In late October 2018, shortly after I turned 45, I told my husband that I might have to shelve the book I'd spent the past two years working on so that I could move on to something else. The rejections were mounting, and I was tired of thinking about the characters and scenes and pages … Continue reading And then one day, I had an agent
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Romantic British poet, is credited with first coining the term "suspension of disbelief." In speaking of his own writing concerning supernatural or romantic notions, he noted: ...yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination … Continue reading Suspending disbelief
I had the honor of attending The Writer's Hotel Conference in NYC last week along with about 75 other writers of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. I attended workshops, lectures, and genre labs. This year marks the fifth year of the conference. I received a whole manuscript critique from the directors, Shanna McNair and Scott Wolven … Continue reading The Writer’s Hotel Conference
This month, we will sell our house and move into another, smaller house. Part of the reason we are selling, the part we usually tell people, is that with my son going to college in the fall, this house is simply too big. That much is mostly true, even though that space is frequently filled with … Continue reading The grind
I attended the 2018 AWP Conference in Tampa. I had not been to an AWP Conference since the one in Chicago in 2012, but now I can say with confidence that the conference is a bit too much for me. There are over 12,000 attendees, so I did of course see old friends, both peers … Continue reading AWP 2018
Things I have not done today: Bathed Changed out of my pajamas Prepared for my interview on Thursday Things I have done today: Finished a short story Guzzled four cups of coffee and two cups of tea Read a poem by Mary Oliver Started to read Mr. Bridge by Evan S. Connell Made several batches of … Continue reading A successful day
Words are clunky, character's voices inauthentic, stories banal. I have four stories in progress--one that might be an erotic novella, one flash fiction, two others with opening paragraphs that are promising but going nowhere. I know this stasis, this floundering, this ennui is a common problem. Claire Guyton, a writing friend of mine who graduated … Continue reading False starts
It's been a while since I've posted. I finished the first (or second?) draft of the novel around Thanksgiving, and although there are things I still want to change, transitions and scenes I want to tweak, sentences I want to polish a little more, I had to step away for a while. Despite the urge … Continue reading It’s a wrap
Grandma Jackie, my husband's late grandmother, used to say things like, "I can't tomorrow. We'll be busy with Richard's doctor appointment and then we have to go to the pharmacy." In full retirement, her days became busy when she had any scheduled activity, even if it only took an hour or two from her otherwise … Continue reading 500 words a day
I was talking with a friend a while ago about our biggest respective blind spots. By blind spots we meant the things that held us back, the things that others saw in us that we perhaps did not see in ourselves. For her, I told her I thought she was afraid to be uncomfortable or … Continue reading Blind spots and hillbillies
Gwen Mullins 