You’re a creative artist, and no one (except for other creative artists) understands you. I get that. Here are some things you know are true that other people around you just don’t get! There’s a season for writing (and planning, and editing…). You sit at the computer and wail at the blank screen. Your pen…
Category: on prose writing
How to Manage an Unruly Manuscript
The Timeline: Early readers of Stella Rose have asked me how I managed to keep it all straight. Granted, Stella Rose is no Game of Thrones in complexity, but it does reflect contemporary lifestyles which are complicated and tangled. So how does a novelist keep it all straight? Tools. NOTE: I hate tools. Most folks love…
Billie Holiday: Master Storyteller
As we approached Billie Holiday’s 100th birthday earlier this month (April 7, 1915 in Baltimore, MD), numerous musicians, performers, and jazz experts offered opinions about what makes Lady Day so indelible. Some mentioned her unique voice. Many focused on the emotional weight of her songs, remarking how well she translated her own misery and hardship into bluesy jazz. Others shorthanded it, saying…
Quality Alert? Writers and The Internet
A writer must consider quality content above all else: This is a great statement when you first glance at it. It is one of these “think positive” type of messages we all love to hear or read about. I agree with the statement, in the surface style it is given, but I don’t agree writers must…
Six Tips For Writing That First Novel
Writing novels when you have experience is daunting. Writing a first novel, then, can seem like an impossible task, especially when you have nothing going for you except desire and a head full of ideas. I recently commented on a book by someone who asked for a review through my Review Exchange offer. I could tell…
![Drawing by Frank Blackwell Mayer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.thewoventalepress.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Traders_cabin_by_Mayer.gif)
Nathaniel Smith: Black Pioneer of the Mendocino Coast
People are often surprised to learn that an African American was one of the first non-indiginious settlers on the Mendocino Coast. While details are often contested, it’s widely agreed that Nathaniel Smith settled on a coastal bluff roughly six miles south of the Navarro River and just north of present day Elk sometime between 1851 and 1854. Other than a…
Why I'll Likely Self-Publish My Novel
I’ve been struggling to find a literary agent for one of my two fiction novels for more than a year now. I’ve pitched the story at conferences and via email, and received a steady trickle of rejections. Mostly formulaic responses, some nicer than others, one or two with encouraging words, but all the same rejection…
Mistakes to Avoid in Short Story Writing
As the fiction editor for Eclectica Magazine, it’s been both a privilege and pleasure to read story submissions. Finding the handful of pieces that take my breath away is what it’s all about. The good ones shine through, those that are brilliant positively sparkle. That said, it’s too bad that so many stories that come my…
What Genre Do I Write?
So what genre would you assign to this book? Oh, I know! It has to be about an exterminator named Ki’shto’ba who labors at destroying termite colonies by abducting their Queens! Right?! What genre is this? Hmm … hard to tell from the cover. In fact, I call it speculative literary science fiction, future history, psychological…
Collected Writing Tips & Advice
Here is a list of many essays, articles, quotes, and links on writing advice, tips, theory, and thought. (from 23 Tips from Famous Writers) “Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be…
The Nine Commandments of Indie Writing
As a published Indie Writer, I attest to the hard work it takes to complete a manuscript. Family and friends’ “this is good” critiques do not good writers make, neither does moaning about the absence of the muse, or other responsibilities that may take writers away from writing. The successful Indie Writer: sets and respects stated/written goals…
When The Line Becomes A Circle - A Writer's Story
In my own personal writing experience, the path began like this: I sat down one day and decided to write a story. It didn’t come easily. I struggled and flailed around, trying to find the right words, the right moments, the right shades of meaning. It’s tempting to think of one’s career path as…