Category: How To and Tips
A Show of Hands—Who Here Is a Genre Jumper?
The film, Jumper (2008), is a movie obsession of mine and I’ve watched it countless times. The main character, played by Hayden Christensen, discovers he has the power to jump to any place in the world, simply by thinking about it. There’s a villain (Samuel L Jackson), more than one chase scene, and a romantic […]
Caution: May Cause Side Effects
I started down my writing path a few years ago with a story to tell and a love for the written word. The more I wrote, the better my writing became. The better my writing became, the more I wanted to write. The more I wrote. . . You get the idea. Writing had progressed […]
Rebirth as Authors – Retirees Reinventing Themselves
As a debut novelist after retirement at the age of 55, I’ve been intrigued by the increasing number of retirees reinventing themselves as authors. Perhaps some of us have been scribblers all our lives but had to wait until the day job allowed writing to happen. Others wrote all along, some professionally, and just wanted […]
Uncovering the Heart of a Story
It’s easy to think that writers sit down at a computer, words flying from their fingertips, and knock out their next novel without a moment’s pause. There are definitely some authors who can do that. But for the majority of us, it’s more like a million self-inflicted papercuts to our hearts trying to get the […]
Ten Reasons Why You Need an Editor
No writer on the planet will find every single error in his or her writing. That’s a given. So yes, of course you need an editor to catch your mistakes. But you also need an editor – a team of them, actually – to help you become the very best writer you can be. Editors […]
Writing From The Heart
As writers and poets, we leave a little piece of our heart wherever we go. In our stories. In our characters. In our book research. In the corners of our homes. In our tea. In our coffee. In our cells. In our pores. In our loved ones. In our rejections. In our writing nooks. Our […]
Musings On Short Story Versus Novel Writing
Twenty-five years ago, on the train home from my teaching job in New York City, I found a way into the short story I was trying to write. I was lost, the story would start. This would be both a physical description of where Clare, the protagonist, was – lost with three friends on I-95, […]
Reaching New Audiences
Before I became a professional novelist and after I left my previous corporate law gig, I spent several years on the executive team of a start-up company, Hybrid Mom, helping mom entrepreneurs and designers tell their stories and market innovative new products. Originally a print magazine, Hybrid Mom moved into the e-commerce world in 2009 […]
Writer At Work: Do Not Disturb!
You wake. You want to write. You know you have to write. You’re on deadline. Your head is still on the pillow. You reach for the phone. You should’ve reached for the laptop. But… Let me just check my email, my messages, the weather, the news… Just for a minute… And suddenly its noon. You […]
A Former Lawyer’s Take On the Craft of Writing
I’m a former divorce lawyer who gave up the law to become a stay-at-home mum. I haven’t been on a creative writing course or studied language or literature at any level higher than school. I haven’t even opened a book on the subject! So I’m no expert on the ‘official’ rules of writing. But I […]
Recent Comments