My last post got me thinking about different ways to begin a project. When I’m advising new writers on how to begin a memoir, I tell them to think of an event and just sit down and write it as a scene (or in essay form if they aren’t ready yet to write scenes). Then [...]
Are you a slow writer or a fast writer?
Aug 23rd, 2010
I’m continually amazed by stories like Tawna Fenske’s who “In the last eight years [has] written nine full manuscripts and six partials.” Whoa! In the last eight years I have written exactly ONE memoir and revised the hell out of it and still haven’t finished it. Sure, I earned an MFA, got married, and had [...]
Link Love
Jun 11th, 2010
Links!
The Wall Street Journal has a great article about vanity press going digital.
Meg Waite Clayton has a great series of posts on how writers get started. Start with Part I and read all six!
After the New Yorker released its 20 Under 40 list (I’m honored to know three of them—Daniel Alarcón, Yiyun Li, and ZZ [...]
Drastic Measures
Apr 6th, 2010
Despite all my talk about stick-to-it-iveness, I have not done much writing in the past couple of months. I have lots of excuses—two small children, training for a half marathon, etc. But like Martha Borst says, you can have excuses, or you can have results. And I don’t want this revision to drag on all [...]
Over the wall
Mar 23rd, 2010
Last week, I was feeling really discouraged about revising my book. I’ve been working on this same book for SO long now (more than five years), and I’m dying to put it behind me on and start something new. I don’t feel excited about it. In fact, I mysteriously find very important things that I [...]
Patience
Mar 11th, 2010
Someone, a few months back, wrote an amazing blog post about patience and I can’t remember who it was or where I read it. I can hardly repeat that here, but I do have a few things to say about patience.
You need a lot of patience to be a writer. Patience with yourself when you [...]
POL—The Motivation
Jan 18th, 2010
I’ve had a terrible time figuring out how to BEGIN my book—when I arrive in Paris to begin modeling? In San Francisco when the agent proposes I go? At home in Michigan with my family? (To show my reasons for leaving). I’ve played with each of those scenarios and none has quite worked. One of [...]
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