Friday, January 15, 2021

The Magic of Showing Up at the Page: How to Design or Refine a Writing Practice That Works for You

›
What's the difference between a writer who gets a book finished and a writer who never does? A writing practice. Believe it--there's...
Friday, January 8, 2021

Strange Alchemy--Creating the Weave of Conflict, Character, and Place in Your Fiction or Memoir

›
In pre-Covid times, I regularly visited friends in Boston to hear the legendary Boston Cecelia chorus perform each holiday season. At one pe...
Friday, December 18, 2020

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 Publish...
Friday, December 11, 2020

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 questio...
Friday, December 4, 2020

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'r...
Monday, November 23, 2020

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 f...

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, com...
Friday, November 6, 2020

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 i...
Friday, October 30, 2020

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-breakthrou...
Friday, October 23, 2020

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 b...