creative writing
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In the last post, I briefly addressed the dragging of feet that can go along with finishing your work or getting it out into the world. We cannot know if success will come quickly, after many years or not at all. All we can to is to try to be prepared and that means making…
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We’re almost there – here’s #7 of 8 rules for writing fiction by Mr. Vonnegut as delivered by guest blogger Aaron Gansky. by adgansky 7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia. –Kurt Vonnegut Pneumonia, maybe, and…
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Thanks to Aaron for another guest post while I’m on the road in Morocco. By adgansky 5. Start as close to the end as possible. –Kurt Vonnegut Last week, I had a student approach me to ask my opinion on something they were working on. The story opened inside a hospital with the birth of a child.…
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If you’re enjoying Aaron’s guest posts, check out his Workshop Wednesdays on his blog, Forging Fiction. You can submit or just observe. He will put submitted pages up anonymously, give a few pieces of constructive criticism, and encourage his followers to do so as well. What you get is unfiltered constructive feedback (closely monitored by…
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I’ve been ruminating for awhile and am about ready to start a new novel. Every time between books, I panic, certain I will never have another idea and every time, something happens (or doesn’t) and it comes to me. Books arrive. I don’t know exactly how to explain it if it hasn’t happened to you.…
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Over the next couple of months, Aaron D. Gansky will be making appearances as my first guest blogger. Aaron is a novelist, teacher, and editor of The Citron Review, an online literary journal. In 2009, he earned his M.F.A in Fiction at the prestigious Antioch University of Los Angeles. His short eBook An Affair to…
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A friend of mine just got a book deal. Am I jealous? Honestly, no. Well, why not?? Because I don’t believe in fixed-pie thinking. Success isn’t some giant pie with only 8, 12 or 16 pieces. There’s enough to go around, which isn’t the same thing as saying everyone will be successful in the way…
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When I was in grad school, we had project period contracts, approved by our mentors. I found that it helped a lot to focus in on what I really wanted to accomplish. After, some of us continued, but missed most of last year, so I started this year with a new one. How to do…
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You’re probably familiar with verbal tics – we all have them to an extent and they are part of what makes a person’s speech unique. Lately, I’ve met a number of people in a wide variety of settings using the word yeah repeated three times in quick succession (part of a movie or TV show I’ve missed?)…
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Writers write. We have to and the prospect of years toiling in obscurity doesn’t seem to dissuade us. But that’s not the why I’m talking about. Digging deeper, perhaps the real question is, what are you wrestling with? Why do you write? I was reading about the new movie with Mel Gibson, The Beaver, along…
Diane Sherlock 
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