Writing Category
Don’t Find Time to Write, Make Time
Posted on May 31, 2016 3 Comments
Finding time to write is a big issue for all writers, including myself. It’s downright frustrating when free time doesn’t match up with one’s creative impulse. Recently a Fresh Pond Writer asked me for some advice on finding time. I’ll tell you what I told her: It’s all in your head. I don’t mean to sound condescending. What […]
Verily, Verily I Say Unto You, Emphatically
Posted on November 13, 2013 Leave a Comment
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” — Stephen King
The Path Not Taken, Yet
Posted on October 29, 2013 3 Comments
This is a difficult blog for me to write. I’ve been sort of avoiding it since I got home from the Writing by Writers conference in Tomales Bay, Calif. But a week has passed and it’s time to step up. The reason I’ve been avoiding this blog is that as soon as I articulate what […]
Off Course
Posted on October 24, 2013 2 Comments
I’m still coming down from my six days in Marin County where I took a writing workshop with Ron Carlson at the Writing by Writers conference. I spent some time the last couple of days transcribing my notes and downloading images. I came across the one above this morning, a panoramic view of Bodega Bay. […]
Retreat!
Posted on August 25, 2013 1 Comment
To MFA or not to MFA. That has been the question for me as of late. I was leaning toward the MFA. Here’s why: I wanted more time to write and I wanted the potential networking opportunities. Well after explaining this to a friend, who helped me get down to the nitty-gritty, he wondered couldn’t […]
The Quiet Solitude of Writing Away
Posted on August 28, 2012 2 Comments
Last week I spent my time in Provincetown, Ma., at the Fine Arts Work Center. I was there to attend a workshop taught by Pam Houston. But I think I was also there to see what it was like to get away and write. I’m considering applying to some residencies and I thought my time […]
Read Your Sentences Aloud
Posted on August 16, 2012 2 Comments
I read this post from a friend of mine and was reminded of something John Cheever wrote in the forward to his collection of stories. He said, “My favorite stories are those that were written in less than a week and that were often composed aloud.” At about the same time that a read that […]
Embrace the Fiction of All Things
Posted on August 13, 2012 3 Comments
There was a wonderful essay in the New Yorker this past week, written by Keith Ridgway. Ridgway is a Dublin-born writer and author of six books, including one collection of short stories. He begins the essay, “Everything is Fiction,” by saying, “I don’t know how to write.”
Don’t Get Trapped in the Blogmire
Posted on June 28, 2012 2 Comments
I’ve only been writing this blog for about five weeks now, give or take a few days. And in that time, I’ve noticed something a little disconcerting. People — by that, I mean “writers” — are spending too much time writing blog posts or reading other blogs — so much time that it’s distracting them […]
Data Mine the Work
Posted on June 26, 2012 4 Comments
Yesterday in my post, The Exploratory Draft, I mentioned the interview I read in The Writer with Adam Johnson. Johnson, like many writers, believes that successful stories come out of hard work. You have to put in the hours. He writes at least 1,000 words per day and he keeps track of his progress in […]
Tracy Staedter 