Conflict on Every Page

This week, I traveled to the western edge of Arkansas to do a school visit, my last one of the year. While driving, I listened to a book-on-tape of
Firegirl by Tony Abbott. The first person male narrator is in seventh grade at a parochial school and doing just fine, when [...]

Excaliber is only 18th?

Excaliber is only the 18th favorite fictional weapon of all time? How could that be?
What about Luke Skywalker’s light saber–how did it fare? OK, what do you think is number 1? I would never have guessed.
See what weapon earned the number one spot.
Don’t you love things like this? Is this a [...]

Revision Priorities

It’s OK to need lots of revision.
I recently got the comments back from participants in the Washington Novel Revision retreat and one person said, “I came away from the retreat with inspiration and the fact that it’s OK to have lots of revision to do.”
Of course, it’s OK to need lots of revision! I [...]

Starting Again

Here we go, starting again. After the holiday, I need to pick up my novel revision and get going again. But, I’ve lost momentum.
It’s a problem: life seems to interfere with the making of art.
So, what else is new? When I teach freshman composition, I tell the students that my class [...]

My Favorite Thanksgiving Books

These are my favorite Thanksgiving books:

Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen.
This classic never fails to touch my heart. Molly has to make a Pilgrim for her class’s Thanksgiving celebration. Mama tells her that she will make the Pilgrim, so go on to bed. But Mama makes a doll that looks like [...]

Fixing Problem Novels

In the 1970’s there was an abundance of problem novels and the editorial backlash from them is still around. At the various retreats, I’ve talked with several people who are writing a type of problem novel. They don’t sell.
From my discussions, it seems that editors wrongly assume that the market is glutted with [...]

10 Reasons for Gratitude

At this time of year, we give thanks for many things, including these:
10. Computers, the machines you hate to love, for how much easier they make the task of writing.
9. Contracts, with big fat royalty clauses.
8. A backlist that keeps on living and bringing in royalty checks.
7. Friends who critique our stories with love.
6. [...]

Write Through the Holidays

How do you, as a writer, go through the holidays? Thanksgiving on Thursday is a major holiday for our family.
For me, I don’t get to actually write. This week, all three of my daughters are coming home and we’ll have 16 for Thanksgiving dinner. Or more. The number seems to go [...]

titles

I’ve been playing with titles of a book this week and trying to find something that works. Of course, titles are marketing tools, designed to catch an audience’s imagination and get them to pick up the book and look inside.
I thought carefully about the audience, then started making lists. The first list was [...]

Shrunken Manuscript

As part of my Novel Revision retreat, I ask writers to shrink their manuscripts. Several people asked if I would post clear instructions on how to do the Shrunken Manuscript. This uncommon revision technique — and so many other revision techniques — are included in my book, Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise.
So, [...]