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Fowler’s Toad: He Chose Our Pond
One night In May, I noticed a very loud sound from right outside our window. My husband, Dwight, has a fish pond right outside our kitchen door. The sound was loud! So, on May 26, I whipped out my iphone and taped the noise. You’ll hear the noise at 7 seconds into the tape, and…
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8 Things Writers Do When Life is Crazy: The Crazy Writing Life
Life has been crazy the last two weeks and I’ve struggled to keep up. There’s been a major family crisis, a funeral, major snow storms, and illnesses. In spite of all of that, people get up and go to work. Writers must do the same thing: when life throws us crazy, we spin it into…
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Author v. Them: When to Revise for Critiquers
I am scared to work on my WIP story right now. Why? Because someone I respect read the story and said that it’s working well, but I think I need to make one change–a pretty big one–to make it even stronger. But Critiquer said it was great, as is. If I mess with it, will…
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3 Reasons I Failed NaNoWriMo – and Why It’s OK
I am a failure. I signed up for NaNoWriMo–again. And again–I failed to make 50,000 words. But I have good reasons. World Building. I did massive work this month on world building. Since I’m writing a science fiction novel, I needed to invent technology, figure out where to locate installations, design the installations to meet…
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Do You Fear Starting a New Novel?
Today, I stare failure in the face. Today, I am scared. Today, I see possibilities as the possibility of failing. In other words, I have finished all my self-imposed deadlines on other projects and cleared my plate of other tasks, so that I can start a new novel. And it terrifies me. It’s an ambitious…
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A Normal Day of Writing: Find Your Natural Rhythms
What is a normal day like for me? I get up early and exercise, sometimes taking a two mile walk, and sometimes going to the gym to bike and lift weight. Home again to get ready for the day. I actually go to an office to work–lucky, I know. In the attic of our blue…