A month before The Forgetting Flower came out, I took on a 30-Day blogging challenge: publish posts on my blog for 30 days straight. It was a difficult exercise. I had to come up with decent content every day and even though I planned out my topics ahead of time, I had to squeeze in a post at the last minute several times. But overall, it was a fruitful experience. I learned a lot! Here’s what I can share about it.
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It was late afternoon in St. Petersburg, Russia. A cloudy day but warm. I was walking back to the inn where I was staying for a writer’s workshop through the Summer Literary Seminars program. Soon, I came to a strange dried puddle on the sidewalk and almost stepped in it. I had to take a wide turn into the street to go around. Red and crusted, about a two-foot-wide blob, I thought it was paint. I looked up at the […]
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I’ve been thinking a lot about tribes and how important they are in a writer’s life. Writers are often solitary beings so joining a group, any kind of group, can be stressful and intimidating. We writers write because writing is easier than interacting. Not for everyone, I know, but it’s certainly the case for me. So while I’m a writer who enjoys being alone, I also yearn to connect with people. Not often, probably far less than others, but I […]
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There are a lot of books that will teach you how to write fiction. And the best ones not only address the craft of storytelling but the issues beneath the story’s surface. A main character’s wound, the overarching theme, internal versus external conflicts. But the key to a really compelling novel is expression emotion in fiction. And that’s the hardest piece to put on the page.
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Bird by Bird is an outstanding craft book for writers. Novelist and memoirist Ann Lamott covers the various aspects of writing: the nuts and bolts of craft to broader, more abstract issues. She talks about the importance of getting the sh*tty first draft on paper before diving into the mechanics of plot, dialogue, character, etc. She tackles perfectionism, finding your voice, and the let downs of publication. It’s a wise and witty manual for any writer, experienced or not. I highly recommend it.
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