Archive for August 2020
Flash Fiction – Just for Fun
I wrote a post a while ago, on why you should write Flash Fiction – you can read it HERE. I enjoy the heck out of it – it’s like cleansing my palette between projects…cleans out the old plots and leaves my mind clear for the next. Then Sherry Gross told me about NYC…
Read MoreDynamic Dialogue
I teach writing classes, and one of the things I see most often is awkward, stilted or boring dialogue. Why? Because dialogue in writing is not like dialogue in real life. It’s real life on steroids. It’s all the great stuff without all the, how-are-you’ s, um’s and awkwardness. It’s all the stuff you lie…
Read MoreThe Trouble is, You Think You Have Time
I’d planned to write about something craft-related this week, but reality slapped me instead. I got word today that a friend and fellow western author passed away, Kari Lynn Dell. If you’ve never read her books, check them out. They’re real rodeo romance. She knew, because she was she rode the rodeo road, when…
Read MoreYour First 5 Lines
I’ll admit, the idea for this blog was sparked by this one, by Donald Maass. It made me think, because I’m teaching my First Five Pages class at Lawson Writer’s Academy starting today (you can still sign up – HERE). We always focus on first lines, and though I’ll admit they are critical, experts say…
Read MoreStaying Creative – Even in a Pandemic
Because writing isn’t hard enough, right? Now we have to write while worrying about: getting sick, loved ones falling ill, kids’ school, misinformation, politics, economics, TP shortages and murder hornets. No wonder we’re not sleeping. But introverts are at least used to being locked in their houses. Heck, they want to be there! I am…
Read More