No, You’re (Still) Not Ready to Publish

From my 2011 archives… Don’t you hate it when the Inner Critic is right? After years of being shoved aside and trampled, he gloats over fleeting opportunities to jump up and down and yell, “I told you so!” and it’s so annoying. It’s not easy to admit, but many of us are probably among the

Taking control of the I.E. (again)

As I wander my way through this month’s NaNoWriMo writing, there are days when I would be making better time if I could ignore the whispers that keep reminding me the energy isn’t being well spent — that even when revised, the end result isn’t going to be worth the effort. This week I remembered a post I wrote back in

The Unexpected in Life and Literature

With a thunderous crack much of the tree was gone, and so was our electricity. The pleasant weather we enjoyed earlier in the day had deteriorated into a nasty storm with mounds of charcoal clouds, torrents of rain, hail in some areas, and bolts of lightning. We think the massive maple tree was hit by

The Writer’s Brain (that place where ‘the right word’ disappears)

I hate those days when I sit down to write and my brain won’t cooperate. It’s not that Ms. Muse isn’t around, but that the perfect and plentiful thoughts she provides instantly disappear, falling into the shadows of my cerebral cortex before I can secure them on the page. It’s not dementia or writer’s block,

Le Mot Juste (Again)

. Yesterday marked my third anniversary in the blogosphere. (Really? How can that be possible?) As I’m on the road today, I’ve selected an item from my beginning days to re-post. I hope you’ll find this piece from the summer of 2008 of interest. ~ I was blog-hopping recently, searching out my daily dose of

Making appropriate use of quirkiness in our characters

. Recently Jeanette Levellie had us sharing our pet peeves and Jessica Patch talked about our quirks. They were referring to those things that either annoy us or seem peculiar. The thing is, neither is unusual. Don’t we all have them? I admit to some idiosyncrasies (only the unkind would say they border on OCD).

No, You’re Not Ready to Publish

. Don’t you hate it when the Inner Critic is right? After years of being shoved aside and trampled, he gloats over fleeting opportunities to jump up and down and yell, “I told you so!” and it’s so annoying. It’s not easy to admit, but many of us are probably among the 99.9% of writers

What I learned about writing from a crochet pattern.

. Until it was finished, I couldn’t envision how the design was meant to look. It was a crocheted afghan pattern a friend gave me many years ago. I read it through several times but it still didn’t make a lot of sense. Starting with the first line of instruction I chained the specified number

Beware of the writing expert!

. Since I’m not an expert on the craft of writing, you don’t get many how-to posts from me. Generally I share my personal writing experiences and observations, or perhaps point you to someone else who has posted something brilliant. That’s what I believe aspiring writers can accomplish with their blogs – offer experiences, opinions

One Writer’s Admission and a Giveaway

. Fifty-three. That’s how many books I have on a particular shelf in my office, and that doesn’t include reference books or any borrowed from the library. All of them tell me how to write a novel. I counted them because I thought it would bolster my confidence. After all, if I’ve read that many