Somehow, the week before last, I finished the first draft of my new novel. I say “somehow” because I’m really not sure how it happened. I’ve been billing 50-60 hours per week at work. My fiancé and I closed escrow on a new house and then began packing and moving. Oh, and we’re renovating the — Read More
Category: Writing Tips
Why We Write: Continued
As I said last week, I just finished reading Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Writers on How and Why They Do What They Do. As promised, here are some words of wisdom from the contributing writers: “Whenever I am writing, or more accurately, whenever I have written, I feel better and more at peace as — Read More
Why We Write
I just finished reading Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Writers on How and Why They Do What They Do. I’d recommend it, mostly because proceeds go to 826 National, a nonprofit dedicated to writing and tutoring centers. I didn’t think the entries were all that compelling. In fact, my favorite part was the introduction by — Read More
100 days later.
Remember when I said I’d write every day for 100 days? You might not remember. I kind of buried the commitment at the end of a post. This was at the end of January. Well, lo and behold, it’s 100 days later and I was successful…well mostly. I wrote every day except for FOUR. Two — Read More
Querying literary agents
As I’ve been working on my new novel, I’ve had that nagging thought creep into my mind: What will I do when I’m done? (By “done,” I mean “after I have read and re-read it a hundred times and edited it to death.”) I have a few connections that may be able to help me — Read More
Advice to young writers, from Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Eugenides is one of my newly-declared favorite writers. I love his style, his stories, his characters, everything. Books I read in the past couple years and already want to read again: Middlesex, The Marriage Plot, and Virgin Suicides. So, when I saw a column in The New Yorker featuring his advice for new writers, — Read More
26 writing tips from famous authors
Want tips from writers who know what the hell they’re talking about? Check out the 26 tips here. These really resonate with me: George Orwell John Steinbeck Annie Dillard Ray Bradbury Saul Bellow Kurt Vonnegut
Hemingway to Fitzgerald: “Go on and write”
Yet another fascinating post from Letters of Note: Hemingway writing to Fitzgerald circa 1934, giving his opinion on Fitzgerald’s just-published Tender Is the Night. The book tells the story of Dick and Nicole Diver, a couple based on mutual acquaintances (Sara and Gerald) of both Fitzgerald and Hemingway. What I like most about this letter — Read More
Quote of the month
When I was young (like, elementary school), I spent an almost-outrageous amount of time on character development when I wrote stories. I drew pictures of what I thought the character looked like, ripped images out of magazines that reminded me of her, made lists of her favorites (food, color, TV show, band). I sketched her — Read More
What you need to know (but nobody tells you when you’re starting out)
Ira Glass, as you probably know, is the host and producer of This American Life, a weekly public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to about 1.7 million listeners. Ira Glass is a master storyteller, plain and simple, and he has this to say to beginning storytellers: Check out the 4-part series with — Read More