What happens when a perfectionist takes the advice to write more short stories.
Oct 02
Deadlines and Anniversaries: I Finished (Again)!
Last month, the second anniversary of my transition to being a full-time writer passed without my noticing. Maybe the second anniversary is never as exciting as the first, but I also have an excuse: I was finishing my book! I told myself I would finish in April. Then in May. Then in July or August. …
Jun 21
How to see word counts in Scrivener’s corkboard
Author Kimmery Martin asked to see word counts in corkboard view for Scrivener. While I’m not positive this is what she wanted, it sounded like a helpful feature, so I tried to figure out a way to do it. First, I’ll show you how I do it. I have my scenes and chapters organized in …
May 04
When Reality Interferes With Your Goals
At the beginning of this year, I set for myself what I considered to be ambitious but achievable goals: accumulate 75 rejections and edit my second book. Of course, I wasn’t really after 75 rejections; I was hoping that I could find an agent who wanted my book before I hit that number. But querying …
Apr 20
Getting to know me
Facts about me I can’t remember when I didn’t want to be an author. I wrote my first story in Kindergarten, and I still have it (thanks, Mom!). It was about a princess, a dragon, and a knight, so… not much has changed. I graduated from the University of Michigan. (Go Blue!) My favorite Doctor …
Jan 01
New Year’s Goals
I ended 2017 by getting the stomach flu and eating nothing but 7-Up and white bread for three days, so we have nowhere to go from here but up! My 2018 writing goals are pretty simple: Accrue 75 rejections for Alchemist’s Mirror Finish two revision passes on my 2017 NaNoWriMo novel Of course, if I …
Nov 06
How learning story structure helps me write faster
I last participated in NaNoWriMo in 2010. Since then, I’ve had two kids, quit my job, and rewritten my novel twice. Along the way, I picked up quite a bit about story structure and am now a reformed pantser (although no one is ever only a plotter or a pantser, many lean far to one …
Nov 01
Words for a Cause
Happy November, everyone! For writers, the day after Halloween brings not just a candy hangover but the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. Those who sign up attempt to write a whole novel during the month of November. (The target of 50,000 words is technically a little shorter than most novels, …
Sep 22
A Year of Writing Dangerously
OK, I don’t know that my writing qualifies as dangerous, but it has been a year since I started this crazy experiment of being a full-time author. It’s been a while since I did a retrospective, so now seems like a good time! When I quit my day job, my counselor warned me that for …
Aug 07
How to Format Your Manuscript, Part 2
Level 2: Jedi So the last post told you about font formatting and headers/page numbers. This post takes you to the next level of convenience—because that’s really what this is about. When you use the techniques Microsoft Word is expecting, you can get the application to work with you instead of feeling like you’re working …