That’s what love is: learning to love what your lover loves.—Greg Brown, husband of Iris DeMent Mama taught me to tell my truth.—Iris DeMent, wife of Greg Brown Your manuscript owns you. This might not seem obvious at first, but it is a fact that every writer (eventually) comes to… Read more“14 Ways to Love What Your Manuscript Loves”
Tag: fiction editing
6 Reasons Why Writing Is Coming Home
Sometimes we travel for my husband’s work, and although we all enjoy the thrill of the open road and the excitement of escaping housework and chores and the incessant arguments over who gets the comfortable armchairs, us or the cats, still— It’s always good to get home. What is it… Read more“6 Reasons Why Writing Is Coming Home”
5 Advantages of Re-Reading
I have probably over 2,500 books in my house. Something around 1,500 of them are on the shelves my husband built for me in my office. And most of those books I’ve read—many of them multiple times. I really, really, really love reading. Here’s how to get the most out… Read more“5 Advantages of Re-Reading”
3 Times I Remember Why I Do This Work
Even if [the yeast of intelligence] operates in vain, it remains evolution’s peak. . .: something to enjoy and foster as much as possible; something not to betray by succumbing to despair, however deep the many pits of darkness. —Diana Athill, Stet: An Editor’s Life Sometimes I get so involved… Read more“3 Times I Remember Why I Do This Work”
How Did You First Get into Writing?
Now, July’s going to be a weird month here, as I’m often in Portland at OSCON with my geek husband for part of it and therefore out in the world loose on my own recognizance. So I’m going to throw a twist into things this month: because writing is, at… Read more“How Did You First Get into Writing?”
The 2 Ways Writing Keeps You Off the Streets & Out of the Bars
Many years ago when I used to hang out all the time in the bars of San Luis Obispo, California, a good friend and I were sitting on the curb outside our favorite dive with our feet in the gutter at around midnight one night talking deep in our cups… Read more“The 2 Ways Writing Keeps You Off the Streets & Out of the Bars”
6 Things I Learned from Dashiell Hammett
I’m still studying Shirley Jackson, and if you don’t know why you can easily find out. I spent yesterday doing a scene-by-scene analysis of Chapters 5 and 6 of The Haunting of Hill House that turned into line-by-line—that’s how fast she switches gears in her most profound passages!—and at some… Read more“6 Things I Learned from Dashiell Hammett”
5 Things I Learned from Shirley Jackson
Now, you all know who Shirley Jackson was, and if you don’t you can find out from last week’s post about Stephen King. She was most famous for her story “The Lottery,” in which the citizens of a small American town draw an annual lottery to stone someone to death—a… Read more“5 Things I Learned from Shirley Jackson”
7 Things I Learned Last Week from Stephen King
I love ghost stories. Particularly the whole gothic genre of the nineteenth century: intense questioning of reality layered with beautiful houses and dramatic landscapes and sometimes hilariously-dated kitsch. I’ve read all of Mrs. Radcliffe. Whooee! I especially love the concept that my love for ghost stories is the other side… Read more“7 Things I Learned Last Week from Stephen King”
11 Things My Grandmother Said About Writing
In honor of having given up sleep last week (apparently after fifty years you’ve had all the sleep you need), I’m going to introduce you today to my grandmother, to whom I was very close and who gave me most of the instructions that now guide my life. She didn’t… Read more“11 Things My Grandmother Said About Writing”