The role of narrative in fiction — or telling a story vs. writing in sound bites

January 21, 2013

A New York Times essay by Steve Almond  talks about the value of narration: how it helps us makes sense of the story, whether we are reading it or writing it, hearing it from someone else or telling our own personal tale. Almond recounts how his creative writing students would send him stories “long on [...]

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Story triggers and other writing “stuff”

January 14, 2013

I have always found it interesting to know where other writers get their ideas from. I remember reading an essay by Anne Tyler entitled “Still Just Writing” (from The Writer on Her Work) about how one of her novels came about. “While I was painting the downstairs hall I thought of a novel to write. [...]

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Champagne all around! Another fiction acceptance!

January 7, 2013

A testament to determination… I had first drafted “Ice Cream Sunday” back in 1994. The backstory: I was at a local ice cream shop, sitting in my car enjoying my praline-and-pecan dessert, and happened to notice a middle-aged man and his daughter, who obviously had some sort of mental disability. He handed her a cone [...]

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2013 Fiction Resolution

December 29, 2012

Although my resolution has to do with fiction writing, it’s a real one, not fictional. I am (slowly but surely) getting back into finding time for fiction, partly encouraged by a recent acceptance, and partly because my good friend Morrow Wilson said that story was “unforgettable.” (Bless you, Morrow!) Anyway, so little by little I [...]

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An unexpected Christmas “gift”

December 22, 2012

This fall I have been a little “distracted” from my writing schedule, due to certain family events (my father’s heart attack and heart surgery which resulted in a lot of my time spent caregiving — which, I will add, I was grateful and glad to be able to do). But little by little, I have [...]

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Celebrating acceptance from Full of Crow!

October 23, 2012

I’m thrilled to have yet another one of my short stories accepted for publication—this time, it’s “Beautiful Dreamer” that is gracing the e-pages of Full of Crow. This is the fourth story from my (as-yet) unpublished short story collection. I’d love to have some reader comments. Please take a moment or two to read the [...]

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Back to novel-writing

August 31, 2012

Having abandoned Reinventing Rita after reinventing it too many times, I focused on short fiction. It is after all my first love, and thanks to some of the exercises I’ve used in my writing classes, I actually got some ideas that triggered new stories. And then there were some old ones that needed revised. I’ve [...]

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“…story … will endure as long as the human animal does.” David Eagleman

August 12, 2012

It’s no secret to those who know me that, while I am a “working writer,” writing for magazines, websites and corporate clients, my passion is for fiction. I love to write fiction: long fiction, short fiction, even a novel. And while I celebrate the publication of each and every one of my little darlings, the [...]

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Finding encouragement wherever you can

July 28, 2012

So another short story was rejected (albeit the first time for this particular piece) but with the rejection came an encouraging note: “We were very impressed by your writing. We hope that you will feel encouraged by this short note and send us something else during our next reading period.” Hey, I’ve received enough rejection [...]

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Rejection: part of the game, not an excuse to go home

July 15, 2012

I have been re-reading Cathy’s Wald’s The Resilient Writer, taking great comfort in the fact that those interviewed: 1) have been (and in most cases) continue to be rejected, 2) that they have all been published, and 3) that rejection is not reason for them to quit. As Frederick Busch replied in response to her [...]

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