Yes, this really is my first blog post for this website in four years. It's not that I haven't been writing. In fact, since the last time I wrote about writing, I've written 3 or 4 more (draft) novels. And then I wrote some non fiction. And then … [Read more]
Writing vs. Editing
Ninety thousand words appear on the screen in front of me. That's ten thousand too many, and I'm not going to trim that extra ten by cutting a word here or a sentence there. It's time to read, review, cut, and polish. It's time to edit. I am … [Read more]
The creative process
There are a lot of blogs and resources out there telling ‘would be’ writers (or, as I call them, writers) how to write. I don’t want to do that, because I think it is different for all of us, and each writer needs to find out through experimentation … [Read more]
Authenticity, and the identity of a writer
Who am I? If you’ve read my bio, then you know who I am, and what and why I write. But who am I really, and how do I control or shape the “version” of me that I show to you? On the internet and social media, I show the parts of me that I am … [Read more]
Is your book about me?
As someone who loves writing, I have often employed scriptotherapy in my work with young people. Writing as a therapy tool is common to many counselling approaches, but creative writing, rather than writing in the context of completing therapy … [Read more]
On ‘becoming’ a writer
How and when does someone become a writer? I have been writing since I could. Handmade, stapled picture books starting in kindergarten, and novels since about the age of eleven. Reams and reams of hand written pages, and later, uncorrected … [Read more]