I remember the afternoon so well. One of my students barreled down on a teacher in the hall. I could hear the angry shouts from both sides within the closed walls of my classroom. Chaos. I arose from my seat with the desire to intervene in defense of my fellow teacher and with compassion for… Continue reading Free to Live! (Part 3)
Well, we’ve made it! This is our final week in the series “Streamline”. We’ve covered the basics from words to avoid to dialogue tips. Today, we’re focusing on a new topic—which is backstory. Backstory is essentially the history or background of a character. It’s a piece any great writer should consider. For characters to present… Continue reading Streamline: Basic Edits You Can Make to Improve Your Writing (Part 3)
The alarm rings far too early. You swipe the button to snooze and curl up, hoping to grasp some final piece of restful sleep. But within five, it beeps loud in your ears again, ringing the start of a day you would rather spend in bed. Now don’t get me wrong, your coffee has brewed… Continue reading Free to Live! (Part 2)
Last week, we discussed some basic ways to avoid wordiness in our writing. If you’d like to check out specific examples or that post, click here. This week, we’re moving onto dialogue. There is perhaps nothing we complicate more and yet dialogue doesn’t have to be messy for writers. Here’s some basic rules: #1: Never… Continue reading Streamline: Basic Edits You Can Make to Improve Your Writing (Part 2)
For those of you who have followed me for any length of time, you know we’re expecting our first child in just under a month. The past week, it’s as if time has stood still. I never was the girl who dreamed of a household full of children or the day I would become a… Continue reading Free to Live! (Part 1)
You’ve come to the final word, on the final page of your manuscript. You’ve spent long days and long nights at the keyboard, and you want the end result to shine. So what’s next? Editing. Editing for some writers is the grueling step-sister of the creative process, but it really should be more like the… Continue reading Streamline: Basic Edits You Can Make to Improve Your Writing (Part 1)
Where we live, I can step outside on a summer night and gaze at the stars. Some twinkle as if just within reach and others seem almost invisible to the naked eye. As the viewer from my small vantage point on the ground, I feel as if I can see the curvature of the heavens… Continue reading Rescued from Darkness (Part 3)
