Category: Writing
-
Things that Lurk in Google Drive
My friend Janane was looking over my shoulder and laughing. “What’s so funny?” “Your google drive! Mine is full of random pictures, and yours is full of random documents.” This makes sense when you consider that she is a photographer and I am a writer. In any case, this inspired me to poke through some…
-
How to sound like you don’t know what you’re talking about
So I was reading this bit of historical fiction. The author had obviously done a lot of research into the time period she was writing about. She included all the details. But I still found it almost impossible to suspend my disbelief. I had this nearly overwhelming feeling that the author didn’t know what she…
-
How to Criticize People Kindly and Effectively
Unlike most college classes, where you’re expected to do your best on your own and hope for a good grade, fiction writing classes thrive on peer criticism. It’s called “workshopping.” You write a story and give it to your classmates, and the next class session they all sit around and talk about what worked well…
-
How To Write an Opinion That People Will Listen To
Two weeks ago I wrote an opinionated blog post titled “When Even a Mug is Too Much.” Using that post as a model, I’m going to tell you everything I’ve learned, after 12 years of blogging, about writing opinions that people will listen to. Step 1: Form an opinion Form an opinion. Don’t just copy one you saw on…
-
Writing is Just Hard
Uggghhhhhh writing is so haaaaaaaarrrrrrd. Why? Shouldn’t it be easy, so long as you learned how to type in high school? Just put your fingers on the keys, and, “beep beep boop!” Transfer your thoughts to the electronic equivalent of paper. Right? I mean, come on, fingers. You haven’t posted in a month and a…
-
Writers who Don’t Care
I’ve decided that there are two types of writers: writers who care, and writers who don’t care. Writers who care write in order to be heard. They post Facebook status updates about the bickering matches they’re writing for their characters. They spend hours pounding away at the keyboard, and go to writer’s conferences, and endlessly…
The Girl in the Red Rubber Boots 