I’ll be the first to admit it. I’ve done my share of grumbling about editors. Sometimes more than grumbling; raging and swearing. What?! I revised it twice for you and now you’re turning it down?!!! No, I can’t cut that scene. It’s the key to the whole story. If you like it so much, why [...]
My critique group was winding up its bi-monthly meeting. We were in Nancy Coffelt’s living room. Before we called it a night and went home, I raised a question. It had been on my mind for some time. I asked the group: “What exactly is a memoir?” Every time I scan the New Book shelf [...]
I was rereading my post about writing to authors when a thought occurred to me. Writing a letter to your favorite author? How 20th century! I’ve always believed that schools are 19th century institutions that never got around to dealing with the 20th century. Now they’re in the 21st! Most of the letters I get [...]
I recently received a rush of letters from children all over the country whose classes are writing to a favorite author. It’s important to me that I answer these letters, or at least respond and acknowledge that I received them. If children go through the trouble of writing a letter, they deserve an answer. However, [...]
I’ll pick up where I left off with on my last post. For those of you who may not have read it, I blogged about a problem I was having with a manuscript I’m currently working on. The problem is too much information in the early chapters and not enough action. I’m taking too long [...]
Hooray! I finished Snot Boy! Let’s put that in context. I finished the first draft. I have a coherent story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. I hope I’ve created interesting characters and given them a problem to solve that will hold the reader’s attention. That does not mean I’m done. Not by [...]
In my last post I wrote about writing as a process of discovery. I truly believe this to be the case. When you begin a story, you have some vague notions about what you’d like to do and perhaps what you hope to do. Then, as you write, things change. Unanticipated problems show up. So [...]
My last few posts have been about using a new text-to-speech program, Dragon Dictate, in writing an actual manuscript. The program gets more accurate and easier to use the more I use it. The biggest problem I find myself facing involves one of the basic challenges of writing anything. It’s the question writers ask themselves [...]
Yesterday I blogged about how I planned to experiment with my new text-to-speech program, Dragon Dictate. How did it go? Frustrating at times, but ultimately successful. I sent myself quite a task, getting a new chapter boos started. I wanted to take a picture book manuscript I had written several years ago and expand it [...]
In my last entry I blogged about becoming familiar with the Dragon Dictate program. I’ve been using it for the past week, mostly for writing e-mails and for answering letters from children. I’ve discovered that the program gets easier the more I use it. Now I think I’m ready for a bigger challenge. I sent [...]
