The one thing we can all count on in our writing is that “Things happen”.  That little thing called life throws curves at us all, whether it’s family commitments (like sports for kids), community, work and friends.  They all seem to conspire against us and try to prevent us from writing. Heck, sometimes even our writing conspires against itself.  That’s why we must be so vigilant and disciplined with our writing.  That is the reason I set myself the challenge of 30 in 30. Well, that’s partially the reason.  If I were to do a bit of self-examination I’d have to admit that it was also to distract myself away from my anxiety around the partial I sent out on the […]

Short stories are not something I feel especially qualified to write these days.  There have been lots of story ideas jotted down, but only one written. It’s time to change that. I’ve been giving some thought to how I can get around the short story ‘block’ I’ve developed for myself.  I had planned to write several over Christmas holidays, but, as it worked out, I wrote exactly 0 new words. You might wonder why I’d be concerned about short stories.  Books are the way to go… aren’t they?  Ultimately, I’d say that I DO want to spend the majority of my time with novel-length works, but I also know that many of the story ideas I get shouldn’t be stretched that far.  […]

Some weeks a topic has jumped up screaming “Pick me, pick me!”.  Those are the weeks that I can write a post in very short order.  Then there are times like now when I have several ideas to write about, except none of them really reach out and grab me. I think I’d rather have one idea that excites me than several that say “Meh”.  It just goes to show that a wealth of ideas is not always all that it’s cracked up to be. This week has been an interesting one.  I’ve had some highs, some lows and several new story project ideas that I know will turn out well.  And, I’ve got some ideas that actually scare the heck […]

I’ve been thinking about the challenges of getting people to read and more importantly buy your book when it finally gets published.  It has been getting more and more obvious to me that it’s never too soon to develop an audience, not to mention build that network of contacts, before your book comes out. Let’s explore that thought for a moment, shall we? I’ve been told about the challenges of having a book accepted by a publisher.  There’s the contract negotiation, the back and forth editing, promotion, etc.  A lot of work goes on behind the scenes (so I’m told… no experience with that aspect yet) before the book ever hits the shelves.  And when it hits the shelves, then what? […]