Category writing
On Completing a Second Draft
Last spring I wrote about finishing my first draft. Yay, me! That was a significant milestone, so I’m told. Pat yourself on the back. You did it! So the second draft might be a bit anticlimactic, but it feels important to me. As I foreshadowed in that piece, I did finish it by fall. But […]
On Completing a First Draft
I haven’t written about writing in a while. I’ve been working on a novel since approximately the dawn of written language. Almost three years ago, I wrote about breaking through a block (“The Insecurities of Being a Writer”). Last fall, I waxed enthusiastically in “Writing Is like a Fungus” about the guidebooks I used to […]
Power Lines
The hills line up to the horizon like a blanket kicked to the bottom of the bed. This isn’t the Himalayas, where continents crashed into each other, shoving rock five and a half miles into the sky. This is the result of an ice age pushing around the land thousands of years ago. The effect […]
Zen and the Art of Handling Setbacks
Writing a novel is a lot like building a porch. I’m not talking about planning and prep work and how conceiving and completing any project has similar steps and cautions. This is no Zen and the Art of Novel Writing (or Porch Building). This is about setbacks. It began so simply. A three-walled, roofed but […]
Writing Is like a Fungus
Already, I’m letting this blog down. It’s been too long since I’ve written. Well, I’ve been writing, and that’s the good news, just not here. What’s been happening? I’m working on a novel. My second, so you’d think it would be easier, right? Nope. Now I know all my weaknesses and found some new ones. […]
A Perfect Life: My Short Story Collection
December 2017 update: I’m thrilled to announce I won a Rainbow Award (co-winner with the anthology Haunting Muses, which I have a story in)! I meant to post this a couple of months ago, but got distracted. It’s late for a launch announcement, but in time for the gift-buying season! In September, all my […]
Writing a Transgender Character
A piece last fall in Time magazine about the movie The Danish Girl inspired this post (I’m a bit behind). In particular this line, “Stories about transgender people have been received rapturously over the past two years…” And, “But when the script first landed in [Director Tom] Hooper’s lap back in 2008, he says, it […]
