As your story moves along, each milestone the protagonist encounters will test, stress, and shape him or her in a new way. It will force a reconsideration or recalibration of who he is. A milestone can be an emotionally-charged event or life passage such as a wedding, funeral, a harrowing childbirth, or death bed scene. […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'writing inspiration' Category
Resource for writers: Winningwriters.com
In case you’re not familiar with winningwriters.com it’s a boon to writers trying to break in or break out. You’ll find all the latest contests, deadlines, and literary journalists to submit to along with tips and bits and pieces about the writing life. Some of the contests offer real money, it’s just plain inspirational, and […]
Read the rest of this entry »Jeanette Winterson: Language is freedom
“For me, language is a freedom. As soon as you have found the words with which to express something, you are no longer incoherent, you are no longer trapped by your own emotions, by your own experiences; you can describe them, you can tell them, you can bring them out of yourself and give them […]
Read the rest of this entry »Ray Bradbury: Living is the center of your life
You should get on with the business of living
Read the rest of this entry »Ted Hughes on investing heart
“That’s the paradox: the only time most people feel alive is when they’re suffering, when something overwhelms their ordinary, careful armor, and the naked child is flung out into the world. That’s why the things that are worst to undergo are best to remember. But when that child gets buried away under their adaptive and […]
Read the rest of this entry »Ray Bradbury on feeding the muse
“It isn’t easy. Nobody has ever done it consistently. Those who try hardest, scare it off into the woods. Those who turn their backs and saunter along, whistling softly between their teeth, hear it treading quietly behind them, lured by a carefully acquired disdain. We are of course speaking of The Muse. The Feeding of […]
Read the rest of this entry »A wee bit of advice….
from Neil Gaiman “The moment that you feel, just possibly, you are walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind, and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself . . . That is the moment, you might be starting to get it right.” Keep writing, keep […]
Read the rest of this entry »Thought for the day on diaries
“One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer and which in a general way are naturally believed, surmised, and admitted by you, but which you’ll unconsciously deny when it comes to the point of gaining hope or peace from such an admission. […]
Read the rest of this entry »Saved by Stories
Just after my seventh Christmas our family moved into a bigger house. By then my youngest brother Colin had been born on Halloween and the eight of us had outgrown our modest three-bedroom. The move happened over the holiday break, amid the bitter cold, my father and uncles still young men hauling sagging, stained mattresses, […]
Read the rest of this entry »Reminder: Making it in Changing Times on January 31
I feel renewed and excited about a spanking new year to cast my plans and dreams onto. How about you? If you’re looking for advice on craft, blogging, and attracting an editor’s eye, this one-day conference is for you. It’s called Making it in Changing Times because the publishing landscape is ever changing and it’s […]
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