If we wish to be resourceful and creative in life, we must seek out encouragement and advice that nourishes and replenishes us. Especially in times of creative abandon. With NaNoWriMo around the corner, advice is flying from every side, blowing like wind from a canyon. It is difficult to know which way to turn – … More NaNoWriMo Prep: Advice and Finding Your Natural Mind
I want to be a writer. Specifically, I want to write and publish books. Books about vampires and fairies and an organization I created called the Wish Granter's Union. I want people to read what I write, to be inspired by my characters as I have been by other characters. I want to share what … More Focusing on the Outcome
We hear about how zombies are over and how fairy tales are in, we hear about agents and we worry about if we can one day sell the thing we have scarcely typed five paragraphs of. We ought never end a sentence with the word of. Or to. Or with. We think we should write … More Month Twelve Reflections: Write What You Write
(Why are you reading blogs? Go write! ) When I was younger, I spent a lot of my time (13 years) involved with all things theater. Acting in, writing, and directing plays all taught me a lot about storytelling, and about writing. Playwriting and screenwriting is writing distilled down to an impressive science; instead of … More NaNoWriMo Tips: stage directions and other lessons from script writing
Choosing what to write for NaNoWriMo is a challenge. It has been a challenge every month this year for me, and sometimes I lose a few days at the beginning of the month to just trying to find that thread of plot I feel has the energy to carry me through. There are a lot … More NaNoWriMo Prep: Write Something You Want to Read, with pep talk
As we all know, it's that time of year again. NaNoWriMo. Thirty days of literary abandon, the chance to cast aside our normal lives for a time and to finally write a novel. I have done some seven NaNos before this year, some much more successful than the others. Some years my schedule was fairly … More NaNoWriMo Prep: Clear the Decks
Sometimes, it is impossible to get started. We sit at the paper or computer, and as soon as we clear some mental space for ourselves and look for what we want to say, our minds crowd with The List. You know The List. It's a demonic little thing that pops up and tells us all … More Unstuck: Do Something Else
This approach is for the kind of stuck that just keeps us from writing anything at all, even a small practice piece or blog, when words simply won't come and we are left feeling empty and alone, abandoned at the start, and we are lost and frozen in space, searching for he brilliance we are … More Unstuck: What to Write When You Don’t Know What to Write – Write Reality
*I appologize for not getting this up last night. It was late, and some technical glitches were more than I wanted to deal with. As some of you may have noticed from my previous post, I am not a fan of outlining. In fact, it takes everything I have not to go on a rant … More Reasons I Hate Outlines With A Firey Passion
Concerning History in the Atlantic World, 1680-1740
The long haul of the spectrum
one woman's thoughts about life on the spectrum
Japanese pop culture through a feminist lens
The official blog of Michelle Tuckett, word ninja. 