Hearing Voices
I’m sure you’ve all heard the advice to put your manuscript in a drawer for a few months before tackling the next revision. Getting some distance allows you to see things you otherwise can’t because you’re too close to it….
Category: The Writing Life
Friday Feast: To Motivate and To Finish
Earlier this week, I yelled out loud to my empty living room, “I hate everything that I’ve written!” Yesterday, I broke out some junior high dance moves to celebrate the completion of another first (shitty) draft. Such is the up-down life of…
How Nothing Helped My Writing
I have difficulty sitting, a condition I treat with an ever-present pillow and an unusual form of therapy — one I find instructive as a writer. I practice doing nothing. I was turned onto this ‘nothing’ therapy by Dr. David…
YA Wednesday: YA Antiheroines, YAs to Satisfy Your Kimmy Schmidt Cravings, YA with Not-So-Skinny POVs, YAs Like A Handmaid’s Tale, and Bookish Tattoos
This is the only time of year when I try to be normal and spend a lot of time at the mall. I think of it as my mall pilgrimage and this year my pilgrimage didn’t totally suck. There were…
Envy and Gratitude
It’s the end of another calendar year, the time before Christmas, when people scramble to buy gifts. It’s the time when book lists appear, summarizing the best and brightest, the funniest, the biggest breakthrough titles published during the same year….
Even More Gifts for Struggling Novelists
Two years ago, I wrote a list of gifts that don’t suck for the struggling novelist in your life. I figured it was time to upgrade the list to include some cheaper options. How many chiropractor packages can one novelist…