Some years ago I worked at a job that required meeting two daily deadlines. It was a newspaper. Between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. I had to meet a first-edition deadline and a second-edition deadline. The pace was fun and exciting — for the first couple of years.
Read more on All writers need deadlines to give focus to their work…
When I look out the windows on a snowy street scene in mid- to late-December, I find it easy to think and write about Christmas. I’m sure you do, too.
But what about trying to come up with copy for Halloween invitations or New Year’s Eve stories in mid-July? Does that pose more of a challenge for you to get in the mood?
Read more on Writing seasonal stories? Deadlines make this whatever season you need it to be…
Okay, well, get the drum roll ready. (Or at least turn up the lights on your home theater lighting in that fancy big-screen TV setup. What? You don’t have a big-screen TV with home theater? Yeah, me neither.)
Read more on Hey, I suddenly find myself ‘working’ full-time again — not an easy step to take…
I posted here a couple of days ago regarding a writing project I felt compelled to abandon because of possible copyright problems. I “killed” the “Tales of the Old West” site which I’d never done much with.
Read more on My Western blog project has been reborn — have a look, but be gentle…
I love reading and writing about the “Old West,” that part of American history related to westward expansion, settlement, and “rip roarin’” cowboys and the whole works. You’ll remember from some earlier posts on this site that I’ve even been working (irregularly) on some “Western” novels.
Read more on Killing a writing project can be like murdering an old friend…
Suppose you have a novel with a scene that takes place outdoors. Now suppose you were given the job of turning that novel scene into a play — how would you approach the lighting of that outdoor scene? Would you light it as near dawn, near twilight, bright sunlight, dark night?
Read more on Do all Russian novels take place on dark, chilly nights?…
I just finished reading a memoir that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago: “Crazy for God,” by Frank Schaeffer, son of the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer, a religious evangelica/fundamentalist who was instrumental in forming much of today’s “Religious Right” Movement. Fascinating, honest book. Frank Schaeffer, author of the memoir, tells an honest, compelling story of what it was like growing up in a family headed by two people who were idolized (literally) by millions of fundamentalist/evangelical Christians in the 1960s-’80s. (Francis Schaeffer, theologian and father of Frank, died of cancer in 1984; Edith, mother and author in her own right, is still alive.)
I mentioned a day or two ago (who keeps track of the time??) that I was on the library’s waiting list for Anne Lamott’s newest book about spirituality and faith, “Grace (eventually),” and that I expected to get it in a week or so.
Read more on Got that Lamott book from the library — I’ll give you a review when I’ve read it…
I know that many of you blog or host your own websites to which you add regular content. Many of you, I’m sure, have various scripts or software on your site that allows you to poll your customers about an issue.
Read more on For those of you with blogs or websites — do you know a good polling script?…
Here’s another of those simple, basic writing tips you may already know — or you may be overlooking. I hope it’s helpful. In a word: Speed writing.
Okay, I cheated. That’s two words, but it’s a simple and effective way to start a writing session anytime you simply can’t get the words flowing and get started any other way. It’s a technique that’s pretty much self-descriptive.
Read more on ‘Speed writing’ may be the tip you need if you’re fighting writer’s block…
I’ve only had one “professional” copy writing job in my writing career, and that was many years ago. But I do copy writing almost daily for much of the content on my various affiliate marketing websites. I’m sure many of you reading this are professional copy writers and/or find yourself also writing website copy that involves advertising.
Writers can work magic. Or, sometimes, they just write down words and the magic doesn’t come. In most cases, technical writers and/or copy writers get stuck with the “non-magic” sorts of words.
I love Anne Lamott’s writing about writing. I thoroughly enjoy her writing about religion and personal faith, too. Her latest book, “Grace (eventually): Thoughts on Faith,” is about religion and her personal faith.
Read more on Any of you read Anne Lamott’s newest book yet?…
Earlier today I posted my recommendation for WeBuilder 2008 text editing/writing software, discussing the easy way I could edit online, website text with it.
When I’m not working directly on a website online, I have a second text editor I use which I owned before I purchased WeBuilder 2008. That one is EditPad Pro, and you can find out more about EditPad Pro at this website.
Read more on Regarding text editors — this is a favorite when not working online…
Text editors are no big deal anymore for writers, are they? Most of the “serious” or finished writing I do is done in Word. I suspect most writers use Word, because so many editors require Word or Word-compatible files.
Read more on What’s your favorite writing software for text files?…
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