In the fourth book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there is a maze that the students compete in that changes it’s pathways as you walk through it. This means that you can’t go back the way you came in because that way no longer exists. Driving my car […]
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During my thirties and forties, I had a number of books of daily meditations. The idea was that by reading these positive reflections every day, eventually I would internalize their message and change negative thinking patterns. I read them faithfully for years. I remember one meditation that spoke of depletion and depression. When starting to […]
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This past weekend, I had a chance to get away to Pentwater, MI. We didn’t arrive until 8p.m. on Friday, and left by 9:30a.m. on Sunday, and it was rainy most of Saturday, still it was worth it to get away even for a short time. While listening to the rain pour down Saturday morning, […]
Read MoreI’m looking for some very special people–beta readers. These are people who, out of the kindness of their heart and their love of reading, will read a manuscript in process without pay and give you feedback. They are an essential part of the writing process. There comes a point with any large writing process where […]
Read MoreMany months ago, on The Creative Penn blog, I read an interview with a prolific writer who wrote a book practically every month. As part of the interview, Joanna Penn and this author talked about the common practice by some of treating their manuscript like a baby, a creative baby. They agreed that maybe for […]
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I’ve had a great July. I focused on writing the first draft of the next novel in my Dancing through Life Series. The only problem is that in order to do that, I had to neglect other aspects of writing and life. You might say, I’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul. Now I’m playing […]
Read More“What’s the deal between Sara and her mother-in-law? She appears to be a little snot, which has certainly not been the case in the previous book.” One Beta reader commented. I certainly didn’t want one of my major characters coming off like a snot, but I also didn’t want to spend too much time developing […]
Read MoreBack story – the bane of many beginning writers! How do I get all of the essential background about my character into the story as quickly as possible, they ask. And so they do what is a called a “back story dump,” filling you in on all the minute details of the character’s life before […]
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Above is the stack of books I’ve pulled off of my shelves and have sitting on a chair within easy reach to assist me as I write! Thomas Cahill’s book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, is a fascinating read. Cahill relates how, during the Dark Ages after the fall of Rome, the monks in […]
Read MoreI just finished reading the 480 page book, Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland, by Ed Moloney. This book includes extensive interviews of two key players during the troubles in Northern Ireland from 1969 to the peace agreement: Brendan Hughes of the Irish Republican Army and David Ervine, member of the Ulster […]
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