Category: Writing Woes

  • What’s In A Name?

    One of the first critiques of an early draft of my debut novel was that the names of the characters seemed random, like they’d been pulled from a hat. The comment surprised me. You mean there’s another way? The right name is a beautiful thing. That’s why parents spend so much time thinking about what…

  • A Slight Miscalculation

    Since at least September, I’ve looked forward to settling into my new normal. Living alone was supposed to mean more time to devote to my writing career. Those extra hours haven’t materialized. Apparently, I miscalculated. Knowing the transition to the bachelor lifestyle and moving would take time, I took a break from my writers group. From mid-2010 to…

  • Birth Control?

    I’ve come to believe that babies and contracts for first novels should come with detailed instructions. I feel like a thirteen year-old who got pregnant on purpose. Contrary to our expectations, birthing the little darling wasn’t the hard part. Conceiving the story is wicked fun. There’s nothing like the wild, reckless, and lusty passion of a…

  • Raising the Bar: Consistency

    When I started blogging in 2008, the hard part was coming up with an idea. After that, the writing came easy. I could knock out a post in an hour — two at the most. Those days are gone. Now I agonize over a post for hours, even days in come cases. Okay. Agonize might be…

  • The Party’s Over

    The party I call my recovery from hernia repair is drawing to a close. The surgery was a week ago today, and aside from an occasional twinge, I’m feeling no pain. And no, the absence of pain is not the result of Percocet. I quit taking them Saturday night. I planned to wean myself off…

  • Doing it My Way

    Blogs and books about writing fiction and getting published contain tons of helpful tips and suggestions. I’ve read many and have been surprised by how consistent the advice is across various sources. Read a few and you’ll have step-by-step instructions for the universal best practices writers must follow. Except they don’t. I know quite a few…

  • Dealing with Rejection

    When it comes to writing, practice makes perfect. The more I write, the better my writing gets. The improvement comes in terms of both the mechanical aspects–grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary–and in my ability to create a good story. In its current form, Glass Houses, the very first book I penned back in 2010, will never get…