In my last post, I said I was getting back to a good writing schedule since the hurricane. Well, let me change that to I’m trying to get back to a good writing schedule. This past week was pretty good. I wrote every morning except one. And then this morning, despite good intentions, I haven’t…
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I’m always saying that it’s best to write every day, because if you don’t, you can lose where you were in the story. But a break can sometimes do you good too. After Hurrican Ike went through here and we lost power for a week, getting back to writing, to waking up early every morning…
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Sorry I’ve been an absent blogger, but today is our first day with power after Hurricane Ike rolled through the Galveston and Houston areas a week ago. The power came on last night to much hooting and hollering in the neighborhood. There are still many without power and even water, so our prayers are with…
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I emailed a question to agent Kate Schafer’s “Ask Daphne” blog and Daphne answered last Monday, Labor Day (I know, it has taken me ages to get around to blogging about this — but I did work on my novel every morning last week, so that’s something). My question was about prologues, whether to include…
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My revision is coming along. I’m pleased to be able to report that I woke up early every morning this week and worked on the revision. I’m now about two-thirds through, and I’ve surprised myself many times when I’ve found new and better ways of doing scenes just by pushing away my apprehension of scraping…
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J.A. Konrath has another great blog post up. (I know I link to his blog a lot, but what can I say, the guy makes sense.) In his post “Brain-Check,” Konrath lists eight instructions for writing success. They’re all good (click the link to read), but No. 8 is perfect for those of us who aren’t…
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I found my novel revision floundering a bit. As I said in my last blog post, I’ve been hesitating moving too far forward because I could only read five pages every two weeks at my critique group and I valued their feedback. But, I realized that if I wait for that, it’ll take a couple…
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My middle-grade novel revision is moving along, but not as quickly as I’d like. Part of the reason is that I’m editing faster than my critique group meetings. Sounds weird, I know, but I’ll explain. You see, we meet twice a month and can take up to five pages to each meeting. After each meeting,…
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One of the most asked writer questions — I’d be willing to bet, but I haven’t done a formal study — must be “Where do you find your ideas?” I’ve been asked it a lot, and I’m not a well-known writer. I’d guess J.K. Rowling could feed a school-full of children for months if she…
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In my last post, Sandra asked how to find critique groups. So, here’s a quick rundown. I write for children, so I found my critique group through the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, of which I’m a member. If you write or illustrate for children and you’re not a member of SCBWI, I…
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