Word count goals are the trusted aids of many a writer. With the ever-present call of duties, relationships, and even just sweet inertia, it’s often comforting to have set word count goals every day. Write 1,000 words, write two pages, write one scene, one chapter—and you’re finished. You can abandon your writing for the day […]
August 2, 2009 by 41 Comments Writing InspirationThinking About Giving Up on Your Story: This Is the #1 Reason You Shouldn’t
There you are, staring at the computer, fighting the very nearly overwhelming urges to alternately smash your forehead against the keyboard, tear your hair out, and, eventually, weep inconsolably. The problem? You’re 30,000 words into your latest novel, and nothing is going right. The dialogue is as flat as week-old roadkill. The characters are either […]
May 23, 2009 by 25 Comments Writing Inspiration4 Unbeatable Ways to Fight Writer’s Block
Would it surprise you to hear I don’t believe in writer’s block? This infamous boogey man, rumored to lurk behind computer monitors and breathe down writers’ necks, hypnotizing us with the blinking cursor and laughing as we toss upon our sleepless beds—he’s just a ghost story as far as I’m concerned. An over-hyped ghost story […]
April 5, 2009 by 26 Comments Writing InspirationHow to Tell if a Story Isn’t Ready to Be Written
In December, I finished Dreamlander, the fantasy I worked on for almost two years. Now, four months later, it’s time for me turn my eyes to the future and start writing again. That creative lobe in my brain is starting to itch, and I’m getting that restless urge to start visiting unknown worlds and invisible […]
January 17, 2009 by 36 Comments Outlining Your NovelOutline Your Novel: The 5-Step Game Plan
Generally speaking, writers fall into two different categories: outliners and non-outliners (or, as my critique partner Linda Yezak has dubbed them, “seat-of-the-pantsters”). I’m an outliner. Mostly, I outline because I’m lazy. I hate rewriting; I hate watching my burst of pride and relief at the end of a novel dissipate in a realization of a hole-riddled […]
December 27, 2008 by 23 Comments Writing InspirationAre You Writing With Joy?
It’s interesting to look back through time at the ranks of famous authors and realize how many of them have experienced less than fulfilling lives and even tragic ends. Writing ain’t for sissies. To be worth its salt, writing has to be a lifestyle (note that lifestyle and vocation aren’t necessarily the same thing), and […]
