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In the days before the Internet, I used to joke that if I dared to inquire about the “status” of a submission, I’d receive the editor’s rejection in that day’s snail mail. Superstitious? You bet! When the rejections come, (and they still do), I have a little routine that prevents me from jumping off a […]
Did you want to place an “ly” on today’s title? I was tempted, but went with relentless as a way to describe the writer’s life. Some days writing feels so daunting that I’d rather scrub the mold out of the window sills. Or give up and fly to New York and help the hurricane victims. […]
Many writers complain about having no time to write, what with submitting, marketing, blogging, conferences, tweeting, Facebooking and the like. How can anyone possibly make progress on the work-in if she’s required to get her name out there 24/7?Writing Tip for Today: Miss Crankypants would say we all have the same number of hours in […]
You say you want an evolution? As a writer? Well, look in the mirror (just don’t write a character looking in the mirror). Every day that you show up, hack out that word count, refine your words or your thoughts, you are evolving as a writer. If mastering writing takes at least ten thousand hours, […]
As you wind down from a writing conference, your life comes rushing back at you, your writing goals may have changed and in general you may be feeling unsure about what to do next. Platform building, new info about e-books and tons of other great ideas compete for head space.Writing Tip for Today: If you’ve made […]
I dashed off a note to a promising new writer who said she enjoyed and appreciated Carla Stewart’s interview yesterday. I did too! In the note, I mentioned the place in a writer’s development where suddenly it makes no sense to agonize over one’s words. You know, that thing where you put in a word […]
Sorry for the brief hiatus. I’ve had migraines for years but this one knocked me down. After a week of suffering I’m back in the saddle. Thanks for your patience.Writing Tip for Today: I hate hate hate missing my writing goals. But as I stayed away from the keyboard to let myself heal, I learned […]
Waiting. We writers do it a lot. We walk on clouds while we wait to hear from editors and agents, anticipating that “yes,” often slamming back to earth when we receive another “no.” When we finally do get the green light, we wait for our stuff to be published. Or we wait to get paid. […]
I thought I’d better post since I told all my new students about this blog. To the students of my classes at Lane Community College, welcome! I write here about lots of different subjects, but today I want to say a word about writing. For those of you in either the Creative Nonfiction or Crafting […]