A good friend of mine died last week. The funny thing is I never met the man. But I feel like I knew him for almost 50 years. We never talked on the phone, never exchanged letters or emails, never communicated in any way, other than I would see him on TV fairly often in …
Reflecting further on the University of Wisconsin Writers’ Institute I attended in early April, another workshop that made an impression on me provided a second “I wish I had known that before I wrote 100,000 words” moment. Angela Rydell did an excellent job of presenting “Enticing Openings: Hook Readers (and Editors) from the Start”. Since the first …
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Writing is a journey of discovery, self-actualization, revelation, and I’m sure a bunch of other stuff to a bunch of other writers. For me, who comes to the craft relatively late in life and without formal training (i.e. – English Major, degree in Creative Writing, or similar) learning to write comes with its share of …
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I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 22nd Annual Writers’ Institute last weekend at the beautiful Madison campus. What follows are some of my general impressions. I may comment on some specific workshops and speakers in a future post. Overall impression: Well organized, informative, good pacing and scheduling, excellent value–$250 cost for Friday-Saturday all day, Sunday …
“If only I had more time to write, then I’d be able to finish my (novel, memoir, short story, non-fiction proposal, etc.). ” Who of us aspiring writers has not had that thought at least once a week? Most of us have day jobs, families, social lives, obligations, and other interests (which often give us …
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When prepping a manuscript for submission, whether for an agent, editor, publisher, or even a critique group, I prefer to have my submission as clean and perfect as possible. I was inspired to become a better proofreader and revisor by the Agatha Award-winning book Don’t Murder Your Mystery http://bellarosabooks.com/dontmurderyourmystery/ by Chris Roerden http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/ChrisRoerden . She’s a well-know, highly-respected …
1. The business of writing is diametrically opposed to the art of writing. 2. I’m not nearly as bad a “serious” writer as I thought I was. The corollary: I’m not nearly as good a “serious” writer as I think I am. 3. Modern technology makes writing, editing, revising, evaluating and preparing manuscripts incredibly easy. …
I did it! Finally finished the novel I’ve been working on. Great, you say, when will it be published? Oh, no, no, no. It’s not ‘finished’ finished, as in completed and ready to be printed. I meant the story has been written from beginning to end, in chapters, with some semblance of plot, character development, tension and …
Not much to say now, just trying to keep the posts coming at a steady pace. It’s been a busy time lately with golf tournaments, preparing for family visits, trying to repair a canoe, finishing the novel and doing critiques at CC (critiquecircle.com). I wish it was winter so I’d be able to work on the …
HELLO WORLD This is a big step for me, technology-wise, so I will take baby steps until I get comfortable and have something worthwhile or interesting to say. Blog posts will be sporadic at best in the foreseeable future. Have patience, grasshoppers. That’s all for now. My goal going forward will be to post once …
