Writing Process

Need A Pen?

September 5, 2012

What a deal at the discount store, a package of 10 pens for 99 cents. Back at home I divvied them up all over the house. There would be no more rooting through desk drawers, flipping pillows on the couch, scrounging from friends, and that search of my son’s room was scary—dirty laundry, dishes, and [...]

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A Writer Wonders About Her Audience

July 12, 2012
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A writer always wonders: Who will want to read what I’m writing? Not knowing can be torturous. You start on an amazing adrenaline high, and later that nasty voice comes in saying, Nobody’s gonna want to read this drivel. And then the doubt creeps in. We start thinking about the audience and the people we [...]

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The Stories in My Head

May 4, 2012

When I was a girl, I used to look around and tell stories in my head about what I saw.  When I discovered the art of transcribing it, the life inside me connected with the world around me. Writing wasn’t something I chose to try; rather, it became something I was compelled to do.  First [...]

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The Art of Memoir: Plotting Life

March 16, 2012

Fiction writers know that plot and character drive their stories. Well developed characters and interesting plots, with twists and turns and subplots, engage readers. How do I, a memoir writer, compete with the imaginary worlds of fiction? Certainly, life provides bizarre and interesting characters. But it doesn’t give me a nice, tidy plot, a story [...]

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Stay in the Room

September 6, 2011

This is the fourth in a series of articles by WE Writers about the writing process. – The writer is the person who stays in the room. ~  Ron Carlson In his book Ron Carlson Writes a Story, Mr. Carlson says that after writing the first sentence the temptation is to leave the room to [...]

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One Writer’s Approach

August 23, 2011

This is the second in a series of articles by WE Writers about the writing process. – A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket. ~ Charles Peguy Highly productive writers who think nothing of cranking [...]

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My Writing Process: Deadlines & Creativity

August 16, 2011

This is the first in a series of articles by WE Writers about the writing process. – Do deadlines spoil your creativity? Once, in conversation with a reporter, I asked what he thought about deadlines. Did they help or hinder his writing? He told me that if not for deadlines, nothing would get accomplished. I [...]

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