Came across this great quote when surfing Reddit’s writing subreddit: “This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now […]
The importance of lull and flow Read More »
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here. But I have an excuse – we were moving. We packed up all our shit and we moved across the continent, across the mighty Canada-U.S. border, and landed right smack in Woburn, Massachusetts. I feel like I’ve walked into a Ben Affleck movie. Well, no, not really, but
What’s playing at the cinema in your head? Read More »
For those of us on the west coast – and particularly the Pacific Northwest – the recent sunshine comes with fantastic relief. After so many days of heart-shrivelling, wrinkle-forming pissy skies, many of us – especially neurotic writers like myself – were leering out at the so-called great outdoors and silently casting curses at the
A few years – decades, even? – ago, I was watching David Letterman and his cheeky gap-toothed New York humour as was the norm of my late nights, and this time, Peter O’Toole was one of the guests on the show. I’ve seen many actors, actresses and celebrities (yes, that’s a third category) on Letterman
Writing with messianic determination Read More »
Two of the greatest laments I hear from would-be writers and other artists are the lack of time and the lack of inspiration. Well, guess what? Those are unacceptable laments. If you want to see your words make it into print – be that via ebook, self-publishing or the traditional print – you have absolutely
The inexcusability of writer excuses Read More »
One topic that seems to come up regularly in my writers’ group is – and I’m just as guilty of it as anyone – the shift of point-of-view in telling in a story. Example? Joe looked at Sarah and thought she looked absolutely dynamite. His heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice
The art of the point-of-view Read More »
As a writer, I strive for – and dread – these moments. The moments where I must create something new out of thin air. I’m one of those writers who will go long, dry spells without writing much at all, and then suddenly, furiously, in a moment of self-torture, I will chain myself to my
Keep your NaNoWriMo in NaNoWriMotion Read More »
While combing through the writing section on Reddit.com a few weeks ago, I came across a writer who lamented that his inspiration seemed to come at ridiculously inconvenient times.
