Writing Tips

Remember those long ago days of preschool or kindergarten? Those days when life held a quiet nap on most afternoons, followed perhaps by recess? I’m talking about all those things that appeal to us even more as adults — and which we rarely have time for anymore. No, if anything, as adults we probably get far too little sleep, too little quiet and rest. We do far too much worrying and far too little relaxing. (I was reading somewhere recently that some European nations require employers to give their employees FIVE WEEKS paid vacation annually. I wanna live there.) Which […] Read More >

When your plot bogs down and your characters have started to ignore you and you have nothing in particular to write for the middle of that story, you might try this little trick. It works for me: I hear a sudden, urgent banging on the front door, bedroom door or window, basement stairwell, whatever entrance or exit my characters are near. With a feeling of fear, or anticipation, or wonder — whatever mood strikes me or seems like what my characters are experiencing at the time — I open the door, look out the window, climb up or down the […] Read More >

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another of those posts I’ve mentioned in recent weeks which originally appeared a year or so ago — but was lost when I went through the webhost’s server crash a few weeks ago. I have rewritten some of it and I am “reposting” it because I think it has some useful information for writers. Thank you for your patience as I recover “old” posts like this as I run onto them on my hard drive.) Do you transcribe? Do you transcribe professionally? I know the idea of transcription brings to mind for many the word “secretary,” […] Read More >

How many of you out there have iPods or something similar and listen to music (or even watch videos?) while you write? Do you prefer some other sort of noise or activity going on while you write? Or do you insist on a nearly silent, isolated work environment when you’re writing. Whatever works for you and helps you write is, obviously, the best thing for YOU. I feel your pain if you require a lot of silence and isolation to be able to write. That’s pretty hard to find in our world these days. Lucky you if you’re able to […] Read More >