I have a confession to make. I am a writer. Well, I was before life stepped in. Well, I was before I let life step into my home and make itself comfortable while my writing wilted in the back of a stuffed closet. And, yes, I write here for Blood-Red Pencil, I write in preparation for teaching, I write in my journal, but you all know what I mean, write, er, right? I'm talking about the writing that transports you into a new world that you create, a world full of angsty characters and obstacles and drama and love and hate …and all the other wonderful components that go into making a story. THAT's the writing I HAVEN'T been doing. And when you are a creative at heart, this is painful. When you have characters and ideas taking up space in your mind, but your heart isn't moved to write, this can be extraordinarily painful. Right now, I'm at an impasse. There has been NO progress in my writing life, and there will be no progress until I stand and make a ...

One of the biggest struggles that we have as authors is keeping focused on doing our job in a world that is full of distraction. And I’m talking about distractions like family, the day job, sleep, and the need to occasionally eat. Not having time to write (or procrastinating away that time) is one of the top problems that we writers have. I know that the busier I get, the harder it is for me to stick to my writing schedule. I’m sure the same goes for all of us. What’s a poor, busy writer to do? I’ve recently discovered a fabulous way to stay on task and to receive encouragement from other writers who are in the same boat as I am. You’ve heard of critique groups and writing partners, well, I recently joined an accountability group. We're all in this together photo by Liam Quinn via Flickr Commons So what’s an accountability group and how does that help the writing process? The accountability group that I belong to was organized as an off-shoot of another, much larger w...

I hereby commit to writing ten pages today. What about you? Make a commitment in the comments and then stop by at the end of the day and let us know how many pages you managed to write. Dani Greer is founding member of this blog, plays daily in her character gene pool moving body parts around in a steamy romance, while listening to smoky blues and sipping Laphroig. Okay, green tea. 

2013 was a pretty good year. I learned quite a lot. I'm looking forward to 2014. Here are five of the things I've learned. # 1: I can't go to a shoe store and buy shoes for my son. Long ago, I gave up on finding shoes for my son in a shoe store. About a month ago, I ordered two pairs of shoes for him online. And ended up sending both back. Today I made him sit down at my computer and decide which shoe on the list he wanted. You might be wondering why I didn't just take him to a shoe store and let him try on shoes. Having him try on shoes is pert near impossible. He wears a size 15, narrow. Ever come across a selection of size 15s in your local shoe store? I haven't. #2: If you're tall, people assume you're big. Yeah, I'm talking about my son again. He's tall, but not big. He is, in fact, quite slim. If I find jeans that fit his height, they're too big in the waist. Most of his jeans are 32X38. That doesn't sound too big. Exce...

Atrophy : decrease in size or wasting away of a body part or tissue ~ Merriam-Webster.com When we hear or read the word atrophy , we tend to think about muscles . . . parts of the body as the definition above suggests. But what about writing ? Can't it suffer from atrophy, too? Surely, for some writers, there are moments (sometimes long stretches of moments) in which no writing gets done. We might call it writer's block. We might call it focusing on work and family and whatever else is on the list that goes before writing, but the fact remains, the word count is at a standstill. There are some of us that can easily jump back into writer mode as if we never left, but there are others who find coming back to the page a daunting task. It's as if they lost the know-how of writing. Lost the joy and wonder of it as well. I call this Literary Atrophy : the decrease in size or wasting away of writing in one's life. The MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia sugg...