Diane Sherlock

  • Nathan Bransford at Curtis Brown blogs about ‘gap’ books. His key is books most people have read, so bear that in mind. What are yours? He’s right about the recut trailers. A feel-good Shining. Good exercise to think of your story in a new way, too. And if you need a reality check, The Rejectionist…

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  • working hard or hardly?

    If you’re not working hard, you are so busted: Steven Barnes tells you why talent isn’t the most important thing in writing.

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  • B&N sees digital future

    William Lynch is set to guide the retailer into a the digital. He’s just been named the new CEO of Barnes and Noble. I don’t have a problem with ebooks. I love my Kindle for travel, but I also love books. I expect both will be with us in the future, but traditional publishing is…

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  • day jobs

    A half dozen famous writers and their day jobs, complete with salaries adjusted to today’s dollars. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. If green beer isn’t  your thing, here are a few green cocktails.

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  • Thanks to Leonard Chang for this link to 100 free applications of interest to writers. Enjoy and have a productive week.

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  • rules for writing

    Various authors rules for writing, some serious, some not so much. Plus, science supports procrastination, um, taking a walk. Getting ready to go off the grid for a dozen or so days, so will likely not be blogging for a bit.

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  • the habit of writing

    Ron Charles, Washington Post Fiction Editor, tweeted this article on the habit of writing this morning. I was talking with my accountability partner yesterday about writing, realizing that when he asked me about Steinbeck’s letters, JS influenced me greatly from the beginning. I took to heart Steinbeck’s advice to work a lot of different jobs…

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  • mental toughness

    Dani Shapiro has a few thoughts on what it takes to keep going as a writer. Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints! Second half of the SuperBowl was pretty good. I am about to go into football withdrawals – at least there is still the Combine (Feb 24 – Mar 2) and the Draft (April…

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  • closing in

    Getting close to finishing my novel. As I accelerate toward the end, I’ve noticed I’m writing a lot of dialog and not a lot of much else. I think it’s like sketching and will go back in to fill in the details. I also have to go back and look at the stakes. That’s easy…

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  • decisions, decisions

    The best thing about getting into the flow of writing is that it becomes easier to make the series of decisions to create a scene. Steve Almond (go buy his book of flash fiction and essays on writing now) and others have pointed out that writing is decision-making. It follows that if you want to…

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