All Blog Posts Tagged 'writing' (334)

Creativity as Therapy

Yesterday I made a crown: four feet at the base, four-and-a-half feet wide at the top, bejeweled, golden, and undeniably tacky. It will definitely be the spectable it's intended to be at the Christmas festivities. What I always find, no matter what the purpose, is that creating something tangible is relaxing for me. Not that I'm any sort of artist; don't ever think that. I need lots of help to transmit the idea in my head to reality. But I'll work for hours, even days, on such projects with hot… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 25, 2009 at 10:13pm — No Comments

History, and Do You Care?

My aunt, the last surviving member of her generation, is 95. When I asked her about family history so I could write it down and preserve it, her response was, "Who cares? That's the past." I got a review yesterday from a woman who loved HER HIGHNESS, but she prefaced her praise with the comment that she almost didn't read it (she won an ARC) because historicals are boring. Obviously, I'm of a different sort. I love history, not so much the sweep of politics and armies and civilization, but the… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 18, 2009 at 9:51pm — 1 Comment

Storage-Actual and Otherwise

Don't ask me where these things come from, but I started wondering this morning why we keep the soy sauce behind the dish soap and the teriyaki sauce in a different area, next to the cinnamon. No logic there, merely an unconscious decision at some point in the past that became habit and now is required. I can imagine either my husband or I bellowing to the other, "Where have you put the soy sauce?" if it were to end up somewhere else. That's how my files are, too. Everything is stored in some s… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 17, 2009 at 11:01pm — 1 Comment

Answers Will Vary

My mother, an elementary teacher, once had a student hand in homework that stymied her for a few moments. All the true-false, multiple choice, and short answer responses were correct, but all the essay questions were answered with the phrase "Answers will vary." She finally figured out that during recess, while she was on hall duty, the kid had swiped her teacher's edition from the desk, copied what was written there onto his paper, and then put the book back. What I've been thinking of as I ed… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 16, 2009 at 10:12pm — 1 Comment

Writing Funny

I can't do it. I envy those who can. I will admit that as a playwright, I wrote some things that were funny. But in my novels, nobody's going to laugh out loud. I note this because I started reading a friend's MS last night and I did...laugh out loud. She has the knack of being funny without being silly, and entertaining without stooping to farce, which irritates me. I was never a fan of the Lucille Ball-type heroine, so overdrawn and asinine that I wanted to slap her. My friend's small-town h… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 13, 2009 at 10:44pm — 4 Comments

Tis the Season...to Not (R)

It's time to share what I hate about the Christmas season, and I make no excuses for it. I hate decorating. In late fall my friends and acquaintances start talking about "doing" the house, some with anticipation, some with resignation. I refuse. I don't like the clutter, I don't enjoy the disruption, and I see no reason to turn my house into a wannabe Wal-Mart. I realize this might put me in the grinch category, but otherwise I do okay. I arrange and conduct a huge Christmas concert for my tow… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 12, 2009 at 9:56pm — 2 Comments

Tis the Season...to Not (R)

Added by Peg Herring on November 12, 2009 at 9:56pm — No Comments

Writer's Glut, The Opposite of Writer's Block

There isn't enough time in the day. You all know I'm hard at work on the sequel to HER HIGHNESS, which is moving at a snail's pace for some reason. But then I get into my old computer files for some reason and stumble onto other projects, some barely started, some almost done. Gee, that was a good idea. Why didn't I finish it? Oh, right. I was stuck on motive. Oh, and that one's nice, too. I was going to work on the characters, get them some depth. Oh, that clever idea for a plot still seems cl… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 10, 2009 at 9:27pm — 1 Comment

Feet on the Ground, Ms. Author!

I found somewhere a list of things one shouldn't say to a mystery author, and I got a charge out of it, because I've heard just about all of them: "I don't read fiction" (with nose lifted); "I buy my books at garage sales, but I'll look for yours"; and the most frequent, "Oh. My (son, daughter, granddaughter, neighbor, washing machine repairman, etc.) wrote a book, too." (That one is often followed by, "Would you like to read it?" or "Could you send it to your agent?") I've added another one, a… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 9, 2009 at 10:45pm — 3 Comments

Raking the Leaves of My Mind

The other morning I was staring out the window at all the leaves on the ground, marveling at how so much come from almost nothing. A bit of water, a bit of soil, a bit of sun, and something exists where nothing did before. I cherish those leaves. There’s no lawn here, just native grasses, so I don’t need to rake the leaves. I let them finish out their natural cycle of replenishing the soil from which they came. Looking at those leaves, I was reminded of written words, and how they come from alm… Continue

Added by Pat Bertram on November 7, 2009 at 11:38am — 2 Comments

Lousy Weather

You can't go out and rake those leaves with the wind blowing. You can't finish sorting the stuff in the garage into give-away, throw-away and put-away piles with the rain and the damp. You can't go for a walk. Well, you could, but you'd be wet and miserable in five minutes. You might as well write something. Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 6, 2009 at 10:22pm — No Comments

Writing Without a Reader Is Like Kissing Without a Partner

One of the guest stops on my Daughter Am I blog tour is the Second Wind Publishing Blog. I talk about a fan letter (well, fan email) I received, and cite a quote by John Cheever, “I can’t write without a reader. It’s precisely like a kiss — you can’t do it alone.” Many writers don’t consider readers -- they write solely for themselves, or at least they say they do -- but often as I am writing a passage (or m… Continue

Added by Pat Bertram on November 3, 2009 at 2:42pm — No Comments

Mindset

I have a psychologist friend who claims it's impossible for one generation to understand another to any great extent. Being raised in different times means we just don't react to things the same way. We've all seen the lists that chart those differences: events and objects that mean a great deal to fifty-somethings (phonographs, first man on the moon) that twenty-somethings think of as ancient history. For the historical writer, that adds another layer of problems. Not only to do we have to get… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 30, 2009 at 9:44pm — 2 Comments

How Does That Happen?

I know not what path others may take, but as for me, it's the same path, over and over. As I write, I leave big holes, but as I edit, again and again, they fill themselves in almost as a matter of course. As big problems are solved, smaller ones come to light and get their turn for my full attention. It's the fourth time through that I see a tiny event that deepens the bad girl's motivation and makes her more realistic. On the sixth time it might be an incident that, added to the main plot, dive… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 29, 2009 at 8:32pm — 1 Comment

No more Mister Nice Guy

This is where it gets ugly. Last week I zapped off the manuscript of my new novel to my agent in New York. My wife told me to get working on the next book. It’s not because she’s worried about me slacking off and failing to pay the rent. No, it’s because she knows what happens when I’m not writing. Ever read “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”? When I’m writing, I’m Dr Jekyll. All my unloveable urges are intellectualized and subsumed to a pleasure in the creative impulse. As soon as I… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on October 29, 2009 at 4:43pm — No Comments

The Real Iraq War: Michael Anthony’s Writing Life

By now it’s no secret that the Iraq War has been a disil… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on October 28, 2009 at 8:01pm — No Comments

Gimme a "D" (eadline)

I've given myself a week to get it all together. I've long nown that I do best with a deadline. They're natural for teachers, because every hour of the day is at least one. For a writer, there are plenty of deadlines as well, but not always when you need them. I've got plenty going on: two books coming out soon, one edited and in need of promotion; one whose editing hangs over my head like that sword in mythology (When will they send it back? How much will they want it changed? How much time wil… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 26, 2009 at 11:18pm — 2 Comments

New Territory

If you're ever feeling good about getting published and all, just stop and think about how many states in this big ol' country of ours have never heard of you. I'm planning my winter vacation/booktour, and this year we're going into states we've only driven through other years. So I begin the introductory letters, the offers, the enticements. "I'm someone you've never heard of, but I'm really okay, not crazy or anything." It's a bit daunting, a bit exciting. And a lot of work. Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 22, 2009 at 10:17pm — 5 Comments

Nebulous Characters

Had a character in my WIP who would not let me pin her down. She's evil, but that's all I could see in her. Did I want her to appear to be self-absorbed, slightly dumb, or tooth-aching sweet? Should she know she's evil when all is said and done, or should she suffer under the all-too-common murderer's delusion that she did what she had to do? I tried all the usual methods, letting her talk, letting others talk about her, but in the end I went ahead and finished the story without a clear picture… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 21, 2009 at 10:14pm — No Comments

THE END - or is it?

I was asked the other day how I feel when I tap out the immortal words THE END at the completion of a novel. The timing of the question was quite eerie because I was just reaching the final pages of the copy edits of my latest DI Horton marine mystery crime novel Blood on the Sand which is being published by Severn House in February next year. It is the fifth in the Inspector Horton series. Reaching the e… Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on October 21, 2009 at 12:21am — No Comments