What I’m left with turns out to be good enough

The great thing about life is you can change course when it feels necessary. Oh, maybe not the big things - like you hate where you live, but you don't have the money saved to move out West, but other things that you do have control over any given day. "I can accept failure. Everyone…

The Right Side of Things

Just an update on all things in my world of words... What I'm reading: I continue to alternate going down the list of Pulitzer Prize winners and something from my Goodreads list. I just finished The Keepers of the House, which won in 1965. Currently I'm reading Someone, by Alice McDermott. What I'm Writing: In regards…

The Waiting Game

It's been three weeks since I sent out my first five agent queries for Oldsters. After hitting send on those emails, I've put that process out of my mind for now. I left Eddie and his friends at the end of the story and hope that my first attempt at a query letter will garnish some kind…

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No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, been whisked away into a cult or just sitting around, binge watching every season of Mad Men again. I've been trying to finish my edits on Oldsters in an effort to 1) let my beta reader have a go at it, and 2) leave time…

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What is it about the second time around that brings forth so much trepidation? Musicians are often times most harshly judged by their sophomore album, and the same goes for writers. It's almost as if we're always willing to accept one lucky success by someone for their creative endeavors...but if you're really going to put…

What’s on your ‘Project Notes’ list?

If you're a regular reader, you know that the rule I break most often during the writing process is editing while I go. I've always been a rule breaker, accepted & moved on. With that said, I still have to maintain a list of things I'll want to go back and either make sure I…

Count Your Lucky Stars – You’re a Writer!

Do you hesitate to call yourself a writer because no one pays you to do it, or at least not for the kind of writing you want to do? Are you writing catalog copy when you know you have a literary novel in you dying to get out? How about the technical writer who dreams…

One Writing Process Does Not Fit All…

If you’re going the traditional publishing route, and you’re not quite finished with you manuscript, you may think it’s too early to do anything but write. At some point, you may get discouraged and think you’ll never finish the story, let alone go through the necessary editing and re-write stages and then look for an…

…always the student

I spent today in beautiful Sarasota, Fl - about 40 minutes from my home in St. Petersburg - attending a writing workshop led by CNN Senior Copy Editor and novelist John DeDakis. DeDakis has been with CNN for years, and currently works on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. He's also the author of two…