I’ll let you in on a secret: I haven’t written a word in two months. This is a highly unusual state of affairs for me. Even when the words aren’t flowing easily, and there have been lots of times when they haven’t, there are words most days, or at least most weeks. Only deliberate vacations,… Continue reading On Writer’s Block
Tag: writing
Mastering Writing Craft?
I was skimming through a bunch of blog posts recently, and came across one that said an unnamed “famous” writer had mastered his craft and no longer needed editorial help. I’ve since lost track of where I read it, but the sentence stood out to me, making me want to yell various things at my… Continue reading Mastering Writing Craft?
Stopping to Listen
I’m not writing today. I’m tempted. I have a story that’s been talking to me for a couple of weeks now, asserting itself with scene ideas when I’m trying to sleep, keeping my mind occupied when I’m running errands or working out or doing any of the thousand things we do in a day that… Continue reading Stopping to Listen
Query Tips From My Inbox
I don’t claim to be an expert on query letters, and I’m not a literary agent. But in my day job as a conference coordinator, I get a LOT of inquiries from people who are interested in being part of our conference. Most of these are perfectly reasonable emails, but by around this time every… Continue reading Query Tips From My Inbox
Writing Inspiration
Happy new year! I took a couple of weeks off over the holidays. I started out the month by accepting Nephele Tempest’s December writing challenge, in which you try to find at least fifteen minutes to write every day. It worked exceedingly well for me the first three weeks of the month, by which point… Continue reading Writing Inspiration
Day Job Gratitude
Around this time every year, after a couple of months of having every waking minute – and lots of sleeping ones – taken up with my work for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, the to-do list associated with this year’s event dwindles to a manageable level, and I lift my head and look at the… Continue reading Day Job Gratitude
Perspective and Inspiration
I’ve been sick this week, with the sort of chesty, sinus-y, feverish bug that knocks you flat and makes simply breathing enough of a challenge that working is out of the question. By yesterday, five days into this thing, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, sick of being housebound and of not being able… Continue reading Perspective and Inspiration
Taking Time Out
Last week, a rare opportunity arose for me to get away by myself for a few days. It was perfect timing for a change of scene, so I grabbed it, leaving the city behind for the lovely Gulf Islands, leaving the pile of work on my desk behind with the intention of spending a few… Continue reading Taking Time Out
Blue Monday
Apparently today is the blue-est day of the year, in terms of people’s moods, at least here where it was a story on the news tonight. I’m not sure how wide-reaching this idea of the most depressing day of the year is; one assumes it’s a cheerier time in the southern hemisphere and in sunnier… Continue reading Blue Monday
Rod Stewart on Writing
Happy new year! The fact that I’m saying so on the 14th of January should give you some idea how busy the first two weeks of 2013 have turned out to be. I’m currently researching my next WIP, reading whatever and wherever my subconscious takes me to try to make sense of the hints of a… Continue reading Rod Stewart on Writing