Suggestion: When you decide to face the comments you've gotten on your novel, do so in a public place. Keeps the wailing and self-inflicted injury to a minimum. (Please note that the amazing friends who've given me feedback have made helpful and encouraging comments. I am grateful for their time and energy spent on my …
A Girl, a Man, and a Lie
"If I'd caught that boy doing that to my daughter, I'd have killed him," he said. "But your dad's not like that." With that our neighbor looked me up and down and walked away. I was 10 and had no idea what he was talking about. I knew the boy in question. He was in …
Does God Get Writer’s Block?
The possibilities are endless. I could kill one of them. Make one crazy. Lose one. I already know I'm going to break some hearts. Such power! What to do with it? Do you think God had this problem? There's was God, sitting up in heaven, tapping his fingers on a cloud, stuck in the plot. …
Boys at the Movies
Perhaps one story changed your life. Saved your life. Revealed a secret. Or fooled you completely. Can you name them? Plenty of books had me fooled. Every book opened a door, an escape route, to girls I wanted to be and boys I wanted to know. Like many silly girls, I wanted a boy to …
Badgering: The Blissed Out Edition
So there sat tiny badger on the edge of the laptop, tapping his tiny badger paw on his tiny badger chin, his tiny badger legs crossed, and his tiny badger nose twitching. What, he wondered out loud was he to do about all those distractions keeping you from writing your novel? Sure, the ankle nips …
How to Scare a Gator
Dad shot the alligator in the head by accident. Sort of. I see Dad get out his bow and arrow. "Dad, whatcha doing?" I am 19 and home from college. "I'm going to go scare the gator," he says. I follow him outside. "You're going to scare the gator? Why?" "That gator's keeping the catfish …
The Rewrite Chronicles: Freaking Out
I can't read the next scene. The scene needs revision. But for whatever insane reason the next scene fills me with such dread my stomach churns and my nerves twist, and I look away. What the hell am I thinking? Why did I write something so upsetting, and is it really upsetting or am I …
Straight through your skin to your bones where it stays forever.
"Why is she such a sucker?" the professor asked the class. The graduate students looked at their notebooks, cleared their throats, or squinted as if the sun had hit them in the eyes. "To me," he continued, tapping my paper on the table to even up the pages, "this paper says that she is an …
Continue reading Straight through your skin to your bones where it stays forever.
A Monster or a Nice Guy?
The girl opens the door to the basement and shines her flashlight down the stairs. Everyone watching knows she shouldn't take those steps, but, of course, she does. Depending on your reason for watching, you either cover your eyes or lean forward and wait. If the movie magic works, you believe she'd go down into …
Awards and Other Fears
In the 9th grade I won a poetry award. Two things about that night stand out. My father had bought me a new dress for the event and his girlfriend curled my hair. It was the first time they'd ever taken note of my appearance. Second, I'd written the winning poem on the phone with …
Marta Bacon 