Less than three weeks until the girl child graduates from high school. It’s hard not to feel like I’m running out of time with her. Hard not to look back and think of things I wish I’d handled differently. Starting way back to when she started kindergarten. She was one of the youngest kids in [...]
Archive for the ‘Writing information and tips’ Category
Revising What I Can
Posted in A million and two reasons to procrastinate, Writing information and tips, tagged cheryl klein, ReVision, Second Sight By Cheryl Klein, word frequency counter on May 24, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Dark Night of the Revision
Posted in Writing information and tips, tagged blake snyder, dark night of the soul, ReVision, save the cat on May 10, 2012 | 2 Comments »
I’ve been using Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat beat sheet to plot my WIP. Number 12 of 15 beats is the “Dark Night of the Soul” moment. This is “the darkness before the dawn. It is the point, as the name suggests, that is the darkness right before the dawn. It is the point before [...]
Levels of Rejection- Looking for the positive when receiving a rejection notice
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing information and tips, tagged rejection on May 3, 2012 | 4 Comments »
The other day I received a rejection letter for a manuscript I had submitted a few months ago. This one was from a very well know publisher and despite my initial disappointment I was thrilled to receive this letter. Why would I be thrilled? Was I crazy? No, I haven’t gone crazy. In my years [...]
Your Personal Canon- What Books Inspire You
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing information and tips, tagged Lin Oliver, Personal Canon on May 1, 2012 | 7 Comments »
As an author, one of the writing tips I hear quite often is “Read, Read, Read.” We are encouraged as writers to read recent releases to keep abreast of what’s happening in the industry and keep up with current trends. Last month when Lin Oliver spoke to our local SCBWI chapter, she took that advice [...]
Writing Tips From Lin Oliver
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing information and tips, tagged bruce coville, Henry Winkler, Jane Yolen, Lin Oliver, Richard Peck, SCBWI, Sid Fleishman on April 17, 2012 | 5 Comments »
On Saturday our local SCBWI chapter had a very special guest speaker, Lin Oliver, co-founder of SCBWI. Lin took time from her very busy schedule to share with our members some writing tips she has gleaned from her 40 plus years of working with the best children’s authors of our time. In addition to co-founding SCBWI, Lin [...]
Revealing Character
Posted in Writing information and tips, tagged character development, character questionnaire, underwear in literature on April 10, 2012 | 5 Comments »
I don’t know if anyone actually eavesdrops on my critique group when we meet in a crowded restaurant, but they might be confused by the wanderings our conversations take. After all, we can read any sort of genre – realistic, historic, or science fiction. And we cover stories for all ages; we read everything from [...]
Spice Up Your Writing- Include All 5 Senses
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing information and tips, tagged Using all five senses in your writing on March 22, 2012 | 4 Comments »
“I’m going to Old Town to smell the church.” This was the response I gave my husband the other day when he asked me what my plans were for the day. He looked concerned until I explained that I was writing a scene for my current WIP that was set in an old church and [...]
Great Beginnings- Great Tips from Jody Hedlund
Posted in Writing information and tips, tagged How to write great beginnings, Jody Hedlund on March 20, 2012 | 3 Comments »
One thing I struggle with as an author is the opening. How can I pull my reader into the story and keep them interested. It’s a sad fact that if your opening is not interesting most readers will not continue with the story. So what’s a writer to do? I found a great post by [...]
The Way I See It
Posted in Writing information and tips, tagged a kick in the head, judging poetry, march madness poetry contest, poetic forms, poetry madness, suburban pig, triolet poem on March 15, 2012 | 4 Comments »
First of all – suburban pig sighting this morning! Standing in the living room, looking out the front door as Luna and I walked past. Yep. Pig in the living room. Enormous pink pigalicious porcine. Secondly, my poem has has been submitted to the Poetry Madness contest – it should be posted for voting some [...]
