Tweet I’m pursuing a Master of Professional Writing degree at the University of Oklahoma. This semester, I’m taking one of the program’s three keystone classes, “Writing the Novel.” It involves two lectures on writing technique every week, but the core of it is the semester project. Over the space of just four months (almost five), […]
Tweet This week we’ve been talking about writing setbacks, and the biggest setback of all: not wanting to write. It’s part of the process, but that doesn’t mean it’s pleasant, and it certainly doesn’t mean it’s productive. (Alliteration is fun.) As I said yesterday, every writer occasionally feels that sense of ultimate distraction. It’s a […]
Tweet I’m a big believer in prewriting. I design my stories, building them with care before I even start writing. Somebody once said even the best battle plan only lasts until the first shot is fired (or something to that effect). It certainly applies to writing. Stories change in the telling. It’s just part of […]
Tweet Yesterday we talked about the slow process of writing a book in a hurry. About achieving something great six months from now by doing something pathetic and tedious today. National Novel Writing Month is a crash course in precisely that process. It’s something on the order of 20+ days of pathetic and tedious, crammed […]
Tweet This week I started with a story about trying to get started jogging again. I almost didn’t post it. I felt like maybe it was a little too personal, and I wasn’t sure you’d much care. But one of the things I’m learning as I study writing this fall is that good storytelling is […]
Tweet It’s been four and a half months since I talked about my passion for walking, and all the clear and obvious benefits I’d gotten from the simple act of going out every day and exercising. That was a popular post back then, and getting in that habit was one of the best things I’ve […]
Tweet I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating for some context. I’m a 3-time NaNoWriMo winner (although last year’s probably deserves an asterisk, because I made up my own rules). 2009: 51,242 words (spread across three books and a short story) 2008: 60,080 words (Gods Tomorrow) 2007: 121,958 words (Sleeping Kings: The Shepherd) That’s […]
Tweet I talked on Tuesday about climbing mountains — about facing and overcoming an arbitrary challenge in an arbitrary amount of time, just to become a better person. And now…welcome to NaNoWriMo Week Two. For the productive among us (or just the prepared) Week One was all about the pell-mell rush into productivity, and Week […]
Tweet Yesterday I talked about some of the pitfalls of chasing inspiration, and the importance of finishing projects. That might seem like a premature topic, less than a week into a month-long marathon, but Week One is the foundation or your noveling month. That’s why I was thanking Courtney yesterday for her comments on Wednesday. […]
Tweet I’m quite lucky to be surrounded by the kind of creative talent I am, and quite conniving to get all that talent working on my behalf. That’s something I think (and am told) fairly often, but in this case it’s because of yesterday’s guest post. With no prompting whatsoever, Courtney wrote a perfect introduction […]
