The other day a friend asked me how the writing’s going. I haven’t written her back yet, but I did write a new poem. Ha. So, I guess it’s going. Usually in odd ways, at odd hours. I fell asleep at my computer at 9 o’clock last night, but I stayed up after the baby’s 3:45 …
About That Novel…
Baby #2 has arrived (well, four months ago, already!) and we're all swimming in a new reality here. We've significantly lowered our standards on what counts as clean and dinner and a good night's sleep. My writing is no exception. In any given week, I'm lucky to get a half-hour alone with my laptop before someone is crying …
Third trimester. Second baby. First novel.
The countdown is on — I'm having another baby girl sometime in the next couple weeks (yay!). And just in case I don’t have enough to do while preparing for another little one and working full-time and chasing my two-year-old and feeling guilty for never posting here, I’ve set June 30 as the due date for finishing a draft of …
Continue reading "Third trimester. Second baby. First novel."
Writing for Two
I haven't posted here in a while, but I've got a good excuse — this little bug! She's sleeping soundly beside me at the moment, so I'm typing with two hands for the first time in weeks. It turns out that the singlehanded hunt-and-peck-and-backspace-and-rehunt-and-repeck method doesn't work for much beyond composing a few short journal …
Ending with Endings
What better way to end a creative writing course than with a discussion on endings? I pulled together some tips from various sources, and we talked about the kinds of endings we like best. We also read aloud a story with an ending I find incredibly powerful — "Gentleman's Agreement" by Mark Richard. Well, I …
Suspense
So, last night we continued the conversation on plot with a lesson on suspense. I took a tip from Bret Anthony Johnston and began the lesson by reading The Monster at the End of This Book -- a great example of suspense. Then we talked about ways to add suspense to "Cinderella," since that's the …
Plot
I've been dreading the class on plot ever since I signed up to teach. The word itself is just so full and round and all-encompassing. It makes me think of clot, which makes me think of blood, which makes me think of survival. Plot truly is the lifeblood of a story, and in the past …
