10. “Did you finish the book yet?” (Variations: How close are you? When will you finish? Are you actually going to finish this one?) 9. “When will it come out?” Don’t bother explaining that finishing the story is only the beginning. Folks outside the industry tend to romanticize the process: we authors toil with quill…
Tag: inspiration
When The Party’s Over
I thought I’d prepared myself. I thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong. My novel, Truth and Other Lies, released into the world in early March. It had been a labor of love for four long years. I’d lived through fifty agent rejections before signing with a small press which then proceeded to…
New Kid on the Block . . . Again
Have you ever experienced such loneliness you resorted to befriending a ghost? I recently finished a short story about a girl who does just that after moving to a new high school. Granted most of us don’t have that option, but I’m hoping the story captures a feeling we’ve all known, one of being different,…
Where Words Fail, Music Speaks
“If music be the food of love, play on,” wrote Shakespeare. But it’s not just love that’s fueled by music. Moods, memories, energy level, motivation (or lack of it), desires, fears—all of these can be influenced by an inspired lyric or a well-crafted melody. And let’s not forget music’s effect on creativity. Many of the…
Writing Like I Read
My son was joking recently that he is addicted to sleeping (he and his wife have a new baby, which could partly account for this). My husband claimed his “addiction” is running. My reaction was immediate—my addiction is reading. Reading calms and de-stresses me. It takes me away from my worries. I escape them by…