Photo Credit: Woman with veil, dark Gothic fantasy image, uploaded December 24, 2014 by LoganArt: LoganArt/ Pixabay/CC0 1.0 Last week, the Sisters in Crime organization held a webinar for authors about author branding. The idea of “branding” is relatively new buzzword in business and marketing (when it comes to people rather than products, that is) but … Continue reading What’s in a Tagline? Picking Apart My Tagline
The epitome of the happily-ever-after romance ending — the handsome couple off against the sunset with the calm waters and the palm tree. Photo Credit: Silhouette of a loving couple against a sunset, uploaded 25 April 2017 by 5187396: 5187396/Pixabay/CC0 1.0 “We are writers and we destroy lives and worlds and ideologies. And sometimes, we … Continue reading Not So HAE (Happily Ever After)
Photo Credit: Summer in Connecticut – The Old Barn at Branchville, J. Alden Weir, 1890’s, oil on canvas, Christie’s, New York: Trzesacz/Wikimedia Commons/PD Old 95 1934 Some of you might remember that I took a blogging break in April because of Camp Nano . Well, it's summer and Camp Nano is upon us again and I've decided to … Continue reading It’s Camp Nano Time Again!
Photo Credit: Photograph of Maurits (M.C.) Escher, around 23 Nov. 1971. Photograph probably made by Hans Peters (ANEFO), Ga het na (Nationall Archief NL): Vysotsky/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY SA 3.0 Many artists talk about the creative process. It’s one of those illusive ideas that fascinates non-artists and weighs heavily on the minds of artists because creativity … Continue reading Adventurous Perception: The Individual Creative Process
Photo Credit: Canadian singer Leonard Cohen in Trouville-sur-Mer (Normandy, France), taken 26 January 1988 by Roland Godefroy: Teddyyy/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0 “If words are the arrow, we ourselves — our interior landscapes, our outward actions, the authenticity of our lives — are the bow.” (Popova, par. 1) As many of my blog readers know, I … Continue reading The Emotional Badlands of Language, or, Language is Not Just Data
Photo Credit: Multi-colored puzzle pieces, uploaded 17 February 2017: Pixhere/CC0 1.0 Last week, I announced in a live Facebook post on my author page that I’m exploring new directions with my fiction. I also created a Coming Soon page on my website with more details about what I’m doing and why and what readers can expect in … Continue reading Character vs. Plot Puzzles: The Two Sides of My Fictional World
Photo Credit: The Blue Veil by Edmond Tarbell, oil painting, 1898: freeparking/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 “The creative personality never remains fixed on the first world it discovers. It never resigns itself to anything ... “ (Nin, location 3587) I love this quote from Nin because it’s so true of many creative people. The nature of creativity … Continue reading First Worlds: Writing and Blogging in New Directions
The bunny may be cute, but he’s not gonna win the race like that ;-). Photo Credit: The tortoise and the hare with the hare resting by the side of the road while the tortoise passes him up. From Children’s Favorites and Fairy Stories by various authors, edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie, Edward Everett Hale, … Continue reading A Tortoise and Hare Writing Allegory
Photo Credit: The young writer, 1958, on aTriumph Perfekt typewriter, manufactured by Trimph-Werke in Nuremberg, German: pellethepoet/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 ***Some spoilers*** Like many of my blog post ideas, this one began as the germ from an article I read and evolved through research. As a writer, of course I am always interested in the way … Continue reading The Corruption of a Writer’s Life: Billy Wilder’s Films About Writers
Photo Credit: Book, phone, and computer in chains, created and uploaded on 24 January 2015 by stevepb: stevepb/Pixabay/CC0 1.0 “I had to let go … then come back to the [book] understanding the new limitations as creative challenges.” (Tea, par. 4) I came across an interview with West Coast writer Michelle Tea quite some time … Continue reading Creative Limitations
