Query Prep: Researching Agents
Luckily for me, I enjoy research. I like doing a quick search and seeing if I hit anything interesting on the first try. I like going down rabbit holes. And I like pulling my discoveries together into some kind of recognizable order. All of which is a good thing. Because, as I started getting serious […]
Sometimes Life is Like a Snow Globe
Okay, sometimes life is like being inside a snow globe. It’s an odd metaphor for a summer, but it’s a summer where things have been shaken up, settled briefly, then shaken up again. In July, we “hosted” my husband’s kidney stone about three weeks. (Go get a big glass of water. Right now. I’ll wait.) […]
Getting My Dream Ducks in Order
As good as I am at multi-tasking, my natural, happy mind-state is to think and act in a linear path. One thing at a time, put it down, pick up the next, work on that, repeat. And for many years that has worked for my writing. Until recently, I was never popping with story ideas–I […]
Don’t Drop that Chainsaw; Put it Gently Away for a While
My husband has this analogy (metaphor?) he uses frequently—juggling cats and chainsaws. I think, to him, this activity actually sounds like fun. To me, it’s just a great image for those days when you feel like you not only have too many balls in the air at once, but that most of them have claws and […]
Writing Backward
I made a discovery this weekend. Or, rather, a re-discovery, because this little piece of knowledge is something I’ve learned before, utilized many times, and–of course–forgotten until I had a need for it again. Sometimes, its easier to write backward. When I was in college, I did try and come up with that all-important thesis […]
Thursday’s Target-A Rainbow of Sticky Notes
Yesterday, I reread Robin LaFevers post on index cards. Then I went out and bought some sticky notes. Two packs. Five colors each. Because I’m confused. Not from Robin’s post. From my own plot. Too confused to know what to write next. So I’m trying something that occasionally works for me, but only occasionally–going visual. […]
Deadlines, Revisited
Way back here, almost a year ago, when I was just getting started with The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, I posted about how I seriously dislike deadlines. Boy, that feels a long time ago. Since, then I’ve met several deadlines, and all of them have felt pretty good. Probably because, as I wrote […]
Taking Risks…Come On, Just a Few
I am by nature an extremely cautious person. I’m also not so good with change. 38 years later, I’m still not so sure my family needed to sell our smallish tract home and move to the much bigger house, on the top of a hill, with an ocean view and a bedroom for each kid, […]
Friday Five: Finding My Way Back into My Story
Today, with a gift of two free writing days (husband and son are off for an end-of-summer backpacking trip), I’m opening up my WIP and digging back in. Feels wonderful. Here’s what I’ll be doing: 1. Writing OUTSIDE the house. I’m heading over to the coffeehouse where I’ll be away from laundry and the kitchen […]
When the Itch Hits
Do you scratch it? I’ve been talking a lot online about the research & planning I’m doing for my YA historical novel. It’s been going great. I’m learning tons about my characters, about their wants and their conflicts, about their back-story and their future. I know there’s more I can learn. Except I’m itching to […]
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