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A friend of mine wants to turn her diaries into a memoir but doesn’t know where to begin. I read one of her diaries and marked all the passages that I found interesting—stories about dating, details about finances, notes about current events that took place a decade ago. Those details will be invaluable when adding [...]
This week I’m reposting one of my favorite posts—because I think we all need to be reminded now and then of the importance of keeping our butts in the chair.
I’m writing again for the first time in weeks and finding it difficult to sit still in my chair. Today I thought about what works [...]
Today I’d like to welcome guest blogger Laura Joyce Davis, who is here to talk to us about shutting out those nagging voices that tell us to do the laundry, make more money, and clean out the basement—instead of doing what we’re meant to be doing—writing.
Laura Joyce Davis was the winner for fiction [...]
Okay, Challengers! It’s time to check in! How did the first week of your Writerland Challenge go? I want to quote the wonderful Martha Borst, from whom I took a seminar a few years ago. Martha is wonderful, and her book, Your Survival Strategies Are Killing You, covers everything in her seminar if you want [...]
Thank you to Nicola Twrst for inviting me to participate in this blog chain. Nicola writes short stories and novels across various genres, including mystery, romance, and paranormal. Be sure to check her out at Nicola Trwst.com.
I’m not really ready to talk about My Next Big Thing because it’s still in the development stage, [...]
Today I’d like to welcome horror author Kathryn Meyer Griffith who is here to share some not-so-scary childhood Halloween memories. Kathryn is the author of a long list of horror novels, all available on Amazon, several of which are available today for just 99 cents.
Treat or Treat, Robots and Candy Corn By Kathryn Meyer [...]
I’m guilty of it, too: The description of a new character who has just entered your story as having “big brown eyes and frizzy black hair” or “ginger hair that cascaded down her shoulders and eyes the color of jade.” No matter how creative you get, describing a person according to his or her hair [...]
1. Your protagonist (you) should be 80-90% sympathetic with only a few flaws.
I used to think that the more flawed a character was, the more people would be able to relate to him/her. I quickly learned that too many flaws make a character unlikable. Readers don’t want to read 200-300 pages about a [...]
Today, I am honored to share with you an interview with the bestselling author of The Slippery Year, Melanie Gideon. Gideon’s debut novel, Wife 22, is out TODAY, and the best way I can describe it is Bridget Jones for the Facebook generation. Gideon will be reading tonight at A Great Good Place for [...]
Today I had the pleasure to meet Ben Fountain, who came to lunch at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Ben’s first novel, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, debuted this month. His short story collection, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, won a PEN/Hemingway award, a Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, a Whiting Writers [...]
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E-mail meghan@meghanward.com
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