Writer
It’s been a while since I posted here, as I’ve spent the last few years having a kid and experiencing some major disruptions in my life, including career changes for both myself and my husband. Surprising everyone among our friends and family–most of all himself, I believe–Jeff has launched a successful career as a writer. He has published four novels …
CJ Jessop, one of my writer besties, tagged me in a recent post on her blog, and seeing as I’ve been neglecting my blog in the most dreadful way, I thought I’d give it a go. CJ is inspiring not one but TWO blog posts, as she’s just published a collection of her short fiction, which I’m quite excited about. …
I’ve always been a night owl. 10pm rolls around and suddenly I’m full of ideas and a burning desire to start projects and be creative. This is especially true for my writing, since the late evening is generally the only part of my day that offers any quiet or solitude. The drawback to this is that when I’m really on …
Tomorrow is August 26th, which will mark exactly two months from the day I finished my second draft of Chaos. Instead of diving right into draft 3, as I intended, I had a number of non-writing-related projects fall into my lap over the summer. While I’m not usually happy about having very little time to write, I think it may work …
Wait! Before you groan that I’m ranting about TV rather than talking about writing… this post is ultimately about storytelling, so stick with me! TV takes a distant second to books, for me—but I’m a complete Whovian. Or at least, I was. Well, no, I am—it’s complicated. I’m the sort of person who would wear these with a straight face. … …
And… done. My second draft of Chaos is complete at 163,020 words. This is actually the first time I’ve had a complete, consecutive manuscript with no holes and nothing missing–everything would make sense read front to back. My husband was thrilled. This was the birthday present he’d specifically asked for, and I managed it 2 days early. My kids did a little …
That is one hefty stack of paper. I’ve heard some writers say they prefer editing a hard copy of their manuscript, so on a whim I thought I’d give it a try. Wow, did I underestimate what that would entail. After blowing through one brand new ink cartridge on my printer, and draining most of a second, I chickened out …
Every once in a while, reading a book/blog/other article on writing, I’ll come across an exercise where the author encourages readers to list their fears regarding writing. I’ve never paid much attention to these, because they sound suspiciously like fluffy psycho-babble pep-talks, having nothing to really do with writing, which is what I’m interested in. To be fair, I’m sure …
When I was 13, my sister bought Collective Soul’s first album (Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid), and played it all summer long. As a result, every time I hear a song from that album, I am suddenly and very vividly 13 years old again. My brain has linked that music so irrevocably to my 13th year, and all the …
Growing up, I lived in a little fishing town in Alaska. Season is a very important thing in Alaska, perhaps the most important thing. It is present in everything we do, because in any part of that wild, often unforgiving country, there are times when simply surviving in the face of the omnipresent forces of nature is all we can …