Writer’s Craft #59 – Women with Clean Houses Don’t Write Epic Novels

Justine Graykin is a writer and free-lance philosopher sustained by her deep, abiding faith in Science and Humanity — well, Science, anyway –- and the belief that humor is the best anti-gravity device. Find her work and bloggings at justinegraykin.com I once heard a famous director advise a group of aspiring filmmakers, “If you’re a……

Writer’s Craft #51 – Making Lemonade

April Grey’s urban fantasy novel, Chasing The Trickster, is published by Eternal Press. Her short stories have been published in such print anthologies as Demonmind’s Halloween 2010, The Best of Everyday Fiction 2, Northern Haunts, Ephemera and Terrible Beauty, Fearful Symmetry. Many of these stories can be found in her collection, The Fairy Cake Bake……

Writing Life: Criticism – Constructive or Destructive?

Almost every writer can vouch for the value of writers groups and workshops. For many, a weekly or monthly session with your group, whether online or in the flesh, can provide a welcome respite from the solitude that comes with the writing life. In addition to sharing ideas and experiences with fellow travelers, deadlines can……

Writing Life: Captain’s Log

Captain Kirk did it.  Doogie Howser did it.  Voldemort did it.  If keeping a diary is good enough for those guys, shouldn’t it be good enough for you? Some writers view a personal journal as an invaluable form of self-expression; others see it as an exercise in narcissism.  Ultimately it’s an individual decision, but let’s……

Writing Life: The Path of Cons

Now that we have Write-a-Thon squared away, it’s time to return to our weekly look at how to fit writing into life (and life into writing).  I touched on conventions very briefly in “Write Together, Die Alone,” but it’s a subject that deserves detailed attention and one that can be difficult to research effectively.  For……