Posts Tagged ‘writing process’
Writing advice from a toddler that authors should heed carefully
When my daughter was three years old, still unable to read, she taught me three invaluable lessons about the craft of writing. Specifically, she offered three specific pieces of criticism made an impression on me as an author and remain with me today. 1. Don’t overwrite. More importantly, don’t refuse editing. After watching some of…
Read MoreA possible cure for writer’s block
I have thankfully never suffered from writer’s block, but if you do, perhaps you could try this innovative means of writing in hopes of curing it: Write naked. I can’t say that his work was especially impressive that day, but he was putting words to the page, which apparently is a big deal to anyone…
Read MoreWhy does writing instruction so often suck?
Slate’s Matthew J.X. Malady offers any number of reasonable answers to this question, but I think the answer is far simpler: Writing instruction at the elementary, middle, and high school levels is taught primarily by teachers who are not writers and do not engage in writing on a regular basis. Most teachers are readers. We…
Read MoreI may not be an author yet, but I write like one.
I’ve published three novels since 2009. All three were sold internationally, including the most recent, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, which has been translated into 25 languages worldwide and is an international bestseller. All three of my novels have been optioned for television or film. My next novel, The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs, is…
Read MoreCan’t find the time to write?
When people tell me they don’t have enough time to write, I tell them to throw a trashcan through the window of a bank or airport. – Dan Kennedy, author of Rock On: An Office Power Ballad (which I recommend in audio form), American Spirit, which is sitting on my shelf, and Loser Goes First,…
Read MoreI never know what I’m actually writing about
Long after I finished writing my first novel, SOMETHING MISSING, I discovered, only after my wife and therapist pointed it out to me, that I had written a book about my battles with post traumatic stress disorder, my hatred toward my evil step-father and my longing for my absent father. I didn’t know any of…
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