Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Writing”
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. (Lewis Carroll) How to begin? How do you begin anything that must be done? A long journey – by taking the first step. An unpleasant chore – by grabbing the mop or hammer or paintbrush or whatever tool is necessary to get started. A novel …
Happy New Year! Turning the calendar from December to January is always a good time to think about the last year and consider what might be on the way in the coming year. Of course, we can’t know the future. Most years carry some good and some not so good. But when we’re at the beginning of the year, it’s …
Friends are the flowers in the garden of life. (Unknown) I had great fun at the ACFW Conference. That’s the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference. The ACFW is an organization that promotes Christian fiction and helps writers, both published and those hoping to be published, find ways to improve their writing to entice readers into their fictional worlds. This week …
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15 (ESV) Labor Day weekend is often called the official end of summer. In past years it signaled the start of school. It’s not that way anymore in our state since the schools are air-conditioned now and the legislature mandated …
Ideas come from ordinary, everyday life. And from imagination. And from feelings. And from memories. Memories of dust in my sneakers and humming whitewalls down a hill called Monkey. ~Jerry Spinelli “Where do you get your ideas?” I’m guessing that is a question many writers have tried to answer, including Jerry Spinelli in the quote above. Imagination can be a …
A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. ~William Strunk, Jr. Oh, the joys of editing. Actually, editing is the easiest part for me when I’m writing. Of course, I have to admit that I find editing and …
February has been an interesting month down here on the farm. It all started on the first day of the month. Darrell hadn’t been feeling well, thought he might have a virus, but his group was supposed to sing that Thursday night. He had been looking forward to that, so he felt a little better, got ready and went. He …
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary. ~Edgar Allan Poe Do you ever get the mid-winter drearies? I like living in a place that has seasons. I like going from spring to summer to fall and even to winter, except sometimes winter seems a few weeks too long. And winter has a way of hiding the …
Here’s a bonus blog post this week as Rose McCauley and I share posts. Hers here on my blog and mine over on her blog. Plus, we’re both doing a giveaway. Rose has offered a print copy to a lucky reader who leaves a comment answering her question below. (USA only) Or she’ll send you a e-copy if you prefer …
“The beginning and the end reach out their hands to each other.” (Chinese Proverb) One more time I have written those two oftentimes elusive words. The end. I’m not sure I’ve written the right words before those two necessary words, but as the King suggests in the quote below, I stopped. “Begin at the beginning,”, the King said, very gravely, …