I was drinking an extra tall vanilla latte, blinking back the sand in my eyes as Sally came in. A glorious Monday morning, the sun winking off the frosty waves of Lake Superior, the sky a triumphant eggshell blue, the snow glistening under all that grandeur like diamonds. Good thing, too, because I’d stayed up late watching both Casablanca and Pearl Harbor to prepare for our conversation this morning. I knew, after meeting with Sally for three weeks, she took our conversations seriously and wanted to be on my game. She sat down and pulled off her knitted mittens. “I started a notebook from last week, like you suggested.” She pulled out a hardbound journal with a leather cover and handed it to me. I opened it and to my […]
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Conversations with an Aspiring Novelist: What is voice and how to you find yours?
Outside, the wind howled, the thermometer dropping to a bracing negative nine degrees as I waited for Sally to arrive for our Monday Morning conversation. I had hoped she’d found a story question as she thought about the themes of her story. Ironically, I’d been thinking about marketing my new book, and had to return to the storyquestion of that book to create the right marketing and PR campaign. I blew on my hot cocoa, glad I’d opted for a large as Sally came in, wrapped in a scarf and hat, the icy blast dragging in behind her. Anne already had her coffee ready. Sally set a stack of books on the table as she retrieved her coffee. I looked at her choices – Jane Eyre, the movies Pearl Harbor […]
Read the RestTruth or Dare: Getting Started – Cultivating your story spark with a Story Question
Snow graced our little hamlet, lacy upon the rocks of our town’s shoreline, evidence of the blizzard over the weekend. A perfect opportunity to huddle into my arm chair and get some writing done. Although wedged into rewrites of a story, I pryed myself out to plow my way into town to meet with Sally, the aspiring writer I promised to mentor. I hoped she’d taken my dare to dig deep into her life and interests to find a story spark. I probably should have told her to start an idea file – I’d recently discovered Evernote as a way to capture all my wandering thoughts and story ideas. She found me lost in the tangle of my rewrite thoughts, nursing a skinny vanilla latte. “Hey Sally,” I said as […]
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What does it take to be a writer? Conversations with an aspiring novelist
I agreed to meet Sally at the local coffee shop on a Monday morning, and I told her to bring a notebook. I’d seen her at church a few times with her four children hanging off her like she might be monkey bars. She ran the children’s program and had even pulled off the church Christmas musical with twenty haloed children in under a month, so I knew she had energy as well as the chops to make it happen if she wanted it. She wanted to write a novel. I told her over the next year, I would be glad to help get all the way to a finished manuscript. She simply needed to be willing to hear the truth and dare to take my advice. I sat there […]
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