A while back, there was a trending hashtag on Twitter about where writers get their ideas. This was my response. If only it were that simple. Many people think writer’s block is not being able to think of anything to write. It isn’t, at least not for me. It’s when you can think of things…
Let’s see what this week’s flash fiction challenge is, I think as I open my email. Chuck Wendig’s charge is this: write an essay about why you write. Huh. Okay. So I wasn’t going to write this one. I’ve sort of answered this question in author interviews and in casual conversation. What more can I…
If you plan to publish a novel, at some point you’ll have to write a blurb, whether it’s for a query letter or for the back matter of your book (and perhaps both). It’s that fun thing where you take your novel-length work and smash it into around 250 words that will make it stand out…
A little while back, my friend Dan wrote a post about his muse. I’ve been mentally returning to it since then, mostly because I don’t think I completely understand what a muse is. I know, a writer with a fuzzy muse sounds like a serious and, um, personal problem. I thought I understood the muse…
I went camping with the family last week. That meant three solid days off the grid, so things I would normally tweet didn’t get tweeted. Things like this: It rained excessively on Day 1, starting in the middle of the night and lasting until the following evening. Occasionally it would seem to let up, and we’d…
A couple months ago, I wrote a post about writing relatable characters, where I said readers connect most with characters when the characters interact with the story. I want to expand on that today. Characters have (or should have) personalities. Some authors even create big, detailed charts outlining every detail of their characters – looks, intelligence,…
Have you seen this movie yet? If not, go see it. Do it now. I’ll wait. Because I may or may not post spoilers. It’s probably trendy to write posts about the movie right now, but I don’t care. I have thoughts about it. Thoughts that I think will help parents and teachers make the most…
Last week, the husband and I decided two things: 1. Our deck looks like crap, and 2. If we put forth a little effort and money, we can make it look less like crap. We suspect the deck was constructed by the previous owner. Nothing was pre-fabricated, including the lattice. Imagine two finishing nails at…
Have you looked at a picture of yourself, and you swear you don’t look like that? That’s because we generally have an inaccurate perception of ourselves. Part of it is because our mirror images are always reversed. I think the rest has something to do with the inability to control the elements around us. Like…
In clicking over to read this post, you’re probably wondering what the difference between an A/B and a B/A is. I’ll start by saying it’s more than simple word order. I had an epiphany a few weeks back whilst discussing blogging with another author. He was telling me how blogging felt like a chore, something…
Allison Maruska 