“An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” ~Stephen King One of the most important lines in a story is that very first one that you write. But as important as that is to grab the attention of a reader, a first line can …
Proverbs Can Make You Think & Smile
Proverbs are the children of experience. (An English Proverb) Thank you all so much for playing my Rewrite the Proverbs Game. I hope you are having fun with it and with exercising your imagination. We all need to exercise and an imagination is one of the best things to exercise. That’s what we do when we read a novel or …
Finding the Words for a Story
Writing is more than just the making of a series of comprehensible statements: it is the gathering in of connotations; the harvesting of them, like blackberries in a good season, ripe and heavy, snatched from among the thorns of logic. ~Fay Weldon Blackberry season is over for this year, but my writing season is just beginning to ripen. At …
Book Fun – A New Giveaway Chance
I once read that one of the best ways a writer can promote a book is to give it away. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but over the years I’ve given away many books. I like to give away books and wish I could give away even more. I went to an author event once where authors …
Bringing a Character to Life
When I begin down the road to a new story, usually that trip starts with deciding who is going to be walking that road with me. I have to come up with characters to bring my story to life. For my recent release, The Song of Sourwood Mountain, I started with a female character who was going to at some …
Questions Kids Ask about Writing
“Any man who knows all the answers most likely misunderstood the questions.” That’s a quote that has a lot of truth. Nobody has all the answers, but writers can get asked some interesting stuff. A few years ago I was asked to go to a high school and talk about writing. I had talked to a number of elementary school …
Editing Then and Now
I’m on to the next step for my work in progress. That’s how it can be for a writer. While one book has just come out for readers. a writer is often putting the finishing touches on a new story. That’s how it was for me with The Song of Sourwood Mountain releasing three weeks ago on May 7th while …
A Writer’s Day
“Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts.” —Larry L. King, Writer’s Digest One of the questions I’m sometimes asked in interviews or when I do book talks is: “What is your writing day like?” People have a curiosity about the process of writing, especially if they have ever considered writing something themselves. I like to …
A Snowy January Week
We got some more snow Thursday and Friday and then the Big Chill came barreling down on us. Windchills in the minus zero range. This morning’s temperature was below zero, but it didn’t feel all that bad when I went out with the dogs. I didn’t stay all that long and by our afternoon walk, it was a balmy 25 …
3 Question Interview
I did this three question interview a few years ago. Not to post here on One Writer’s Journal, but as a guest on a different blog to see if I could tempt some new readers into giving my new book at the time, River to Redemption a try. The interview was a little different from most. Just three short questions …