I suppose I could write one of those end of year lists. But I'm not together enough to list top ten movies or top ten books. Do you keep track? Maybe list-making is something to try first thing in the morning when more energy zips through my brain. What can I even remember about this …
I subscribe to a ridiculous number of newsletters and, of course, I can't keep up with them: Interview Notes, The Imperfectionist, The Whippet, The Art of Noticing, Claudia's Many Worlds Vision, Anti-Racism Daily, Feminist Giant, Austin Kleon, Notes from a Small Press, Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter, Intimations: A Writer's Discourse, I Barely Live in this …
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. …
Twenty years ago, when I first heard of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I thought, "Whoa. That's madness." But I was also intrigued. The next week year, I gave it a try, and I loved it. Did I write the best novel ever? No. Of course not. Some folks complain about NaNoWriMo producing too many …
A couple of years ago (it surprises me it's been that long) I serialized a work-in-progress--The Fairy Tale Asylum. Some lovely writer friends gave me feedback, and now I'm trying to finish it up. Oh boy, are there a lot of changes! I struggle to know when a story is finished. I'll rewrite forever. More …
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 might have finished my novel, The Book of Astrophilia. I say might...it is hard for me to know when something is finished. I'll rewrite forever. And I haven't had a beta reader or anyone give me feedback, and that is part of the process. So is it finished-FINISHED? Well, I've done what I can …
I've been jumping from project to project. The term monkey mind comes to, uh, mind. My ideal self would sit down and concentrate. But at this point in my life, I'll just work with the mind I have. Jumping to a different project might be procrastination. It might be a way to never finish even …
I've finished NaNoWriMo! I have not, of course, finished the novel. It's a massive rewrite of a previous NaNo novel. I scrapped half the plot and took the story in a new direction. Now there's a ghost! No, it's not a horror story. The ghost has a lively (lively?) personality, but the story is really …
The other day in a conversation with other writers, I said something about wanting likable characters. Seriously. If I'm taking time out of my life to spend with people, fictional or otherwise, then I want to like them. This may sound hopelessly uncool or naïve or whatever, but as the conversation continued, I realized that …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 