Here’s today crazy idea for creativity in a nutshell: deprive yourself of everything interesting and stimulating to force your brain to generate something interesting of its own.
Before you get too amazed or weirded out on me, let me announce … Read more
When I was searching for a photo of my black-eyed “P” costume, I stumbled across this poem from a college writing class in 2001. It makes me feel really old to think that this was 10 years ago. Anyway, here … Read more
A while back agent-turned-author Nathan Bransford did a “Five Openings to Avoid” post that takes a jab at some of the obvious and overused openings that circulate, especially among novice writers.
You know, the story that starts with a character … Read more
Yesterday, the third official National Day on Writing, was a huge success! You definitely don’t want to miss out on hearing from five writers via the National Writing Project’s blogtalk radio show. Listen to the show online here. I’m … Read more
What does a movie about a sleazy lawyer have to do with plotting a novel?
Last night the husband and I watched The Lincoln Lawyer with Matthew McConaughey (from Longview, Texas, where I went to high school). I tend to … Read more
My brother sent me this photo of a fortune he got at a local restaurant. I think it’s the most useful fortune I’ve ever seen–our Chinese buffet doesn’t offer us anything near as handy in its fortunes– usually I get … Read more
People talk a lot about voice in writing. Voice is that hard-to-describe quality in a piece of writing that is at once internally consistent and capable of generating surprises. It’s not the same as character or personality; it’s a kind … Read more
The National Writing Project (which revolutionized my teaching and writing life) invited me to participate in their events for the national day on writing, October 20. Yay!