I’m a sensitive person. My mom said once, “Your radar is always up.” I used to see it as a problem, this pesky radar. I don’t now. The radar is what makes me a good writer. I’m hyper aware of everything around me. I feel things deeply. It can be painful at times, but it — Read More
Category: Writers on Writing
Writing as therapy
Nora Ephron was one of the great screenwriters. If you don’t know her name, you know her movies: When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, Julie & Julia, to name a few. The other day, I stumbled upon the documentary, “Everything is Copy: Nora Ephron, Scripted and Unscripted” and found myself taking notes — Read More
Writing: Art and craft
I’m late to the 2014 party and just finished (and loved) Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. As usually happens when I finish a novel I love, I Googled the author for insights into her writing process and found this interesting snippet on The Millions: “I took a lot of notes as I was — Read More
My thoughts less than 3 months from publication
The other day, I was talking to a friend about the expectations I have for my book. Which are none. Seriously, none. I am far too naïve to have expectations. This is my first publishing rodeo, folks. I still get a flutter when someone posts an advance review on Goodreads, thinking, “Oh my god, people — Read More
Enough with the artistic plight
This past weekend, I was having another bout of self-doubt (hey, I rhymed!) as I worked on a new novel. I started whining to my husband about how I don’t know where this book is going or if I can pull off the story and emotion I want. He said, “You’ll figure it out. Just — Read More
Writing beyond fear
I’ve started working on a new thing (I’m hesitant to call it a novel yet) and I had a mini breakdown about it this weekend. I’m having all these “Can I pull this off?” thoughts. I’m overwhelmed by the task of piecing together the story, which has come to me in disjointed segments. It’s like a — Read More
Spotlight on: M.L. Stedman
If you haven’t read The Light Between Oceans yet, I highly recommend adding it to your Amazon cart. It came out in 2012, so I’m a bit late to this particular party. Shameful confession: I’m never that excited to read historical fiction. I tend to think the characters are going to talk in their old-timey way — Read More
Spotlight on: Maile Meloy
If you don’t know Maile Meloy yet, you’re missing out. For whatever reason, I didn’t discover her writing until last year. I’ve now read 3 of her works: Liars and Saints (novel), Half in Love (short story collection), and Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It (short story collection). There is something so — Read More
The unknown: Writing when you have no idea what you’re doing
I spent most of this past weekend thinking about my second novel. My plan is to submit synopses and sample chapters for a few novels I’ve written over the last several years, along with some new ideas, to my agent and publisher in the near-ish future. When I created this plan, it sounded reasonable, but — Read More
On finding time to write…and my next book
I’ve written a version of this post a few other times in the past couple years. Why? Because finding time to write is always an issue for me. I assume it’s an issue for most writers. Most of us have a full-time job or kids or both (yikes). I work in advertising, which is fairly — Read More