Feb 10Member-onlyWrite or Wrong: Part 1How Do You Create Characters? — In my early stages of writing, I found a lot of myself went into creating my main characters. They were who I wanted to be, or they were slices of my life reimagined. Other characters in my books were based on friends. There’s nothing wrong with that. …Writing Tips5 min readWriting Tips5 min read
Mar 13, 2021Member-onlyTaking Time Out as a WriterWhat to write or do next? — With a finished novel under my belt and query letters currently sitting in numerous agent email boxes, I’m faced with the conundrum of what to do next. My finished novel took over ten years off and on to complete, so I’m mentally exhausted. But I’m also one of those writers…Writing4 min readWriting4 min read
Mar 6, 2021Member-onlyWhat I Learned from Participating in #PitMadYou might be asking: What is #PitMad? #PitMad is the hashtag for a quarterly event that takes place on Twitter where writers tweet their 280-character pitch for their unpublished book or novel. Literary agents can then show interest by liking or favoriting your tweet. The first event of the year…Writing6 min readWriting6 min read
Aug 17, 2020Member-onlyHow To Write 10 Short Stories in 10 WeeksI started 2020 doing a final edit of my next novel and preparing to start the daunting task of querying literary agents. I’d been working on this particular novel off and on for almost ten years, so I was exhausted creatively. Always eager to be writing something, I started to…Storytelling5 min readStorytelling5 min read
May 18, 2020Member-onlyMy Own AphorismsPart 1 — After reading Sarah Manguso’s 300 Arguments I started making a list of my own aphorisms as a fun writing project. I debated on keeping them private or sharing them. I decided to share them, so here are the first 25. If you haven’t read Manguso’s book, I highly recommend it. …Aphorisms5 min readAphorisms5 min read
Apr 4, 2020Member-onlyYear InterruptedA View from the Essential Sidelines — I just wrapped up another week of Isolation. I’m fortunate enough to work for a company that is a medical supply wholesaler. …Covid-195 min readCovid-195 min read
Mar 5, 2020Member-onlyWhat I Learned From My First Week of Querying Literary AgentsTips for the Novelist When It Comes To The Next Step — It took ten years to write my latest novel. It’s taken the last year to finish the final edit. During that time, all I did was work on my novel. I did not draft query letters. I did not write a synopsis. I did not compose tweets to pitch my…6 min read6 min read
Published inThe Creative Cafe·Feb 18, 2020Member-onlyThe Musea poem — Sometimes we are not proud of words we write back when they feel eager and driven They are still our words to own some day and only then do we comprehend their wisdom. I was just catching up with my muses trying to grasp who I was matching their youth They didn’t know themselves either back then but they were better at faking the truth. They left a road map in the letters they wrote and in the books in which they bled Their blood and soul on every page Between the lines their secrets I read.Poem1 min readPoem1 min read
Published inThe Creative Cafe·Feb 12, 2020Member-onlyChalkboardsa poem — Why are some chalkboards green and some black? Once, were more than the students segregated? Separate water fountains, separate washrooms, Separate waiting rooms for blacks, for whites Lines drawn with colored chalk. I will not give up. I will not give up. I will not give up. Why did their…Poetry1 min readPoetry1 min read
Published inThe Writing Cooperative·Feb 10, 2020Member-onlyIt’s Okay To Take a Year to Write Your NovelHow to stay on track to finish your novel in one year — I see how-to articles on Medium and on other sites all the time with titles like “How To Publish Your Novel In 6 Months” or “How to Write Six Books a Year.” I immediately go to Amazon and type in that writer’s name to see what types of books they…Novel Writing6 min readNovel Writing6 min read
