Every year it happens: the days get shorter, our lives move inside… and I have a burst of creativity. In 2007, that burst developed into Oliver’s Surprise. In 2009, I finished Cape Cod Surprise. In 2011, seventeen Octobers after I started writing the original story, I finished Game of Sails. I’m not sure what I’ll [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Writing’
Writer Off Watch
September 6th, 2012
4 Comments
Okay, I’ll admit it: I haven’t been writing. Well, that’s not quite true. I’ve been writing blog posts and articles and book reviews and songs. I’ve been busy. But I haven’t been doing any work on a project that could be considered “major.” No new novel… not even a short story. No scribbling on the [...]
Travel Writing: You Can’t Make it Up
May 31st, 2012
1 Comment
I write fiction. So when a travel writing project appeared on my list, I had to regroup a little. Just the facts, ma’am, I imagined the editor saying. No making up a character who will appear on stage just in time to drop a bombshell into the story, propelling it forward. No typing in “The [...]
KDP Select: One Foot in the Amazon Sandbox
April 26th, 2012
1 Comment
I’ve been watching, reading, and listening as more and more authors announce the amazing fringe benefits of making an exclusive deal with Amazon. The online retailer is now offering ebook authors the chance to enroll their books in KDP Select. In addition to receiving a share of the lending library proceeds from Amazon, authors are [...]
Writing for Free: Why I Blog
April 12th, 2012
1 Comment
Work in Progress not progressing? Must be time to write a blog post. Blog posts, after all, are just short snippets of thought. They don’t require character arcs, or plot development, or outlines. They don’t require much at all, really, except a quick trigger that is intriguing enough to require more exploration. I enjoy blogging, [...]
Stranger than Fiction, Indeed: How a Movie Helped my Writing
March 29th, 2012
3 Comments
On date night last weekend we watched “Stranger than Fiction,” a 2006 film directed by Marc Foster. It was my pick, but as usual I couldn’t remember anything about the plot or who was in it. So we just hit “play” and sat back to watch. After two minutes, we both thought about shutting it [...]
Why it Took 18 Years to Write Game of Sails
March 8th, 2012
4 Comments
Last week I received a very special package from Hank, our friendly UPS driver: three large boxes. He was offhand about the delivery, worried only about the weight and that one of the boxes was starting to come untaped. I, however, could barely contain my excitement. Because inside those three nondescript cardboard boxes lay copies [...]
Story Parenting: Am I Raising my Characters, or are they Raising ME?
January 19th, 2012
2 Comments
Now just for the record, it’s important to make one thing perfectly clear: I’m not a parent. I can’t remember the last time I changed a diaper. And I’ve never had to decide how much freedom to give a teenager, or when to take away the keys to the family car. So you may decide [...]
Labels, Float Plans, and Writer’s Block
November 9th, 2011
3 Comments
Consciously or not, accurately or not, we all label ourselves. Like stickers on a well-traveled suitcase, labels help us announce our achievements to the outside world: Olympic Sailor. Boat Owner. Writer. Editor. New Englander. When I received the first royalty check for my third book, Game of Sails: An Olympic Love Story, I added a [...]
