Decades ago, I used to be quite ambitious in the kitchen. One year for our annual family Christmas dinner I decided to go the whole nine yards and make a cake that looks like something you’d toss onto the campfire on a Continue reading The Yule Log Saga
I was fortunate that a planned visit to my father and stepmother’s coincided with the dates of the Festival, March 12-13. Since Dad didn’t have any special plans due to having had cataract surgery a few days earlier (successful, I’m Continue reading Observations from the third annual Tucson Festival of Books
I hit a milestone the other day: my first positive response to a query letter I sent out for my novel. An agent read the first chapter, which I enclosed with my query, and immediately requested the first 50 pages! Continue reading A small moral victory
Little did I know what I was getting into when I started writing my novel. All the stuff you have to do besides actually write: study the craft, get critiqued, critique others, read blogs, learn about the publishing business, agents, Continue reading And then there’s the synopsis…groan
I thought I knew what editing was all about based on more than two years of belonging to critiquecircle.com, submitting almost 50 pieces of my work (mostly chapters) and giving well over 300 critiques of other writers’ submissions. I’m pretty Continue reading There’s critiquing, and then there’s editing.
My wife and I recently returned from a two-week vacation from our home in Minnesota to Washington, Oregon, and other points west. For us, half the fun is getting there, so we love to drive on these long journeys. Leaving Continue reading Audio Books
While perusing blogs, surfing the internet and checking out profiles on Critique Circle- my online writing group- I’ve noticed (perhaps arbitrarily) that very few writers mention “old classics” as being influences on their writing. They may not even mention classics Continue reading Where have all the classics gone?
I’ve written seriously for about 2 years (yet to be published) and joined an online critique group soon after that. On that website I have become one of the more active participants. I mainly read a lot of submissions and Continue reading Observations about online critiquing groups
