Where do I find them? Ideas, that is. Each time I hear an author asked “Where do you get your ideas?” I cringe. As Stephen King says on his website: “I get my ideas from everywhere. But what all of my ideas boil down to is seeing maybe one thing, but in a lot of…
Tag: reading
My Love Affair with the Written Word
Writers love to read. Writers love other writers. Writers love the written word. There is nothing that makes my heart and my mind tingle more than a clever, profound, or artfully worded turn of phrase in something I’m reading. “A fanatic can no more shut his mouth than he can open his mind.” – Will…
Tackling Your 2018 Reading Goals
Reading is one of the best things you can do to become a better writer. Reading work by more experienced authors shows you how they’ve tackled the same challenges you’re facing. It helps you see what works (and, sometimes, what doesn’t). Reading a variety of genres and styles sparks new ideas. Reading other authors’ voices…
Critiquing Can Be Hard Work, But…
When critiquing the work of colleagues, whether in a critique group or just between friends, the hardest thing is when it’s a topic, genre or style you don’t normally enjoy reading in your leisure time. It isn’t often spoken about, but it’s true. It can sometimes be an interminable slog to try to read and…
Random Thoughts
1. In the latest review on Amazon for The Asphalt Warrior, the first book in the eight-book series by the late Gary Reilly, a reader wrote: “Writers, good ones, create their readers. And this book does that.” Do good writers “create their own readers?” I love that idea. Are you going after your readers? Or…