felt that name was no nonsense, like a pilot has to be. Mel is a dreamy artist and I didn't care for Melvin, which it's short for, but try as I might, I couldn't change him to Jim or Joe or George.

Like my blog reader, though, some characters feel elusive in early drafts. I give them a "draft" name and try to keep it until they tell me otherwise. That might sound woo-woo to some, but fiction writers all know how the characters live inside our heads, often more real than the living folk around us at times.

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How Long Can You Go? Word Count Limit for First Books

First-time authors who love epics, such as Tolkien or the Outlander or Game of Thrones series, often ask me about word count for their manuscripts. "I'm at 150,000 words," one writer told me recently, and "I just can't seem to cut anything." Another wrote me this week about her ending--not sure where to stop, she keeps writing. Such dilemmas are common in the drafting stages, and I've encountered them too. Writing can be so satisfying, and trimming not so much.

If you're planning to self-publish, this is not an issue. You don't have to follow any rules but your own and your story can be as long as you want it to be, if you can afford the cost. But if you're hoping to find an agent and publisher, it's good to know the ballpark numbers--what's acceptable in the industry today.

Agents are particularly straightforward about their ability to sell first-time manuscripts that are less than 60,000 or that exceed 90,000 words. One of my early novels was around 45,000 words; an agent I approached loved the story but declined to represent me. "It's just too hard to sell that size book," she told me.

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Using the Storyboard for Short Pieces as Well as Long

Lila came to my remote "learn to storyboard your book" class to work on her novel. Recently, she emailed me, wondering if storyboards also were useful when planning shorter pieces, such as short stories or essays. "I often know how I want to start and end a short story," she wrote me, "but the part in the middle gets a little foggy. I like the idea of using a W structure but I also don't have much time to have 3 turning points. So maybe it's just a V?"
In my short stories, I also (usually) know where I want to begin and end. And Lila's right, that there's a lot less time to develop a full storyboard. But if I look carefully at my most successful short stories and essays, I can see at least the five main points of the storyboard in action.

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Dealing with the Emotions of Writing Tough Memories

Several clients have emailed me lately, asking how to deal with the flood of emotions that comes with writing memoir.
"Memories bring back the feelings, especially traumatic ones, and I get stalled out with my writing," said one client recently. "Do you have any tips for handling these overwhelming emotions so I can keep writing?"

I'm very familiar with that internal flood. When I was writing How to Master Change in Your Life, a spirituality/self-help hybrid, I remember working on a chapter about business failure and bankruptcy. Reliving that terrible time was so difficult, I actually had to run to the bathroom and throw up. Other times I'd get so stuck, I couldn't write one word.

Two things were happening: I was processing what I hadn't finished. And, at the same time, I was trying to get enough of a perspective to tell the story for others.

This double duty affected me on so many levels, I sought help. Talking about the events with others, especially a therapist, helped the processing part. I moved through shame and sadness, anger and fear, to gradual acceptance.

I also got great help from resources like The Tapping Solution, my daily spiritual practice, and chanting. These helped dispel some of the intensity and lift me above the constant mental chewing over what had happened (here's a short video on a chant that helped me the most--and I still use every day, especially now).

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Distant Dialogue: Pros and Cons of Including Emails, Letters, Social Media Posts, Texts, Phone Calls, and Journal Excerpts in a Book

Voices are only a small part of human communication. We read emotions via gestures, eye movement, and facial expressions, as well. In books, you can add setting to the mix--whatever the character notices in her environment emphasizes the emotion she's feeling. It's a rich mix.

I often hear from students who want to include letters, diary entries, texts, or social media posts in their stories. Can you do this, they ask, without losing the reader? And how much is too much?

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Honing Your Dialogue-Writing Skills--And Learning When Not to Use It

I love writing dialogue. I've taken classes on how to craft it, where to put it to break up and add rhythm to a scene. I see dialogue-writing skills needed across the board now, not just in fiction but also memoir and nonfiction.

Dialogue isn't easy to write well. Last week I talked about it being one of the red flags that editors use to spot an amateur writer. Maybe it's because beginning writers use dialogue more as a vehicle to deliver information. They don't understand its primary purpose: to increase tension and emotion in a scene.

I learned dialogue-writing many years ago, via a two-step method that serves me well today.

Step 1: Learn to listen to how human beings talk--and how they don't listen to each other.

Step 2: Learn to pare down the real-life dialogue into dialogue that works on the page.

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What Dialogue Can Do for Your Book--And What It Should Never Try to Do

In their book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Renni Browne and Dave King tell the story of interviewing different editors in the publishing industry. They mostly wanted to know what editors looked at first, when reviewing a manuscript?

Answer: Editors scan the pages for a section of dialogue. They read it. If it's good, they read more.

If it's not good, the manuscript is rejected.

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Emotions: Bringing Them to the Page through Gestures, Movement, Facial Expressions, and More

A client in California emailed me a few weeks ago about film she watched that helped her write emotions more vividly into her memoir.

"As you know all too well," she said, "I don't write emotion--I just can't get the hang of it. Yesterday I had the best lesson I could imagine when I watched the 2008 animated movie Wall-E. In the first half of the movie only two words are spoken--the names of the two little robots who fall in love and have adventures. Yet the story is highly emotional.

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What's the Primary Environment of Your Book--Physically, Emotionally, Intellectually, Spiritually? And Why Does It Matter?

A new author wrote me this week. She'd read my writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, and it helped her realize which book project she needed to focus on first: a self-help/memoir hybrid. But she was confused by my chapter on finding the primary environment of your story. How did this apply to her book?

Every book has an environment that it lives in. I think of it like a lab where the experiment lives in a beaker or container.

Everything happens within that container.

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Strictly Accurate Memoir? True-Life Novel? How Close to the Line Do You Ride?

Camilla was a writer in my New York classes many years ago. She completed a memoir about her family in Italy during World War II. I remember it as a rich and interesting tale, full of great descriptions and intriguing characters. I also remember the dilemma she faced when she began sending it out into the world.

She wrote me, "I have been struggling with pinning down the genre, as memoirs are rarely taken if the person isn't famous. Although calling it a novel seems untruthful. In truth it is a bit of a hybrid, with scenes and dialogue created around facts, and my part of the story is 99 percent factual. I spoke with a published author who was very lovely and suggested I call it historical fiction. Yet is it remote enough in time, being about World War II? 

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Memoir's Primary Argument--How to Make Sure Your Memoir Has Universal Meaning

Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild, once said, "The most powerful strand in memoir is not expressing your originality.  It's tapping in to your universality."  

A.M. Homes said, "Memoir is about more than you."

My aunt, who is in her 100th year, wrote her memoires.  It was fun to read them, and I learned things about my father's family that I never knew.   This style of memoir follows the Anglo-French definition:  an "account of someone's life." A wonderful gift to pass on to those who know you and who want to hear your past.

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Rest Breaks for Creative Artists--How to Get Your Mojo Back

Perhaps you know these important signs of creative burn out:  an overactive inner critic, a blue feeling about one's work, a sense of deep depletion despite relative safety and well-being.

Of course, relative is the word these days.  But each of us has our baseline.  And if the summer is rolling around with all of these symptoms, you might be giving so much out in your life, you haven't replenish the part of you that brings the good things back.

I've been noticing this myself.  Whenever I'm teaching a lot, as I am now, and my private coaching schedule is full, I see my own burn out happening.  My book-in-progress doesn't work, never will.  I can't find time to write or even think about being creative.  

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Anger and Grief and Their Place in Writing (an Actual Technique I've Used)

During the height of the riots and fires, I sought ease in mind-candy movies.  One was Tootsie, from the eighties.  It kept me entertained, and although I moved on to another similar film very soon, one scene from Tootsie stayed in my mind, reminding me of a great writing technique I'd used during time of intensity and crisis.

Dustin Hoffman, who plays the lead, is teaching an acting class, trying to get one of his students to feel and act her rage.  She can't.  He provokes her, she gets mad, and the acting blooms.  

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Jennifer Egan and Susan Choi on Productivity (or Lack of) during a Pandemic

One of my writing students sent me a link to this wonderful podcast, perfect for our chaotic times--which have only gotten more so.  If you're concerned that you haven't made progress on your epic novel or other masterpiece, you're in good company.

Listen here.  If the link doesn't work, go to bookable.simplecast.com and search for the authors' names.  (And thanks to Gail for the link!)

Writing through Anxiety--Write On! Video Featuring Author Shelby Kenney-Lang

I love these videos from the writing school in Boston, Grub Street, featuring their instructors sharing techniques they're using to keep writing during these unprecedented times.  

Here's video from author Shelby Kenney-Lang, who describes a technique he used to write a new essay that was published in the Green Mountain Review.

Link here

Unexpected "Container" in an Award-Winning Novel: An Interview with Ginger Eager

Not just because she's a generous, insightful member of my monthly writer's group.  Not just because her book won the coveted AWP award for the first novel. I fell in love with Ginger Eager's The Nature of Remains for the strong female characters and the unique place she writes about.  

Not unusual for a Southern novelist to be enamored with place.  Ginger Eager comes from Georgia and she set her novel in the fictional Georgia town of Flyshoals, but the larger setting of the book is its geological history.  The soil in that part of Georgia is riddled with amethysts.  The Nature of Remainsis about the people who circle that geological wealth, both the criminals who dig and sell it, and the families affected by their passion.  

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Using the Enneagram's 9 Personality Types to Create Vivid Characters in Fiction and Memoir

No one likes to be categorized or typecast, but when it comes to creating vivid characters on the page, I find the personality system of the Enneagram a life saver.

Twenty-some years ago, when I first began studying this system, not many people knew about it.  It had no huge institutes or psychologists tooting it, as it does now.  It was Greek and new age, a little odd.  My introduction was through Eli Jaxon-Bear, whose book, From Fixation to Freedom, promoted an Eastern approach that appealed to me.  Later I discovered the more Western approach  used like Myers-Briggs typing and promoted by Don Riso and Russ Hudson in their Enneagram Institute.  

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Unexpected Blessings of Writing by Hand: What Other Writers Find in Their Handwriting That's Not on Their Computer

Do you know "BrainPickings," the online newsletter/digest put together by Maria Popova?  (If you don't, it's worth a look.)  Popova recently wrote about her favorite books from 2019 and one was by the poet Ross Gay, called The Book of Delights.  In this article, Popova discusses Ross Gay's enjoyment of writing by hand, something not usual to writers in this super-fast electronic era.  

Writing by hand is slow, thoughts can come faster than they can be scribed.  But I read about more and more writers who swear by the practice.  Either for early drafts, sketching out ideas, even revision.

A colleague in this club tells me her handwritten scenes always contain unexpected blessings--ideas she would never have encountered otherwise.

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Creative Resistance to Hard Times--Guest Blog by Author Ellen Prentiss Campbell

Ellen Prentiss Campbell's Known By Heart: Collected Stories, appeared May 1 (Apprentice House Press). In 2016 her debut novel The Bowl with Gold Seams(Indy Excellence Award for Historical Fiction) and her story collection Contents Under Pressure (National Book Award nominee) were published. Ellen's home in Washington D.C., hosting an online book group for children, writing essays, reading War and Peace and mysteries, and making soup. 

I've invited her to share her view on creativity and Covid times, as her new book launches.  

Looking back, we see the signs. It was coming for us, not reserved for others, not restricted to Over There. But denial is a powerful force. The pandemic arrived stealthily, catching most of us absorbed in routine. Startling us, kidnapping us, blowing away our routine, our assumptions, our plans. The lights went out on Broadway; the stay-at-home mandates swept across the land. Even if we were lucky and healthy, we were hostages, grieving lost expectations, fearful, and uncertain.

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Refining Your Writing Space for Sheltering at Home

One of my favorite writing treats when life seemed normal was an afternoon at our local coffee shop. Surrounded by a dozen others, all plugged into their laptops and earbuds, we wrote.  Sun came in the big windows, I sank into my leather chair, and I sipped a new choice of tea in the coffee shop's huge mugs.   

I wrote at home too, when my family was out of the house.  But mostly at the coffee shop.  I was insanely productive there, even with the music and crowd and cramped space.

Then my coffee shop went to take-out only. For the first month of Covid life, my writing stalled completely, so I didn't even miss the coffee shop.  After a month, I began missing my story. But where to write? 

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Ways to Inch Back into Writing--If You've Stalled Out (Some Good Habits to Test Out during a Pandemic)

I subscribe to Jane Friedman's excellent newsletter and the recent article, "Writing from the Bottom Rung." by guest writer Lisa Cooper Ellison hit home (if the link doesn't work, go to her website and search her blog for that title).  

Jane discussed Maslow's hierarchy of needs: the bottom rung is food, shelter, and warmth, the top is self-actualization, where creativity happens.  

Like many of us, she hasn't been writing either.  She reasoned it out:  If the bottom rung is where we are living during this pandemic, then we can't expect to support a productive writing habit.

Make sure that rung is strong enough to support your weight, Jane advised, before trying to move up.  

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Online Connection--How to Find Your Virtual Writing Tribe While Sheltering at Home

One of my students emailed me this week with a good question.  He's been part of a writing group and loved the social and creative time.  But now that he's sheltering from home, he wondered what else was available for writers?

So I'm running a past post this week, sharing my tips on how to find your virtual tribe.  Hope they are helpful to those of you self-isolating and looking for writerly companionship.

***

Nikki, who travels a lot, took one of my writing workshops and recently emailed me with a great question:  how do you find a writing group or writing partner when you can't physically meet regularly?

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Making Time for Writing When You Have Nothing to Do

Last week I taught my first Zoom class to five writers from across the U.S. when our weeklong retreat in Santa Fe was cancelled thanks to Covid.  Two were working on memoirs, two on novels, all in progress.  Each day, we gathered to learn and inspire each other virtually.  I read their writing and offered feedback.  They were patient as I practiced intricacies of teaching remotely.  I think we all learned a lot.

Our final Zoom meeting was especially heart-opening.  We talked about our lives and our writing during this pandemic.  How a retreat away from "life" gave time and space to really sink in.  But writing while living maybe gave us practice at fitting writing into each day.

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Three Practices to Keep Creatively Healthy Right Now

I'm back to writing this week.  You may not be, yet.  I've heard from a steady stream of students and coaching clients and many are still stalled out, unable to resume a book project.  Life in its new normal demands ridiculous amounts of time.  A recent foray to shop for produce took five hours out of my day, given the protective gear, the controlled shopping experience, the time to clean everything when I got home.

It's understandable, too, that fear for self, family, friends, the world can prevent any creativity.  Who has time or energy for it?  And is it really that important, in the face of all that's happening?

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Three Different Storyboards to Map Your Book's Structure

I love the random approach to writing a book (islands, a term coined by Kenneth Atchity in Write Time, appeal to me most).  

Storyboards, however, keep me honest.  

They tell me when that random writing has veered too far off my book's purpose. 

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Writing in Uncertain Times--A Few Thoughts on the Gift of a Writing Practice Right Now

I looked back in my journal this morning and was struck again at how fast everything has happened.  Like most of you, I've been trying to adapt to a new normal, trying to manage my concern about family and friends, trying to get sleep and outdoor time and some modicum of peace amidst the prevailing anxiety. 

A long-time student wrote me today. She's working on her second book; her first came out last year.  But she's been completely stalled these past weeks, no writing possible. She asked for any thoughts or tips I could share on keeping the writing going during these uncertain times. 

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Interview Your Characters: Character Lists Coax Them Out of Hiding

In one of my favorite, easy-read, writing-craft books, Write Away, mystery author Elizabeth George talks about her writing process as she begins a new book.  She first writes detailed ideas about the plot.  She also researches the setting, often with trips to the location she's thinking of using.  And she always puts together a character list.

I didn't know what she meant by character list, but I soon found out they consist of many pages of stream-of-consciousness ideas about each main player in her book.  If you read Write Away (highly recommend), you'll see an example from her novel, In the Presence of the Enemy.  She shows the entire character list for one of her main characters, Eve Bowen.

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Are We There Yet? How to Tell When Your Book Is Really Done

Each book I write, I struggle with this question.  And I'm not alone.  Even with many publications behind me, it's incredibly difficult to tell when a book is really done.  

There is an end point.  Truly.  Part subjective, part objective. But it can be confusing or depressing en route to that place.  One of my students recently questioned whether her book could ever be ready. "Some ideas may not be worth the effort or the money," she told me.

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Benefits of a Writing Group or Writing Partner--How They Can Improve Your Writing (and What to Watch Out For)

Some writers create in a vacuum.  But most artistic types need human contact, if only for reality checks.  Writing groups and writing partners have been a foundation for my creative life for decades.  If you don't belong to such a collaboration, consider it!  It's nearly impossible to make serious headway as a writer without constructive feedback.

This morning, I met with one group of collaborators--all published, all dedicated in our different genres.  We meet by conference call once a month and two of the four writers workshop their essays or chapters.  The writer stays in the "writing box" during the call, taking notes and keeping silent, while the three others share feedback on the piece, read before the meeting.  I always come away with much to ponder, excellent ideas for improvement, and vast encouragement.

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Reading Your Writing Aloud--How It Gives You the Necessary Distance for Revision

Revising a book requires distance.  Ideally, the writer has to detach enough from the emotional content of the writing, or the love of her characters, to "hear" the story as a reader would.  

Revising without this distance usually means we repeat ourselves.  We run the same track over and over.  

Maybe words get tweaked.  But  the overall sense of the story doesn't change that much.

I needed to revise a new chapter to send my writing partner this week.  I tweaked words, I adjusted sentences, but I could tell I was running that familiar track of what I already knew.  Something wasn't singing yet.  I also (sheepishly) knew there were scenes not holding their weight, which I kept because I liked them.  My chapter, after all, right?

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Staying Authentic with Your Intentions as a Writer--Not Always Easy?

I had a very lucky and much too fast beginning as a published author.  My first book, now long out of print, was a huge success--the press's best seller and winner of a prestigious award.  I was in my twenties, busy with a new  relationship and a new business, and fairly ignorant about what was happening.  It was just a fast train, I was on it, and I didn't know the writing life could be any different.  That first book landed me an agent who helped me with several others.  Out of it came a nationally syndicated column and good income for a number of years.

Some writers fall into success.  That's not to say we don't work hard, but the ride we're on might not align completely with our deepest intentions.  I was too young, truthfully, to care back then.  

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Really Good Creative Writing Prompts--for Exercising Your Inner Author

This week I've been teaching on retreat at MISA West, Tanque Verde Ranch, in the beautiful Rincon Mountains outside Tucson. Along with the workshops and coaching each day, I always offer creativity-stretching sessions before dinner. A perennial favorite at these retreats is freewriting hour.  

We gather before dinner to write from selected prompts.  Each gets ten minutes, and writers are encouraged to let the flow take them wherever it will.  Sometimes, the best ideas come from freewrites.  Even whole books can be born from a single freewrite.

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Setting Writing Goals for the New Year: Three Different Approaches

I'm a goal setter by nature, so I enjoy the chance each new year to look at what I've accomplished in the past twelve months and think about where I'd like to be with my writing in the next twelve.  I've learned not to be too rigid with my writing goals: I don't know what I don't know, after all, and I may need to correct my direction if new ideas or information arrives midcourse.  

First thing in January is traditional for review and goal setting, but it usually takes me until February to really get a sense of what I want for the year.

This year I have a book with an agent, trying to find its home; another that's going to be re-released in a second edition; and a third in revision.  I sat down this week and envisioned what I wanted from each this year. 

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Too Slow? Too Fast? How Are You Communicating? (And How to Tell When Your Pacing Is Off)

Storytelling is all about communication, right? You, the writer, have something to say. Ideally, you present it in a way that's authentic to you but also communicates to your readers exactly the meaning you're after. 

If you "talk" your story too fast, readers can miss the point.  Just like in real conversation, they may start to get confused or irritated, or disconnect entirely.

If you "talk" too slow, same problem.  They'll skip sections.  Ever do this yourself, when reading?  You know what I mean.

So skilled writers (communicators on the page) find a "pace" that fits their stories.  When the scene is tense, the pace speeds up.  When we're absorbing meaning, it might slow down.

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How to Help Your Manuscript Submission Stand Out--Being Part of a "Discourse Community"

I often refer clients and students to Jane Friedman, clearly one of the most savvy publishing gurus out there today.  Friedman is the former publisher of Writer's Digest magazine, and author of The Business of Being a Writer, a primer on publishing that every hopeful author needs to read.

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A Cool Character-Building Exercise from Comic-Artist Lynda Barry

January is often a good time to shake up the writing routine, examine different ways of approaching recurring problems in your book, get inspiration from those who bust the barrier, which is why last week's post from Mo Willems got me thinking about publishing in a new way.

This week, I'd like to welcome Lynda Barry, who has a cool idea about character development.  Check out this link from Lit Hub (if it doesn't work, go to lithub.org and search for her name). 

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Best-Selling Children's Book Author Shares How He Busted Tradition and Won Anyway

Winner of three Caldecott Medals (the best win in kid lit), Mo Willems was rejected some billion times (his words) by publishers who said his work was "too unusual."  Listen or read this interview from PBS on how he kept his belief in his creative work and broke through the barrier.  Lots of great insights on putting creativity and joy into your work. 

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