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How A-muse-ing: or, Use an Inspiration Tape Like a Champ
13 June 2022
The scene is a locker room before a boxing match. The out-of-shape Champ lies on a massage table, tended by a curvy masseuse. Before him, a TV is showing his inspiration tape, the 70s classic, Dolomite.
Before I Was a Writer
10 May 2022
Many writers spend years dreaming of when they’ll quit their day jobs to write full time. Millions of us around the world spend our spare hours at the keyboard, blogging, journaling, drafting, and redrafting. Few of us can sell enough writing soon enough to avoid the dreaded “regular job.”
The Complementary Arts
4 May 2022
There are many reasons a writer takes a break. Overwhelming obligations, jumbled thoughts, headaches, and crying babies. The neighbor mowing his lawn and the phone lighting up with scam calls. The vast empty page and the impossible task of stringing words across the white abyss. Did I just call a blank page the ‘white abyss?’ Break time, please.
Editing Software or Not: How Much Comes Down to Mechanics?
11 April 2022
I often read the work of fellow aspiring writers who need honest opinions. When I read for other writers, my chief priority is looking beyond typographical errors and grammar mistakes, searching instead for themes and content.
Who Am I to Judge?
3 April 2022
As a reviewer for Reedsy.com, I have access to a database of Advance Reader’s Copies available for review from self-published and small press writers. The manuscripts are rough, often with typographical errors, formatting problems, and plot holes. Through the typos, missed words, and grammatical errors, I look for writer’s work.
A Woman of Letters
31 March 2022
I have a friend I’ve never met in person. We found each other through a writer’s critique group that communicated solely via e-mail to accommodate a hearing-impaired writer among us who struggled to feel comfortable with in-person groups. Over time, most of our members drifted away, but I kept writing to JP…
Writing About Writing
22 March 2022
Every writer hears, “Write what you know.” And what every writer knows is writing, its intricacy, weight, and solitude. As a writer building credits, I am relentless about creating and submitting my work. Once or twice, I’ve been surprised by journals who reject pieces about writers. “We’ve read enough stories about the writing process,” they say. “Your readers are not exclusively other writers.”
The Writer’s Game
13 March 2022
Writers have a long history with America’s Pastime. Journalists and sports writers wax lyrical for the game they love, likening it to life itself. At-bats and innings unfold, might-be homers don’t quite make it over the fence, and close plays at the plate score crucial runs. Writers sense the links to life’s larger opportunities, near-misses, and strokes of luck.
Don’t A-BAN-don Me
10 March 2022
I’ll admit, the whole idea of banning books makes me nervous. Challenges to school library collections, attempts to prosecute librarians, and cries to ban dozens of titles worry me. Legislators and parents’ groups say they’re keeping kids safe from inappropriate content. But defining such content is a prickly proposition.
Edit, Edit, Edit
23 February 2022
Writing isn’t easy. Skilled writers make it look effortless, but years of work go into every word. Pieces written to a deadline, crafted in a matter of days or weeks, require writers to know how to edit their work. Aspiring writers are advised to be succinct; eliminate everything that doesn’t serve the story.
What Would Mother Think?
11 February 2022
I have stories I want to tell. They emerge from my life experiences. These fictions rely on the characters and settings I’ve known, on traits of people who left an imprint. I follow the most basic writer’s advice: Write what you know. The best stories reach for the universals in human experience.
What’s An Invoice?
20 January 2022
…Up to now, I’ve been winging it. I don’t belong to a writers’ group, haven’t got a mentor, no fount of wisdom to turn to when I’m at sea. “Your story is off to the designer for illustration,” read the upbeat note from my editor. “Can you send me an invoice?”
Write Life Into Your Characters
19 November 2021
…While characters need not be ‘likeable’ in the conventional sense, they must be ‘engaging.’ Villains are as fascinating as heroes and equally effective as main characters. The guided approach to characterization presented in “Bringing your Characters to Life Through the Five Whys” by Sarina Byron gives insight into creating characters of depth and resonance.
Give A Good Critique
17 November 2021
As a writer working in secret for decades, I’ve seldom shared my work with other authors. After a college writing class in which another student dismissed my work in one word, ‘boring,’ I walked away from further opportunities to share my stories. I walked away from writing altogether for a time. “If I’m boring,” I thought, “What am I doing this for?” Encouraging comments from my instructor were some comfort, but that student’s remark eroded my confidence. I wouldn’t commit ideas to paper again for over a year; I wouldn’t complete another story until my early 40s.
National Novel Writing Month 2021
1 November 2021
National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 when I heard about it from a college friend, a writer who took the craft more seriously than myself in those days. When she explained that the task was to write 50,000 words starting on November 1st and ending on the 30th, I marveled that anyone could be so bold. Amounting to just under 1700 words a day (!), I believed it impossible to produce so much in so short a time.
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