I’ve never been very good at keeping things simple. When I write, I have more ideas swirling around my head than kites at a traditional Japanese festival, and invariably they get tangled up.
Similarly, when I came up with the …
Events
A Writer’s Guide to Surviving the Second Child
Dear Readers, I just want to let you know that I wrote this blog post, and intended to send it, before my second son was born. But the baby outsmarted me and turned out before that… Hence both the delay …
A Guest Post from Leah Kaminsky: How to Write a Novel in Ten Years
It took me ten years to write The Waiting Room, my debut novel. Well, actually, that’s pure fiction – I made the number up. It was really more like thirty years. Writing my novel felt at times akin to …
Going on a Reading Diet
One of the best pieces of advice a writer can get is – read, read, READ. Read as widely and as voraciously as you can. Make reading a priority even over writing, at least for some years. Be adventurous in …
A Guest Post by Laurie Steed: The Family Guide to Writing & Parenting
Once, I was a full-time writer.
My day began at six, with coffee and a slice or two of fruit toast. I’d ruminate on character arcs and plot developments as though they were the very stuff of life. If time …
Inhabiting Your Characters
Some time ago I was approached by a writer asking me to mentor her. She was writing a novel set in seventeenth century Spain. I read the synopsis. The story – a young woman has to choose between her sexual …
A Guest Post by Maria Katsonis: The Writer Who Reveals
In an interview with Design Matters, writer Dani Shapiro stated: ‘When you bring out a memoir, the feeling is of the life being reviewed — not the book being reviewed.’ Many memoirists, as they start unfolding their lives on …
Let me count the ways in which I dislike you, my beloved character
Recently I read the novel Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. I didn’t like much any of its main characters – an angry, depressive rocker; a housewife who spends her life not doing what she wants; her saintly husband who nevertheless sells …
A Guest Post by Rochelle Siemienowicz: On writing about people I know and love
‘Remember that novel I wrote, inspired by our open marriage?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well it’s finally being published. As a memoir.’
‘I see.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ve turned you into a beautiful character.’
‘Just what I always wanted. To be a character.’
…
Why do I write (and not, let’s say, professionally cook)?
‘Why do I write?’ is a question I have asked myself not once, particularly when I receive publishers’ rejections, or hear about some friend’s obscene corporate salary, or when I am paralyzed by fear before starting a new project, or …