I am working through plotting issues myself and returned to these notes from a master class I taught on narrative endings a couple years ago. They are just my …
[Read more...] about Paddling your Bathtub into London: How Great Stories End
New York Times Bestselling Author
I am working through plotting issues myself and returned to these notes from a master class I taught on narrative endings a couple years ago. They are just my …
[Read more...] about Paddling your Bathtub into London: How Great Stories End
The two books that made me dream of becoming a writer were Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. So the news I read this …
[Read more...] about A new book by Madeleine l’Engle: Stories found in her “Tower”
Today is the first day of NANOWRIMO, wherein some crazy folks try to write an entire novel draft in a month. I confess that is faster that I can write (and …
[Read more...] about Advice from Steinbeck to Kick Off NANOWRIMO
May I recommend this interview -- Pulitzer-Prize winner Elizabeth Strout with Terry Gross on Fresh Air -- to anyone who writes, anyone who wants to write, …
[Read more...] about 10 Terrific Quotes from Elizabeth Strout's Fresh Air Interview
Writer Wins Love Lottery Because this is a writing blog, there is a writing angle here—perhaps the most important writing advice I can give anyone—but it's …
When you want to write but aren't sure how to start... In The Wednesday Sisters, Linda gets everyone writing by spilling her purse out over a picnic table, …
[Read more...] about 13 Writing Prompts To Get the Ink Flowing
I've just added The Company of Writers by Hilma Wolitzer to my favorite writing books list on the writers tips page of my website, in part because of the great …
[Read more...] about 8 Great Tips for Successful Writing Groups
I did a panel on writing dialogue at the San Francisco Writers' Conference yesterday, and ran out of the handouts I brought. So for those of you who asked for a …
A friend who is heading for a writers' conference next month asked if I had any advice, and since it's not the first time I've been asked: 1. Eat Chocolate for …
[Read more...] about A Survival Guide to Writers Conferences: 1. Eat Chocolate for Breakfast
The history of my writing starts with a little brown lunch bag. Like the character of Linda in my novel, The Wednesday Sisters, my first writing teacher—at a …
[Read more...] about 2,000 Words or 2:00, and Writing Friends