I have a full weekend coming up. The Brothers Four perform on the peninsula (for my MN pals, it’s that finger rising up the western edge of WA) and the kiddos will be packed off to one of their Whidbey “grandmas” so Karl and I can have some car time. Our date standards have lowered [...]
I love this NaNoNuj. Planting misinformation can be so fun. Just think of all that can go wrong if your character gets the wrong idea about something. This one goes along with the next card I drew. Misplace Blame. Maybe it wasn’t your character’s worst enemy who caused their latest frustration. Maybe it was a [...]
This morning a friend emailed to ask me why I thought he should invest in Christina Baldwin’s workshop “The Self as the Source of the Story.” (See my October 30 entry) If you know me, you may already be tired of hearing versions of this, but I’m pasting in my answer to him… I’d love [...]
In the novel I set aside before embarking on this NaNoWriMo adventure, my main character has a mentor who is actually his lost father’s enemy. I was thinking my NaNo novel didn’t have a disguised enemy, but as Nonny and her best friend Vince drift in different directions, I realize that he becomes an enemy. [...]
For those of you just peeking in here for the first time, I’ve spent many more years teaching than I have writing (at least professionally). Because of my years of teaching writing to writers of all ages, I have a lot of tricks for keeping the writing moving, and the one I’m sharing this month [...]
Hop on over and visit Tara Lazar for another turkey-time distraction: PiBoIdMo, or Picture Book Idea Month. Finding ideas for picture books are not usually my problem. I’ve even taught classes on the topic (what happens after the idea stage is more of a problem to me). I’ve always claimed that my problem was time [...]
Found this waiting for me on Facebook today from Debbie Austin… I couldn’t help but notice No NaNoNuj this week. How ever will I NaNo, My characters’ lives tweak, Without your wise suggestions And witty repartee, That dose of inspiration, That NaNoNuj per day? It’s sort of like the NaNoWriMo word count. I intend to [...]
Deception. It’s so fun to sneak it into a story, isn’t it? See it Coming can be one of those treats that triggers a surprise–or not. Give your readers a taste of what’s going to happen, then pull the rug out from under them. Or give us a hint that the Very Worst Thing might [...]
Day 13, and I’m only a full day behind in the word count. My goal is to be back on track by the 15th. 25000 words. This morning I wake up thinking not just of my story, but also of a class I want to teach this winter. A novel group for intergenerational writers of [...]
It’s Day 11 of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and my word count is below where I’m supposed to be. I started out flying ahead of the daily goal because I knew I had a few days where I wouldn’t be able to write much. Today’s another one of those, but for this next hour, [...]
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