I was really taken with this image…. Stacks of books with a small handwritten note, ripped from a page, and peeking out from between two novels with a small heart and the inked “life is beautiful.” It perfectly captures ME. I was always a bookworm growing up, and found quiet refuge in reading. As …
Category Archives: Novel
Writing with Honesty
A writing tip from Chuck Wendig
HARDEN THE FUCK UP, CARE BEAR Any creative person has to be a little bit hard of heart — how can you not be? You can’t go sobbing into a potted plant every time you get a bad review. Just because someone told you “no, I can’t rep this, can’t publish this” doesn’t mean it’s …
Any way to the coast…
Just Keep Going! Ignore your inner nagging thoughts. They are seldom accurate perceptions of what you are actually achieving. It is deeply unfair to criticize your navigation skills when taking a journey into unknown territory. Try not to demoralize yourself. I call my first draft “the Lewis and Clark.” Any freaking way to the coast – …
The only writing rules you’ll ever need!
Hi! You may have noticed that I’ve been missing in action for a few weeks – but with good reason. I have been working almost daily on polishing my novel. I have even found some readers to provide editing and feedback before I start sending out my manuscript to publishers (with fingers crossed and a …
The Power of Simple Words, Animated
by Maria Popova Getting from “no coordinates exist like one’s domicile” to “there’s no place like home.” “Use the right word, not its second cousin,” Mark Twain admonished. “Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs,” David Ogilvy advised. Last week, my friends at TED launchedTED-Ed — a wonderful new series of short animated videos for high school …
Novel writing tips – PLOT
The following is an essay that Sarah Pekkanen, author of Skipping a Beat and These Girls, wrote for Writer Unboxed, a writing website that I will be adding to my personal resources as I finalize my own novel. I thought her writing tips were very useful – particularly with regard to making sure scenes have …
READERS??? Anyone?
I thought this cartoon pretty much sums up my life right now. I am on maternity leave with my first baby, and spending time on my reading and writing. I’ve entered some writing contests through the CBC (haven’t won any yet), read some new books (some are 5 pages or less – see information about …
5 things you need to know …in order to write a successful book
I attended the Ottawa Independent Writers (OIW) October meeting, where author Nichole McGill made a presentation regarding writing successful books. I was advised by my mentor, Mrs. W., to touch base with a writer’s group if I could and I was lucky to find this one. They have monthly meetings covering different topics. I …
Continue reading “5 things you need to know …in order to write a successful book”
Inspiration
Who inspires you to follow your dreams? For me, one person who does this is my former high school English teacher. She read the first half of my novel and encouraged me to keep going. This was important to me. Although writing the book was something I wanted to do, and I would …