I got such nice responses from today’s newsletter, I’m posting it here! Thank you!!!! Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius. -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Dear Writers, This weekend, Sara Pennypacker talked about her new novel, Pax,…
the process
From the newsletter: Tennis and Writing
“You gotta be willing to fail… if you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far.” Steve Jobs “There is no such thing as failure — failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.” –Oprah Winfrey Dear Writers, Did you enjoy the US Open? I r did (although I was really sad that Serena and…
From the newsletter: Dream, Dream, Dream
Stop telling yourself that dreams don’t matter, that they are only dreams and that you should be more sensible.” ~Julia Cameron Dear Writers, Over the past five nights, I’ve been waking up to the same dream. It starts with me finding out that I’ve been cast in an opera. The show is hours away from…
One change leads to another
I have been working on a revision that, in part, requires me to go from first person present to past. You would think this MIGHT be a very easy exercise, but of course, like all changes, it is not. This morning, after deleting a huge chunk of the text, I thought about exactly what…
Epiphanies!
Part of my process when I start revising…or really “re-imagining,” is that I get a bunch of epiphanies. Mostly, answers to the question: What if? and more important: what is it you are trying to say? It can be a little bit frustrating. (perhaps more to my friends than for myself). Themes often come…
Hiding in the comfort zone
This is a funny week for me. ALA is coming, and I will have my very first ALA signing. (I am very excited/nervous about this.) Putting yourself in public is always a little hard for me. (I am not cool.) Last night, as my husband and I watched the Chicago Blackhawks score twice in…
A tough scene
Lately, I have been spending a lot of time on ONE scene. Adding to it. Playing with time. Using scene…and summary. Writing a lot of really great sentences, none of which were making the story more interesting. This weekend, I tried storyboarding the section of the book. And today…. I think I finally figured out…
The power of pressing DELETE
Pressing delete opens up opportunities to see more.
Getting out of the comfort zone
Sometimes, when I am feeling a bit stuck, I walk. I look at Lake Michigan. But today, it’s cold. And icy. On days like that, I step away from the manuscript and try and tackle something short and different and difficult. In other words: I step out of my comfort zone. This morning, I did…
If you are slow to get back to work after the long vaca….
REMEMBER: Now, back to work.