Thanks to my semester off, I have a concentrated five months to write. Gotta make the most of it! So I’m biting off more than I can chew (probably). While I work at revising (ahem, rewriting) Phoenix Cells, I’m also starting a … Continue reading →

Definitions of: from scratch: start from the beginning with the basic ingredients to start over: to begin to do something again, sometimes in a different way go back to the drawing board: have to start planning a piece of work again … Continue reading →

My challenge from my book coach: Why do you want to write this book? Why must you tell this story? Why are you drawn to this idea? Why, why, why? My response: When I was 16, an old, gray-haired man … Continue reading →

As I work to hone my “why”–why is this story important? Why do I care?–and as I refine my “so what”–my point, my theme, my message–a divinely inspired e-mail arrived in my inbox. It’s from Erin Overbey and Joshua Rothman, two … Continue reading →

When kids are little, they often ask why. Why is the sky blue? Why do spiders have 8 legs? Why do people hiccup Why, why, why? If you’re a parent or caregiver, your reaction may follow this trajectory: ah, I love … Continue reading →

When my husband complimented me the other day on my resilience and optimism about my writing, I gawked at him. He should know me better than that. I’m the pessimist in the family; didn’t he realize there was so much … Continue reading →

When Jennie Nash, my new book doctor, offered her initial assessment of my manuscript, I feared Phoenix Cells was on life support (“You are totally not telling a story. You are narrative outside events, and putting cardboard puppet characters through them. It’s … Continue reading →

Goal: getting a book published. Therefore success = getting a book published. Simple, right? But who knew? Turns out there’s more to the equation. When I broke down my goal even further, I looked at why I wanted to be published: to … Continue reading →

Laaadieeees and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Umpteenth Annual Biggest Fight in the Writing Process!  Here again, going head-to-head is Outliner vs. Panster. In thiiiiis corner, is Outliner, the plan-out every-plot-point-of-your-novel-before-you-start guy! He’s here to prove that the only way to write … Continue reading →