I've gotten feedback from some generous readers on stories I'm putting together. Asking for feedback triggers insecurity and guilt ("I'm sorry to bother you and you don't have to read it if you don't want to.") but oh, people's comments are incredibly helpful. The feedback isn't only helpful in the practical sense ("Thanks for catching …
How goes National Novel Writing Month, you ask? Okay. Maybe you have not asked, but it is a question I'm asking myself. I've managed to pick up a cold this weekend, which hasn't helped. (I've taken two covid tests, and both came up negative. And I've checked various websites about symptoms--cold, flu, or covid19? Cold. …
I asked my students to write a 26 sentence story. The first sentence must begin with the letter A. The second sentence with the letter B. The third with C, and so on. I allowed them the same cheat I used when this was a Story-a-Day prompt--instead of having to start a sentence with the …
I read Rob Walker's newsletter The Art of Noticing. He returns often to lost objects. What lost objects have stayed with you over the years? Why do they matter? But if I still possessed every object lost, I'd be living under a mountain of things, much like the Junk Lady in Labyrinth. I've written about …
There was a large spider on the floor-length curtains. Large is relative, of course. I'd say it was about the size of the palm of your hand. I've told this story before, but this is in case you missed it. And the point this time is different. I was probably five or six. Before this …
So so so often I work on a story, rewrite several times, put it aside and come back to it to rewrite again, finally feel like it's finished and share it, only to have panic and suddenly realize how much I got wrong. Such feelings are common for many of the writers I know. Perhaps …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 