I’ve been feeling a little down about writing stuff for the last few days. Not a big deal, and that’s the not point of this post. But to state it simply, I was looking over my WIP folder and everything there seemed like crap. And then I started thinking about some novels I started and […]
Using Scrivener to “fix” my draft
I’ve talked a little about a fantasy trilogy I’m working on. It’s a lot of fun, but I keep running into difficult world-building things that get in the way of the real writing. Things like seasons, and farming, and how to measure time. (Is it okay to use a 24-hour rotation, and words like “summer” […]
Three steps of novel revision
You finished your first draft. Now what? Well, first things first, sit back and congratulate yourself. You did it! How many people can say they finished a novel? Even if you don’t plan to do anything with it (although I’d argue you should), you’ve made a great accomplishment. But here’s the bad news. Writing the […]
Editing and the Creative Process
Here are a couple of quotes that I would like to share (I can’t tell you at the moment who to credit for them, but if you know, leave a comment at the bottom of this post.): “Editing kills the creative process” and “Writing is the honeymoon, editing is the marriage” Both quotes tell you […]
Five Links Friday 12/2/16
It’s already the first Friday of December. I don’t know what it’s like in your part of the country, but here in the midwest it’s freaking…winter, I guess. Rumors are flying that we’ll be buried in like seventeen feet of snow or something like that by this time next week, but who knows. If it […]
When to pull a story out of the slush pile
I don’t like leaving potential cash sitting on the table. Why have money sitting someplace where it’s not invested, or at least earning some sort of minuscule interest in a savings account? I feel the same way about short stories. If a short story has an ending, it’s no good to anyone hidden away on […]
“Write Drunk and Edit Sober”
“Write drunk; edit sober.” That quote is often attributed to Hemingway, although I’m not sure it’s ever been confirmed that he ever actually said it. I do think it’s a great quote though for a couple of reasons. First, if you want to take it literally, then by all means do just that. If writing […]
The Best Advice I’ve Received from Rejection Letters
I like to think of writing as the business of collecting No’s. You can’t be a writer unless you’re willing to be told “No” every now and then. And by “every now and then,” I mean repeatedly–day in and day out. Since I first started writing short stories, I’ve received 173 rejections and 19 non-responses. […]