Category: Writing

  • Psychology of Revision: Fear and Humility, Part 2

    5 Days on Psychology of Revising For six years, I’ve taught the Novel Revision Retreat across the country and I’ve thought a lot about the psychological issues that writers face as they face the work of revising a novel. It’s interesting that most psychological discussions of writing involve writer’s block. Not much discussion of everyday…

  • Psychology of Revising: Fear & Humility 1

    5 Days on Psychology of Revising For six years, I’ve taught the Novel Revision Retreat across the country and I’ve thought a lot about the psychological issues that writers face as they face the work of revising a novel. It’s interesting that most psychological discussions of writing involve writer’s block. Not much discussion of everyday…

  • Psychology of Revision: Hope

    Hope is the feeling that we are at the top of our game and building on this solid draft, we can accomplish something unique, special, earth-shattering.

  • Friday Ideas

    This has been a difficult year in many ways with lots of family situations demanding attention. Add to that my DH’s hip replacement surgery last week, and my daughter’s upcoming wedding in June. I realized last fall that it would be hard for me to commit emotionally to a big project like a novel. So,…

  • 2007 Wisconsin Picturebook Retreat

    by Darcy Pattison I was in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend for a Picturebook Retreat. You can see pictures here. We spent the weekend talking about and revising picturebooks: Imperative of the Unique: “Wonderful insistence on FRESH and UNIQUE.” Kathleen Petrella. Focus and structure: “Very useful. I’ll be working through all my stories using these techniques.”…