Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Revising SWEET SALT AIR
Here’s how it works. The author writes her book and sends it to her editor, who reads it, thinks about it, reacts to it, hopefully loves it – but also comes up with a few recommendations to make it even stronger. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t always. Authors have egos. We have pride and fears. Let me…
Read MoreHow to control food cravings
I asked you all about food cravings in yesterday’s SPEEDY BD SURVEY, and there were some really interesting replies. The most frequent? Chocolate. So, let’s talk about food cravings. Do you get them? I do. There are times when I am desperate for a fried egg on buttered toast. Or a sizzling steak. Or yes,…
Read MoreWorking through the books in my beach bag
Actually, it’s not a beach bag, simply what would be in a hypothetical beach bag if I was to read at the beach as opposed to the lake, where comfortable, non-sandy, tree-shaded chairs abound. I had read Home, by Toni Morrison, the weekend before, but last weekend was for Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. And mind…
Read MoreMy summer reading list
I ask you what you’re reading many a Tuesday in the SPEEDY BD SURVEY, and you have every right to ask me back. The answer? I can’t read much when I’m working on a book, but now that Sweet Salt Air is done and summer here, my to-read pile is growing. At the top is…
Read MoreI believe! I believe!
I’m a fiction person, which isn’t to say I don’t read the newspaper or watch the evening news, but simply that my entertainment of choice involves pretend. Add to that magical elements that sometimes creep into my own work, like the coyotes in Escape, the wishes in Three Wishes, and the herbs in Sweet Salt…
Read MoreWhat comes after THE END?
I’ve been absent. At the end of writing a book, when my creative energy is focused on climactic scenes and tying up loose ends, it’s hard to think about writing anything else. So my blog takes a hit. I apologize. But Sweet Salt Air is now done – at least, the heavy-duty, mind-drain part of…
Read MoreDo you talk to yourself?
Do you? I mean, out loud? I didn’t used to. Only deranged people talk aloud to themselves, right? But there are certain circumstances now when I find myself doing it. Like when I carry two super-heavy bags of groceries in from the car and heave them onto the kitchen counter. Okay, I grunt in relief…
Read MoreA shrug and a smile
Ahah! Bet you thought I haven’t been knitting, since I’ve been blogging about everything but that. You would be wrong. When writing days are the longest, I need my knitting the most. I’m shrugging – no, not doing the bobbing thing with the shoulders, but knitting a shrug. Remember, I mentioned it in my blog…
Read MoreWhen characters are name-callers
Here’s another thought for those of you who are interested in the kinds of things a writer has to consider. In a single stretch of dialogue, how often should the characters call each other by name? I’ve been hypersensitive about this lately, because I just read another book that, IMHO, did it very wrong. Here’s…
Read MoreNovelist as shrink
So I’m re-reading Sweet Salt Air and seeing remarks about my characters’ emotional baggage. Take this brief excerpt. Charlotte, the main voice in Sweet Salt Air, is trying to explain to her BFF Nicole why she has never married. “What terrifies me,” Charlotte said in a measured way, speaking from the heart as she couldn’t…
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