Writing about holidays is tricky. What do you really remember about childhood holidays? Was the Thanksgiving meal served at noon or maybe in the early evening? Did you realize that somebody had to be in the kitchen by about five … Continue reading →
Remember when the Scholastic Book Fair was set up in the hallways at your school? With clean order forms and a pencil in hand, you and your class got to walk through the stacks and pick out books that birthday … Continue reading →
I just finished writing a four paragraph sex scene in a new work. The scene is in a male point of view. Breasts are prominent along with one or two other features this character appreciates. When writing sex scenes, I … Continue reading →
For the first time I sent a short story to a professional editor before submitting it to a short list of publications during open submission. He did a good job and had nice words about the story’s potential. With two … Continue reading →
If you need a very quiet place to work, look up a friendly senior citizen living in a senior apartment complex who needs someone to look after the place for a few days. My father is still in transitional care, … Continue reading →
So I spent a week in sick bay. Got some good fiction writing done between coughing attacks. Maybe traveling country roads with a fictional father and son was easier than dealing with a very real temperature and aching body. Maybe … Continue reading →
A key member of a small press asked why a publisher should accept financial risk for bringing a writer’s work to the market. His company expected writers to share in the cost of producing books and marketing, usually thousands of … Continue reading →
A sad tale of technology gone wrong—a favorite story turned into a novella was stored on a flash drive about seven years ago. The flash drive has now disappeared and all that remains is the original short story as submitted … Continue reading →
What’s your summertime writing behavior? Are you reading this during breaks at a writers’ workshop or sitting in a cottage? Do you take vacation days to barricade yourself at home with your laptop? Will your Fourth of July be spent … Continue reading →
One thing working in corporate America has going for it is that there are some boundaries around hours of work. You might do emails and text messages from early morning through the evening. You might make revisions on a big … Continue reading →
