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Something New, Soon. Meanwhile…
I’m working on developing a new service for all you writerly folks. My current editorial services are for novels that you’ve revised so many times words suddenly have no meaning and all those little letters on the page might as well be cookie crumbs or ants angling for cookie crumbs. (Note to self: Clean your screen, Stephen. I mean, seriously.) The new service will be for projects that are still in their infancy. Those clever nuggets you’ve been collecting in a dozen computer folders (that have names like “new story idea” or “another new story idea” or “an even different new story idea”) as well as the Next Big Thing…
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How to Be a Writer During a Pandemic
It’s been a crazy year for writers. For some of you, it’s been a curiously productive season, despite all the challenges introduced by the pandemic. Perhaps your writing success was prompted by the change to your routine, or the self-induced pressure to make something good out of something awful. Or maybe it was that “I’m a writer…I can’t not write” thing forcing words to the page. [Is that a real thing? Or just something writers say to sound cool? It sounds oppressive to me. “I’d love to feed the kids and walk the dog and shower more than once a month, but I can’t leave the computer because my hands…
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Still Here, Still Editing
This isn’t a real post. A real post would have a lot more words and include compelling content that would make you nod your head in agreement or shake it in dismay. This is just a little note to remind anyone who happens by that I’m still doing my editing thing. Still working away on writers’ manuscripts, mask at the ready in case the fictional characters who come to life in my little apartment don’t understand the term “social distancing.” If you’re using this Very Strange Season to write, I hope it’s going well. If you’re just curled up in the fetal position under your desk, I hope that’s going…
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My Next Novel
I haven’t written a single word of my Next Novel*. Not one. I first had the idea a couple years ago and made all kinds of notes, littering my digital desktop with files bearing names I’ve long since forgotten and my literal desktop with scraps of paper that may have disappeared during a recent, apartment-wide clean-and-purge effort meant to stem the tide of a growing existential unease. It’s a good book idea. Maybe a great one. And for some inexplicable reason, I’m reminded of it every time I wash my hands in my bedroom sink. Yes, I have a bedroom sink. Two, actually. The master bedroom in my apartment is…
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A Million Words
It took me two decades to find a modicum of confidence as a writer. (Or four if you count all the years when I was writing, but without a goal of someday becoming a published writer.) Hidden away on a hard drive somewhere are dozens of short stories, four novels and one sad screenplay – more than a million words – that have been retroactively classified as “practice” writing. They didn’t start out that way. I didn’t sit down to write a practice novel. I sat down to write a novel. Driven by hope and madness, I started putting one word after another. Some days I felt certain, most days…
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What to Expect From Your Editor
I hear you’re interested in hiring an editor. Smart move. So what are you waiting for? Grab your checkbook (do those still exist?), your manuscript, and your realistic expectations and get to it. What’s that? You don’t know what to expect? Here. I’ll help. Ten Things Your Editor Can Do Your editor can see what your novel could be someday, no matter what it looks like today. Your editor can show you all the little pet phrases and words you repeat to distraction. Your editor can solve plot problems that would make readers want to throw your book into a woodchipper. Your editor can point out all the ways your…
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Life (Or Something Like It)
I hesitated before deciding to write this post, not because of the words that follow, but because this is a writing blog, and a personal post about my life just seemed a little indulgent. But then I remembered good writing is all about tapping into truth, and what could possibly be truer than the life we’re living? Well, mine has been…interesting. Some of you know that last May I took on the responsibility of caring full-time for my Granddaughter, Harper. (She turned five in December, three days after Christmas. I know, right? December birthdays. Sigh. think I’ll introduce half-birthdays this year.) The first two months or so, I dedicated my time 24/7…