It’s the most wonderful time of the year, right? It’s cold, wet, gets dark at 4:30, and most of us have no time or energy to write. Let me explain. We're entranced during this season. I don't even celebrate Christmas, and Hanukkah/Chanukah/Hanukah is technically classified as a festival, and while important, it does not, in any way, have the heft of, let's say, Passover or Yom Kippur, yet it gets … [Read more...] about How to Write When You Don’t Have Time (or have had too much egg nog—or Hanukkah gelt)
writing advice
Guest Post: Naming Your Fictional Characters by Lynn Kanter
Last week we pondered picturing our characters, and today we're noodling about naming with author Lynn Kanter. How do you name your characters? Mine tend to arrive with name tags, meaning, I don't get a choice. It was like that for Noah, Izzy Lane's five-year-old son in The Good Neighbor. It was that way for Izzy's eighty-five-year-old next-door-neighbor, Mrs. Feldman. But Izzy's name was chosen … [Read more...] about Guest Post: Naming Your Fictional Characters by Lynn Kanter
Guest Post: How Do You Picture Your Fictional Characters? by Alana Cash
How much do you know about the characters in your writing? Do you know what they look like? I don't. That's right! I know everything about their lives and psyches and personalties and quirks, but not always the way they look. I don't use doppelgängers. I know a few key things that help me write. For instance, in my upcoming novel, The Good Neighbor, Izzy Lane has short, layered hair that used to … [Read more...] about Guest Post: How Do You Picture Your Fictional Characters? by Alana Cash
How Editing A Novel Is Like Carrying A Big Purse
JUST A NOTE: THE NEW TITLE FOR "FINDING IZZY LANE" IS "THE GOOD NEIGHBOR." I HOPE YOU'LL LOOK FOR IT IN 2015! I found a banana at the bottom of my purse. There was no smell, no recollection of a lost snack. I was just in there, elbow deep, rooting around for a tissue (didn't have one), or maybe a lip gloss (always have two), and found fruit. I hadn't even remembered putting it in there. Out it … [Read more...] about How Editing A Novel Is Like Carrying A Big Purse