This week, I want to discuss ways we can improve our stories. One instructor called it “Spiffing up our writing,” and it works for me. One definition of spiffing up means composing and revising stories that draw the reader into the world we’re creating. How do we do that? We …
I’ve shared in other posts how I receive inspiration for a story. The most common way is from an image that pops into my mind. Many times, I can’t remember what I was doing, reading, thinking when the idea came to me. I gave up asking myself, “Where did that …
Today, I’m sharing the first page of a story from another brave author, who shall remain anonymous. Thank you, bold author for taking a risk to seek feedback on your story. The story is set in 1970 and describes a soldier returning from Vietnam. What follows is the original as …
In my last blog, I wrote about reassessing where we are in our life journey. Click here. When we consider our writing life, it’s easy to focus on the negative things, the hard things. As I reassessed, I also thought of the good things about being a writer. Thus, the …
I’ve been doing a lot of contemplating and pondering lately. About my writing. About life. About God. About making changes. Not really at a crossroads, but definitely a time of reassessment. Why? What’s the point? For me, it’s about getting priorities straight and getting myself right with God. I’m learning …
This week, I’m posting a book review, something I haven’t done in a while. The book is A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear. I give this novel five stars. It is the 17th in the Maisie Dobbs series. Once again, Ms. Winspear does not disappoint us. The story opens with …
I love to read. Always have. And I’ve long been curious about what my favorite authors read. So I thought I’d share what’s on my nightstand right now. I could share what’s on my Goodreads want to read list, but it’s at nearly 240 and dates to 2012. So many …
Write the Story Writing is risky. And not just in the sense of facing physical danger. Although I’m sure many writers did face physical danger at one time that stimulated or inspired them to write their story. There are other risks every writer faces. More mundane than climbing Mt. Everest, …
We’ve been in a series on Writing Obstacles where we’ve discussed areas that can cause us to stumble while trying to get our story out. We’ve discussed finding the time to write. Do I have the talent to write? Am I perfectionist in my writing? How do I build a …
This is another in the ongoing series about writing obstacles. To date, I’ve covered Time, Talent v Learning, Perfectionism, and Plotting. Today, we’ll look at world building. I think this is one of the more subtle areas of writing and one we frequently pay less attention to. We focus on …
