Category: How To and Tips
When Art Meets Politics: Is it Still Quality Fiction?
Whence arises the question above? If you have spent time in mainstream literature classes, alas, you will know. While the bias against mixing art (or what elite folk think of as “real art”) with the political has greatly diminished over the past fifty years, especially in the world of activism, it has not disappeared. Again […]
Pen to Paper
Pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, my need to write is innate. When I was ten years old my mother gave me a beautiful red diary with a small gold lock. To me, it was quite magical. I kept it in my drawer and began to write in it most days. When it was full, […]
Family Matters and Writing
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” — Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina I’m not sure that I agree with Tolstoy’s observation that all happy families are alike. After all, each person is a unique soul with her own viewpoint. A person in a happy family may have […]
Past Imperfect: the Complications of Historical Authenticity
People who don’t usually read historical fiction are often surprised to find out how much research goes into a historical novel. Yes, novelists use their imaginations to flesh out the details, but we also do extensive research to make the setting of our novels feel authentic to the reader. All good novels incorporate sensory details, […]
Writing With Readers On The Mind
To write stories is always to be alone in a room, with only our characters for company. But what about readers? To write presupposes their eventual existence. Yet for a writer just setting out, doubtful of success, the reader is as fictional as the rest of it. We write for various reasons. To understand ourselves […]
How To Find Writing Time
Some days, I feel like a circus act, juggling a set of knives as I walk the tightrope, praying I don’t come crashing to the floor. But the truth is, I’m not employed by the Ringling Brothers. That job may be easier, to be honest. I am the wearer of many hats, the jack of […]
How the Goddess Writes
As a writer, my writing is an extension of my life, my heart and my identity. Most writers can agree with the statement that writing isn’t something we do because we must. It’s something we do because we simply can’t not write. It’s an outpouring of our heart-mind onto paper, flowing in ways that are […]
Do Other Memoir Writers Have This Experience?
I’ll be briskly writing away at my desk, feeling like I’m in the zone, and the words are sliding out onto the page from that sweet spot inside. A scene from that time of my life will come to me. It’s a flash of memory that’s crystal clear. I see myself there, in that setting, […]
Sexuality in Writing
If I recall how I first learned about sex, I would have to credit a variety of sources. For starters, it was my mother who taught me that sex led to pregnancy and periods were the start of the process. The period would happen soon, the pregnancy, God willing, not until I was married. Sex […]
Goals, Dreams And Why You Should Be Writing Right Now
I have always been a planner. I love to do lists, goals, dreams, timelines – anything I can write into a cute notebook and tick off in green pen, I’m there. I planned my way into being an author. It had always been the end goal, and in every way, I prepared. I made lists […]
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