Ursula K. Le Guin says, resoundingly, "Wrong!" The second chapter of her book on writing, Steering the Craft, is all about punctuation. (Check out my post about the first chapter here!) She writes, "...punctuation tells the reader how to hear your writing." It is a crucial tool, and not to be overlooked. My experience with… Continue reading Steering the Craft, Part 2: PUNCTUATION
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the best and most important contemporary writers of science fiction. Her prose is immaculate, whether she was focusing on gender politics in The Left Hand of Darkness, consumer culture in The Dispossessed, creating sci-fi tech that others will use for decades (the ansible: a communication device that relays… Continue reading Steering the Craft, Part 1: SOUND
I've been largely absent here for 2019. Sorry about that. I've been putting my writing energy and time into my novel. The concept for it has been rattling around in my head since 2014. I only just found an ending in November 2018, and, in May 2019, finished a first, full draft of the whole… Continue reading Stop Writing, Please
The more times you've gone around the sun on this crazy bio-spaceship of ours, the harder it gets to remember all those en-route events, especially since we're not "going anywhere" technically; mostly in a big loop. No destination in sight. What I'm saying is, it's hard to remember stuff. The older you get, the worse… Continue reading 2018 in Books: Year-End Reflections, part 2
A series of unexpected events including a family health crisis, new job opportunities, and limited writing time have conspired to turn the second half of 2018 into a largely blog-post-less enterprise. Not ideal. I have found writing this blog to be useful, I hope to you, but mostly to me. I am by nature an… Continue reading 2018 Year-End Reflections, part 1
The reason I haven't written much lately is also the catalyst for my thoughts today. In early July, an immediate family member suffered a bad break (well, three breaks...pretty nasty stuff) to the leg. As the one with the most flexible work schedule, I stepped into a role I haven't attempted before: live-in caregiving. I… Continue reading Writing as Self-Care
There are two kinds of writers. Plotters, those who plan out the events of their stories before they write, and pantsers, those who write without knowing where they're going. I have been (and probably always will be) a pantser. This is fun for me while I'm writing, but hell when trying to put together a… Continue reading The Problem with the Hero’s Journey
I just got back from a week-long novel-writing retreat in Wisconsin. After recovering from the shock of stepping out of the airport into 95ºF with 80% humidity (and it's not even June God help Kansas), I thought I'd share some reflections from that experience. We often think of ourselves as solitary creatures of coffee shops,… Continue reading Writing in Community
I'm a huge fan of The Handmaid's Tale (the novel by Margaret Atwood and the Hulu series), but I wouldn't say it's easy to watch. It is violent, brutal, and traumatic. I cry at least once every episode. Season One gave me nightmares. When Season Two started streaming, the people who care about me couldn't understand… Continue reading Why We Need Disturbing Stories
I recently had the privilege of being able to hear one of my favorite opera singers perform live. Maybe not a sentence you expected to read today. Believe it or not, I was an opera singer in a past life. It didn't work out, which was probably for the best. Anyhow, I still sing, teach… Continue reading Do You Have Anything to Offer?
