Like many writers, I’ve been flummoxed by the challenge of adding a little humor to my writing. I don’t want my prose to feel as stale as last week’s bread, (or worse: last year’s slang!)…
I, for one, had high hopes. Fourteen families in our neighborhood banded together and held a rummage sale. We were expecting lots of people and lots of sales. It didn’t work out that way. So…
I’ve been accused (well, criticized) for plopping my characters down in empty white spaces. They could be anywhere. Do more with the setting, I’m told. Then another reader asked if I was being paid by…
Sometimes I read a book and swept away by its concept. Just where did the authors get their ideas? So I thought I’d take a break from editing and I’d amuse myself coming up with…
When life becomes chaotic, reading has been one way I’ve found to escape my own trials and lose myself in those of others. Taking a detour from my usual practice of seeking out books I…
For months I’ve been struggling with revising my novel. It has seemed like a monumental task, slogging through hundreds of pages, this time looking for plot holes, another adding detail. Some writers claim only one…
For months I’ve been moaning about my slow progress editing my novel. Writing? No problem. There’s that burst of creativity, the joy of getting the story told. I’ve drafted two more novels over the last…
When I’m drafting, whether it’s a novel, short story, or a blog post, I find that the first draft is the quickest. Words just pour from my fingers like water over a dam, or in…
How many times have I said, “I don’t need to do that?” Then later I realize it would have been a good idea. A really good idea. When I lived in Russia, I invested quite…
The last time I was in Santa Fe, the Loretto Chapel was closed for a wedding. So I didn’t get to see the Miraculous Staircase. This time I made of point to taking a look….