Photo by Jonas Leupe from Unsplash Seeking a Simpler Life As I've been embracing a simpler writer's life, one of the things I keep hitting against like a brick wall is the pressure I put on myself to create a miles-long to-do list. There are so many things I want to write and edit and … Continue reading Living the Writing Life: Dare To Do Nothing
Writing
What is the Spark of Creativity?
The History Quill's Convention for Writers of Historical Fiction On Saturday, February 5, 2022, I was invited to speak at The History Quill’s convention for writers of historical fiction. My topic was writing and publishing short historical fiction. I had a lot of fun speaking to the attendees and sharing my presentation. Right before my … Continue reading What is the Spark of Creativity?
How To Avoid Clichés Like the Plague
Photo by Debby Hudson for Unsplash Writing is Rarely Easy For someone who loves to write as much as I do, I find writing quite hard. I love that saying from Thomas Mann: "A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." After all, who else but a writer … Continue reading How To Avoid Clichés Like the Plague
What Exactly is the Writing Life?
What Does it Mean To Live a Writing Life? I’m not sure that being a writer or living a writer’s life are necessarily the same thing. We can be writers without pining for a writer’s life. And please note that while I’m talking about writing, you can fill in the blank with any artistic endeavor. … Continue reading What Exactly is the Writing Life?
The Challenges of Writing a Time-Travel Story
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash Where Did the Time Travel Inspiration Come From? I have a tendency to come up with story ideas a lot faster than I write them. I mean a lot faster. Fans of When It Rained at Hembry Castle know that I came up with the idea for that book … Continue reading The Challenges of Writing a Time-Travel Story
Happy Anniversary, James and Sarah: Her Dear & Loving Husband is 10 Years Old Today
Photo by Tikkho Maciel on Unsplash Today Is James and Sarah's Anniversary! I can hardly believe this as I write it, but this very day, April 19, 2021, marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of Her Dear & Loving Husband. As of this writing, more than 200,000 copies of Her Dear & Loving Husband … Continue reading Happy Anniversary, James and Sarah: Her Dear & Loving Husband is 10 Years Old Today
Baking Time: Giving Your Story the Time it Needs
Update on The Duchess of Idaho The first draft for The Duchess of Idaho is finally done. It took me ten weeks to finish, which, for me, is crazy fast. I mean, lightning speed. I wrote in this post about how sometimes it takes me months to write my outline, months to write my first … Continue reading Baking Time: Giving Your Story the Time it Needs
When I Nearly Gave Up Writing For Good
Rediscovering My Connection To Writing A few days ago I was reading the wonderful website Writers in the Storm and I came across this post about the writing resolution that changed the writer’s attitude and ultimately changed her writing career. I nodded a lot as I read the piece because, although the specifics of my … Continue reading When I Nearly Gave Up Writing For Good