Breathing Room for your Brain Or, 5 ways to manage the Thanksgiving Brain Break. First, I just want to say that I am thankful for Thanksgiving and the mandatory break that it forces into my life –and yes, I mean forces. Think jackhammer. Or wedge. I am in the middle of writing a book, up against a deadline the first of December and near the final stretch. I’m so full of excitement it’s difficult to look up. To eat. To speak clearly. Those of you who are doing NaNoWriMo (and especially MBT WriMo) know what I mean. Like a blanket, our story embraces us, and we are reluctant to break free even for a deep-fried turkey and apple/pumpkin/chocolate pie. Thanksgiving forces us to untangle ourselves from our creative process. To […]
Read the RestArchive | Writing Life RSS feed for this section
Seven Things Every Writer Must Do, Part Four: Learn to Dance in The Rain
In my office, I have a framed quote that constantly reminds me life is not the absence of challenges, disappointments and unexpected twists. Those who succeed don’t avoid those storms, but rather learn to find the good in them. They learn to dance in the rain. As a writer, you’ll be faced with all sorts of storms. What you do with those storms will determine your future more than the storms themselves. So how do you learn to dance? Let’s take a look. Dancing in the Rain in a choice. You have little or no control over most of the storms in life. But you do have complete control over how you react to them. It’s true. I’m writing this on the airplane while traveling to the […]
Read the RestAct 2: Jumping back into the suspense!
Yesterday, I addressed Scene Flow, and how in a romance scene, you might decide to develop it a bit more, making it longer. In a suspense, sometimes it’s nice to develop that before you jumpstart the action again. Today, we’re going to jump back into the suspense, drawing that element forward. Just to make sure I’m on the right track, I want to go back to my synopsis. It’s still my roadmap, even though I’ve been taking a few day trips… Luke wants his sister, who is a giant MacKenzie Grace fan to meet her, and the dinner out at the roadhouse seemed to go without a hitch…maybe no one will recognize her. But what Luke doesn’t know is that someone has recognized Kenzie – the reporter from the […]
Read the RestHow to get started building your dream
The Web of Purpose I sat on my deck sipping coffee as the sunrise ushered in a brand new day. A gentle breeze kissed my cheeks as mourning doves sang a love song. Suddenly, my eyes were drawn to the beginnings of a spider web. It glistened in the sunshine and dew dropped to the ground as the web swayed in the breeze. Already the eight-legged insect was hard at work. I sat with eyes fixed as he walked an exact number of steps in one direction, then turned and walked the exact same number of steps in another. All the while he secreted a sticky substance in his wake. Many times I thought the little creature would fall or get blown to the ground, but he seemed unaffected by […]
Read the Rest
