So, you’ve finished the first draft of your current work in progress. The hard work is done now, right? Not quite. Just because you’ve typed “The End” doesn’t mean your work is ready for the world to see. There are sure to be typos, missed punctuation, and (gasp) even plot holes that need to beContinue reading “The Rabbit Hole of Revisions: guest post by Ferrell Hornsby”
Tag Archives: improve your writing
Writer In Motion: A five week writing and revising challenge
Summer is here. The weather is gorgeous, but sweaty-hot. Levi and I are adjusting though motivationally-challenged. He gets away with napping and bathing all day, but my stories won’t write themselves. So, I found a challenge to keep me working through August. For the next five weeks, starting August 1st, I will be participating inContinue reading “Writer In Motion: A five week writing and revising challenge”
The Planner Experiment: Fickle Spring
This week spring sprung, pounced really. We raced from snow to Seattle summer weather with speed that could induce spine-snapping whiplash. The cherry plum trees in my yard went from bare to full blossom in forty-eight hours. I woke up one morning and found myself instinctively picking things up and putting them away everywhere IContinue reading “The Planner Experiment: Fickle Spring”
Reading as a writer: Deconstructing a scene
This summer my wonderful local book store, A Good Book in Sumner, Wa, not only had a Summer Reading Bingo card, but came up with a Bingo card for writers as well. It looked daunting at first with squares like: Write your manifesto (turn your excuses upside down); Write seven days in a row; andContinue reading “Reading as a writer: Deconstructing a scene”
B is for Banausic and Bickham – Craft Book Review: Jack M. Bickham Double Feature
banausic: adjective – relating to or concerned with earning a living; utilitarian; mechanical; practical. Not operating on a refined or elevated level; mundane. Today’s NaPoWriMo theme was the I, or the speaker of the poem. I thought it tied in well with witness testimony which I am studying in an online forensic psychology class throughContinue reading “B is for Banausic and Bickham – Craft Book Review: Jack M. Bickham Double Feature”
Great News for Writers and Anyone Who Wants to Write!
Sometimes things just go right. And when that happens, I get excited and want to share. I got struck by the spring cleaning bug and in my sorting and tossing, I found a copy of Writer’s Digest that was part of the swag from an author meet I went to last year. Inside was anContinue reading “Great News for Writers and Anyone Who Wants to Write!”
A Happy Discovery – Free Indirect Discourse: I Was Already Using It, But Now I Know When and How to Use It Correctly
I first saw the term Free Indirect Discourse while reading the chapter on Flannery O’Connor in Write Like The Masters by William Cane. Cane describes Free Indirect Discourse (FID) as “A popular technique with good writers, FID involves narrating a scene in language that contains some elements from the lexicon of one of the charactersContinue reading “A Happy Discovery – Free Indirect Discourse: I Was Already Using It, But Now I Know When and How to Use It Correctly”
Part Two The Worrying Wave of Weak Verbs: a cautionary tale of the murderous search for to be, to have, to do, to get, to go and to make
In my last post, I shared an amazing discovery, a little book full of helpful tips called The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier by Bonnie Trenga. At the end of exploring Chapter Seven, you’ll recall I encountered a “there was” problem in my manuscript. After my battle with “there was”, I moved on toContinue reading “Part Two The Worrying Wave of Weak Verbs: a cautionary tale of the murderous search for to be, to have, to do, to get, to go and to make”
Experience Writing 