If you’re in the writing biz, it goes without saying that you have a relationship with words. I love words, and I love talking; it’s often more fun than writing. As a natural born storyteller I can tell an engaging story, but, inevitably, I end up taking you to a couple of different places in [...]
There’s an ongoing conversation in a one of my freelance writing forums on LinkedIn about whether it’s a good idea to give a prospective client a free writing sample. Don’t do It. I speak from experience. I’ve done it. I had a shot at a writing job for a start-up men’s skincare website. I went [...]
So far, 2012 has been about getting rid of clutter and getting more organized. I have to give some of the credit to Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and his current series on clutter. It’s a battle I’ve had to fight more in recent years and his posts have helped motivate me even more. I [...]
My 5 year old granddaughter was decorating my house this weekend with the sidewalk chalk. She moved from the wall to the front porch and sidewalk and colored until she was no longer interested. As I looked at this wall this morning I was struck by the beauty and intensity of her art work. So, [...]
Late Sunday night I joined the NaNoWriMo- National Novel Writing Month. That means I have pledged to write 50,000 words in the month of November! I’m joined by hundreds of thousands around the country and over 300 in my region of the state. But, you’re writing a memoir, you say? Well, yes.. but there is [...]
Why do we write? Is it simply to convey a story or to seduce and lure the reader with magic? We all have the power to play and entice with words, to draw our reader closer to our story-whether we’re selling carpet or writing works of literary fiction. The key is to do it well. [...]
I”m doing research in preparation for my 5 minutes with a literary agent. Part of that involved searching the internet for titles of books on the topic of online dating and midlife women who were dating. I need to see what others are writing on that topic to be able to talk about the market [...]
“Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.” -Henry David Thoreau quotes (American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862)
I sometimes ask myself why I think anyone would want to read what I have to say, or why I think I can write it, or how I got here? All writers have some version of those same questions and we all have different answers. The common thread is a deep understanding of the “need” [...]
Truth In memoir, as in personal “I” statements we make declarative statements about ourselves. Stating that truth brings it to reality, we are what we see ourselves as. Aren’t we? I listened to a priest recently challenge the words of an elderly woman. She was 97 when she died, strong, resilient and sure of herself. [...]
