‘Now is the month of maying,  When merry lads are playing,  Fa la la la la la la la la la la  Fa la la la la la la.’ *  English madrigal, Thomas Morley (1595)  There are many similarities between learning to be a successful gardener and learning to be a successful writer. Here are a few of the lessons I’ve learned:  Sunshine = Praise. Both are necessary and make your garden or your writing ‘bloom’. Too much, however, can lead to sunburned leaves or dangerously over-inflated egos. Stones. Most gardens suffer from some degree of rocky soil, so work is necessary before anything decent will grow. Removing pebbles from soil takes time and so does decent writing. No one becomes an expert in a day. Or a week. Or ever. However, you can never get rid of all the rocks and carrots will grow around them. Your writing will adapt too - twists are a good thing. The necessity of fertilizer. Remember a little goes a long way. And... remember...

To write is to participate in a lifelong-learning endeavor. The good news is many avenues provide the learning we need to better our writing. Editing, reading, teaching, and walking are powerful learning tools for my literary pursuits. I learn with each story I edit. The learning may tie into the writing craft specifically or with me personally, and even then, the “personal” lessons often find their way into stories I write. Reading books on writing or books for education, entertainment, or enlightenment always ignite ideas for writing. When I teach, the interactions and experiences in and out of the classroom become potential fodder for stories. Walking allows me to see and participate with the world and people around me and to develop new story ideas through that participation. In what ways are you fostering lifelong learning in your writing career? Shon Bacon is an author, editor, and educator, whose biggest joys are writing and helping others develop thei...

Use the creative process … to get to know yourself better . -Catie Curtis When we discuss writing, we often talk about the preparation needed to gear us up to write; the important aspects of writing, such as character, plot, dialogue, and scene development; the need to be a good self-editor and to find an even better professional editor; the ins and outs of writing sparkling queries and synopses for agents and publishers; and the ins and outs of going the self-publishing route. In short, we focus on the writing, submitting, and publishing of stories, which is good. We need to talk about these things. We don’t, however, talk much about what we learn about ourselves in the act of writing. And that’s just as important. We are the vessels in which stories flow. If we’re not checking on ourselves, our connection(s) to what we write; our common threads, themes that can be seen within our works; and how what we write might even change us, we may find ourselves churning out the same story w...

Are you ready? Really ready? Here's a checklist to help your writing day go swimmingly. 10. Disconnect your computer from the internet. NO! Not now! Wait until you've finished reading this post! And maybe a few other blogs...and checked your email...and... 9. Know the location of the sugary snacks. Check to make sure they're still there. Knowledge is power. 8. Have a vague idea of what you're going to write. This is no guarantee that you will write what you expect. 7. Wander around the room flexing your fingers and muttering encouragement. The yelp you just heard was caused by, in your daze of self-glorification, your treading upon your pet's tail. Crouch down, apologise and try to ignore the thump of pet-guilt that just wrapped its legs around your shoulders. 6. Go get a sugary snack. Wash your hands afterwards. Chocolate fingerprints tend to make seeing the letters on your keyboard a challenge. 5. Ignore the baleful stare emanating from your pet. Real...

Featuring guest star, author Miki Starr Martin [ website ]. Shon : How do you connect with your characters? Miki : I become the characters. They’re not external beings for me. I’m not an observer writing things that I see. It’s like acting. An actor/actress becomes the part they are playing and so it becomes real for them, the emotions, reactions, gestures. In the moment of telling the story, it IS my reality. How do you connect? Shon : I work on character dossiers. A dossier may have images of what the character looks like, the car she drives, the house she lives in, siblings, parents, etc. I write about where the character was just before a story begins, her fears, joys, memorable moments, morals, etc. Sometimes, I jump into a story without these things, but I always find myself coming back to develop dossiers. How do you connect with your characters? ----- Writing in 140 is my attempt to say something somewhat relevant about writing in 140 words or less. ---------...

Many of my clients use first-person POV. When asked why they decide to use it, most claim the POV makes them feel closer to the main character, like they are inside of the MC's head. I often counter that a close third-person POV can be just as intimate as first person. The problem that often arises in many of these first-person stories is writers want to write in first person, but they want a story told in third-person omniscient, meaning they still want to tell what all the other characters are thinking and doing when that's pretty hard to do when stuck in one person’s mind—unless MC is clairvoyant. If you're going to use first-person POV, be mindful of the limitations that can arise in writing the story. What say you? ----- Writing in 140 is my attempt to say something somewhat relevant about writing in 140 words or less. ----------------------------- Shon Bacon is an author, editor, and educator. She has published both creatively and academically, and her debut...

What do you do when it seems as if you've lost the desire to write? Every writer, at some point of the writing journey, will ask this question. The writing seems to flow like water from a faucet and then one day, it doesn't. Then days later, there's still no mojo. What to do? Read . A really good book makes me remember why I love to write and often makes me want to write. Live life . You have to spend time living life in order to write about lives. Study self . Go back and read some of your writing. Perhaps doing so will ignite the urge to write. Don't worry . This is normal. Use the time to recharge yourself in other ways. What do YOU do? ----- Writing in 140 is my attempt to say something somewhat relevant about writing in 140 words or less. ----------------------------- Shon Bacon is an author, editor, and educator. She has published both creatively and academically, and her debut solo novel, Death at the Double Inkwell is now available for purchase. ...

GENRE: A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content. (American Heritage Dictionary, link ) Pretend for a moment you're not a writer; you are just a reader. You're a fan of romance novels. Think about the hero and heroine in those novels. Think about how the hero and heroine meet in those novels. Think about the major events that happen in those novels. Think about the settings of those novels. Find any similarities? You should. The romance genre has a distinct style, form, and content. Heroes are usually strong, willful, and determined. Heroines are strong, too, but usually have that feminine softness that makes it so easy to swoon at the mere touch of the hero. The two always meet in an exciting way. Despite the obstacles that threaten their relationship, they get together. These distinctive genre conventions are not only obvious in romance, but also they are in crime novels, thrillers, romantic comedy, horror, ...

An important element in effective writing in fiction is knowing when you are telling the readers your story and when you are showing it to them. There is a place in any good book for both methods, but the shown passages are always more illustrative, while the told passages are more narrative. They create two entirely different effects. Instead of telling you the difference, I will show you. Here is a short paragraph, an example of a story being told to the reader. *** Bob walked over to the door. He turned the door knob, opened the door and started to walk outside. It was an icy cold winter day so he hurried back inside and put on his coat. *** Now, if I’m the reader I haven’t missed anything, I know what’s happening, but the passage doesn’t draw me into Bob’s world. It doesn’t let me feel or sense much of anything. Now I’ll rewrite the same passage showing you the story. *** Floor boards creaked underfoot. Step by step, across the room. The chill of cold brass felt smooth in his palm ...