Got Candles?

Not long ago when I sat at the table to draw with my grandsons, I looked at my blank sheet of paper and said, “I always draw candles—this time I’ll try something different.”

Speed Pitching

Have you heard of Speed Dating (as in the movie Hitch), where women sit on one side of a long narrow table and potential dates sit across from them? Each pair gets only a few minutes

Pitching a Book

When I first heard that writers have to pitch their books, I thought of a baseball pitcher burning the ball into the strike zone. No way—too rough! So I imagined gently tossing a large envelope containing my freshly-completed manuscript to a grateful agent—the catcher—who would open it and immediately start reading. Silly me.

Info Dumps and Other Writing No-Nos

When I began revising my novel recently with an agent’s feedback in mind, my writing flaws jumped off the page with such force that I had to run for cover.

A Heavy Parcel

Earlier this month a heavy parcel landed with a thud on my porch. My manuscript! With it came a nice rejection letter. I use the word nice

Pen and Paper Magic

Have you noticed that something curious happens when you write by hand instead of texting or typing? Already, as I type this post, my Internal Editor is insisting that I backspace and rewrite, while my Creative Writer side cares only about capturing ideas before they escape. But there’s mystique in putting pen to paper.

Kids Speak

My daughter broke her femur while trying to stop her bike by skidding on gravel when she was only six years old. I held her hand as she lay sedated on the table in the emergency room. We were both in tears. “Honey,” I whispered, stroking her head, “I sure wish I were the one with the broken leg instead of you.” In a groggy voice, she said,

Waiting for the Book

When life seems to be running on fast forward, i.e., I’m skipping from one activity to the next,

Why Write?

This week, while reading Donald Maass’s excellent book on writing*, I cringed with new awareness

Top 10 Things I’m Learning from Sudoku

10. Guessing usually leads to failure.
This is also a good warning for Jeopardy players.