Three weeks vacation. Unpaid, but vacation nonetheless. Of these three weeks, I'll get two days to spend writing. Before vacation I had visions of an entire week spent intensely focused on getting this novel done. But life goes how it goes, and I get two days. While I know that if I looked on the …
The Rewrite Chronicles
Story writers may not be able to find the path to enlightenment. Not knowing every writer in the world, I can't be sure of this, of course, but I do know that I'm disinclined to ditch the baggage if it means leaving my characters on the side of the road. Where would art come from …
Mom.
My mother drew caricatures of all her mother's children, and the drawings were kept in grandmother's living room for twenty years. When grandmother died, she left everything to me, including the remaining portraits. One had gone missing, and one had been torn to pieces by my uncle in one of the rages he used to …
Badgering–The Getting Hit by a Train Edition
Maybe you know you're on the right track. Maybe you're on a track and are just hoping it turns out to be the right one. Maybe you didn't even know there was a track but you can see the light from the oncoming train. Sometimes I see that light and Im not sure if I …
Continue reading Badgering–The Getting Hit by a Train Edition
Wanted: Drug that Cures Writing
Wanting leads to trouble and any number of unfortunate things. But as much as I read about the grief brought on by desire and about acceptance and inner peace and all those very grand things, I still have to admit that I want. More to the point--I want to be a published author. That's it. …
Turn into a River
Horoscopes may or may not be true, but they are fun to read either way. Every week I get a free horoscope from Rob Brezney, and while you could argue that each horoscope could be applied to anyone, that doesn't mean there isn't something interesting, surprising, insightful, amusing, or downright irritating--all good--to be found. I …
More thick skin than talent.
I put off working on my own novel and read about James Frey instead. Vanity Fair has done a story on his life after the A Million Little Pieces fiasco. I didn't read his book. I don't know if I will because life is short and I've got hundreds of books on my list already …
The Rewrite Chronicles
Flashbacks are tricky. Take the reader back to the past, show them something interesting and necessary, and bring them back without whiplash. I'm trying to write a scene where the heroine has a conversation with her cousin and while they talk, she is thinking about their past. Instead of a block of memory, the scenes …
Badgering–The Nipping Edition
You are not forgotten--but I'm about to have an out-of-town guest and so this will be a tiny badger. Tiny badger says (in tiny badger voice of course), "Hey you! Yes, you. Go write." Tiny badger waves tiny paw to make sure you're paying attention. "Go write or I nip your ankles!"
Marta Bacon 