Birthing Babies, Birthing Books
Once again, I find myself gestating two babies: my book and an actual human child, currently two weeks out from D-Day. This happened two years ago too, smack in the middle of the Novel Incubator. I went to class one…
Friday Feast: Novel Checklist, Writing Tips, and Literary Food Blogs
Sometimes, you have to eat at your desk while working or writing or reading blogs (except for that one potential employer who warned me that eating at your desk — lunch or snacks* — is not permitted). Gillian Anderson approves….
Writing Stories About Violence And Female Characters
By Guest Contributor Amber Love. (This post originally appeared on Amber’s website, Amber Unmasked) Trigger warning: sexual assault discussion I’m not sure I can adequately describe how stressed I was reading and reviewing CANARY by Duane Swierczynski. I’m not going to…
Pow! Zap! What Short Stories Can Teach Us About Writing Novels
Novels are my second love, the roast beef in my diet. And I relish the meal. But I down short stories like chocolates. For their density. For their Pow! of feeling and their electric insight. I’d venture to say that…
Friday Feast: Tolstoy’s Mac & Cheese, Taipei’s Bookstore, Rejection, Success, and Rewrites
There are some great links this week, but all I can think about is macaroni and cheese. Homemade mac and cheese. Kraft mac and cheese. Mac and cheese with breadcrumbs, hot dogs, tuna … Nothing else matters. You can find…
This Draft Sucks Part II — Take A Break
This Draft Sucks – Part I ends with the following advice: if you think your draft sucks, put it away. Don’t look at it for a month and hope when you return with fresh eyes it won’t suck as badly…