The Write Place
Here you will find everything to do with writing, whether it is my writing or what I'm learning from reading books on writing. Reading, vocabulary, and grammar are the tools of the trade. The very best people to learn from are the ones who are seasoned writers who teach writing. You would be wise to enlist them as your mentors, as I have.
- In: The Write Place
And now, after many months, years even, my latest novel is near completion. My editor and I are currently reading through it, looking for typos and awkward sentences. Or just a sentence that can be made more interesting by changing a few words. Or maybe even cutting a few paragraphs and putting them into another chapter, which I actually did! In other words, this is the hard part.
- In: The Write Place
I’ve been taking Masterclass for going on 3 years now and one of the first authors I watched on this valuable program was Joyce Carol Oates. I remember her specifically talking about protecting your time. “Being interrupted”, she said, “is bad for writing…you have to get away from interruptions…. It destroys the imagination.”
- In: The Write Place
The last book I published is a collection of memories called “Me & Them.” Since it is about my memories as a child, I hope that it will help others to remember their childhood and write down the stories that have stayed with them over the years. The stories I wrote, although some are filled with sadness, many focus on the humor and fun memories of my childhood. At the time I’m sure many of the memories were stressful or upset me, but looking back now, I can see so much humor in them. And whatever sadness or pain I may have felt at the time no longer has power over me.
- In: The Write Place
I haven't been writing much so far this year; a piece of flash fiction, checking my word count on a few of my longer novels, and adding a paragraph or more to a few of my books as the ideas come to me. But really, not much 'real' writing as I know I should be doing if I ever want to finish many of my novels. But that doesn't mean I'm sitting in front of the TV eating bon-bons (if you never had a bon-bon they are candy-coated balls of coconut - yum! which I unfortunately haven't seen around for years).
- In: The Write Place
I finished my 6th book. And now I move onto and write my next novel, right? Making that decision isn't so easy for me. You've heard of writer's block? I have writer's flow, or overflow. Should I work on and finish the book that has 80K + words written so far? Or how about the non-fiction book? Or maybe work on the one that I just started writing that has only 5K words and has a really interesting theme. There will be research so maybe I should finish the novel that I'm into for 30K + words.