Place for the Stolen
Like that one guy said: Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Welcome to the place where all things have been lifted, looted, and otherwise pilfered…Remember, possession is 9/10s of the law.
Category: Writing Problems
How Do You Bounce Back From Time Away?
Last Tuesday I outlined my plan to exercise my writing muscles back into shape. Now, I haven’t written much in a few months so I’m feeling like I’m doing some heavy lifting without warming up. And apparently I’m not the only one feeling like… Continue Reading “How Do You Bounce Back From Time Away?”
Deadlines and Word Counts and Themes: Oh My!
Since November a huge amount of my creative energy has gone into my theatre instead of my writing. Which makes me neither happy nor sad, it’s just how it worked out — the focus went to one area and I produced good work in… Continue Reading “Deadlines and Word Counts and Themes: Oh My!”
Historical Novels Before the Internet Existed. How?
This last hour or so I’ve been working on my WIP, which is a historical novel. It’s a little slow going, but I’ve written every day since the New Year, which is my goal. However, my internet went out about forty-five minutes ago. It… Continue Reading “Historical Novels Before the Internet Existed. How?”
What Was Blocking Me: A Tuesday Post of Accountability
Hello Tuesday. Time to be held accountable! Last week and the week before I lamented my lack of progress. This week I’ve figured out what the problem was, and I think I’m kind-of recovering. It took agent Rachelle Gardner’s post on money and writing… Continue Reading “What Was Blocking Me: A Tuesday Post of Accountability”
The Pen Name Game
Agatha Christie is a household name. It’s understood that she wrote ground-breaking mysteries. Mysteries are not the only stories she wrote. Under the nom de plume of Mary Westmacott, she also wrote romances. Six to be exact: Absent in the Spring, A Daughter’s Daughter,… Continue Reading “The Pen Name Game”
We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming For a Flip-Out and a Resolution
Tabling a work-in-progress is never an easy thing to decide. Most writers’ advice I’ve heard advises that you should push through a tough hump, that you should keep going until the end, because only when you reach the end do you actually know what… Continue Reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming For a Flip-Out and a Resolution”
Mentor of the Month: Justin Cronin: The Summer Guest and The Passage, a small critique on repetition
One of the things that writers are warned against is repetitiveness: Don’t repeat words too often if you’re not going for an effect. Don’t be repetitive in how you structure your sentences. Don’t start too many sentences or paragraphs with the same word. Don’t… Continue Reading “Mentor of the Month: Justin Cronin: The Summer Guest and The Passage, a small critique on repetition”
Progress
After the Great Writing Race of 2010, I felt rather disappointed in my performance. Yes, sometimes life gets in the way, and a great many of the obstacles that presented themselves during the contest (husband’s lack of job, my overworking my own job) have… Continue Reading “Progress”
Deb just posted about a problem that I think is common to a great deal of writers: knowing when to stop the revising/rewriting/reworking. I think Fleur’s comment on Deb’s post is very telling–when you’re putting stuff back in and you’re rearranging commas and only… Continue Reading “”
Jenny Maloney
I write dark fiction that my mother hates. I also review mysteries for criminalelement.com. When not writing fiction/reviews, I'm creating plays at Springs Ensemble Theatre in Colorado Springs.
