What to Write…When You Don’t Want to Write
With six days (and counting) until Baby Mayhew’s due date, I’m having little success focusing on anything other than his arrival. The very moment I manage to channel my thoughts on something productive a twinge, contraction, or kick yanks my attention back to Baby. He seems determined to keep me guessing every second of every [...]
Uh Oh…
I’m having one of those I’m-such-an-idiot moments. I just sent out a submission and addressed the letter to “Dear Editor…” That might not sound so bad, except I knew the editor’s name – how to spell it correctly and everything. Mistakes like this shout, “Look at my writing and accept it. It’s so great I [...]
How May I Help You?
By nature, I’m a problem solver. Not necessarily my own problems. Just everyone else’s. This morning a friend of mine called. She just needed someone to talk to. She needed me to listen, and I could barely hear her over my own thoughts. Should I make her a meal? Read her a devotion? Just drive [...]
Stoplight Stories
Driving around with a pencil in hand isn’t exactly the best idea, especially with all the lunatics (myself included) out there on Atlanta’s highways. Case in point, just yesterday I was minding my own business when I got rear-ended. Thankfully, there were no injuries (pencil-induced or otherwise) and no damage to the car. So I [...]
Chart it up, Baby!
Yep, you guessed it. I’m talking character charts here. It’s such a simple concept, but one (I’m embarrassed to admit) that never occurred to me before. But now I’m excited to try a few of these exercises: write 100 declarative sentences about character describe character’s bedroom or car make a list of where character lives, [...]
The Snowflake Method
Can you sum up your story in one (15 words or less) sentence? If so, you’ve completed the first step to writing an outline using “The Snowflake Method” created by Randy Ingermanson. Can you take this sentence and make it five sentences that contain the setup, three major conflicts/disasters, and the ending? You’ve just completed [...]
