As I emerge from the holidays and sit down at my computer again, I find it takes a long time to even remember where I was when I left off. I had written the first few paragraphs of Chapter 7 but stalled out for some reason. As I reread those paragraphs I find I don’t… [Read More]
Work in Progress #10: Writing and Living
September 17, 2013 By
I finished chapter 6 at a week-long writer’s retreat where I was happily holed up in a cabin in Pennsylvania and had no distractions. There were no “real life” things to do like dishes and laundry and I was surrounded by thirteen other people, busily writing in their own cabins, which spurred me on. The… [Read More]
Work in Progress #7: Writing Thin
August 5, 2013 By
As I was plugging ahead with the narrative outline for Chapter 6, I discovered I was “writing thin.” As thorough as I try to be with my research before sitting down to write, there are numerous spots along the way when my writing gets “thin” – it becomes hesitant, tentative, and starts to sound like… [Read More]
Work in Progress #6: Snails Take Heart!
July 29, 2013 By
I am a hopelessly slow writer. I set aside three to four hours each morning for writing and on a good day, I have one and a half typed pages to show for it. On a bad day, I can have two paragraphs. I never sit and stare into space. My fingers are always on… [Read More]
Work in Progress #5: A Masterpiece! (Or…Not)
July 22, 2013 By
Last Friday I came to the halfway point of my young adult biography. I finished chapter 5. I decided to go back and read the whole thing from the beginning. After focusing on words, sentences, and paragraphs for so long, it seemed like a good time to take a look at the Work as a… [Read More]
Work in Progress #4: Elizabeth Gilbert to the Rescue
July 2, 2013 By
Writers, like all who create, suffer mightily. We wonder if we will ever write anything “worthy” and, if we do come up with something that gets noticed, we wonder if we will ever be a second act. I’m told that the great Dr. Suess (a.k.a. Theodore Geisel) felt the Cat in the Hat constantly taunting… [Read More]
Work in Progress #3: Writing and Then Really Writing
June 24, 2013 By
Confession: I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Translation to my nonfiction writing life: I have trouble keeping piles of research straight while trying to write a decent story. Writing is often about solving problems of this sort and here’s an idea I’m trying that seems to be helping with this particular… [Read More]
Work in Progress #2: To Write or Not to Write
June 10, 2013 By
I mentioned in my last blog that I would talk about when to stop researching and start writing. The truth is, I’ve already started writing…but only sort of. I’ve found it really helps to get the first three chapters of a piece down as quickly as possible. So, as soon as I’ve read four or five key books on my… [Read More]
Work in Progress #1: Drowning!
May 30, 2013 By
I’m hard at work on a new young adult biography and drowning in research! Before I attempted my first longer biography (The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton) research for shorter pieces was a simple task consisting of three steps: create a list of the books and articles I needed to read, find the books and… [Read More]