Writer Tamago

It's been a while since I wrote up something about the works in progress. This is more for me, but if you like, you can read along. I'll hide it after the first one, so you don't have to, either. The Winter the Troll Danced with Old Nick: Undergoing 3rd rewrite. Will be finished and [...]

The English front office is weird today. I'm...the only one here. Which I did not expect, and which makes me wonder if I should get trained in how to contact all these folks if there is no one here. We interview our last job candidate today. I hope the rest of the committee turns up. [...]

Update for those following the write-a-thon: My current goal is rewriting a chapter a week. Last night I breezed through a great deal of chapter 5. I have one more scene to add in tonight, and then I can move forward. That was faster than expected. I'd like to talk about one more aspect of [...]

That was a blindingly busy weekend. We had dinner with friends on Friday, moved the in-laws to a more accessible apartment and had another dinner with another friend Saturday, and saw that most cultured of films, Jonah Hex with a third friend on Sunday. The evening was polished off with a psychedelic movie about Revelations. [...]

Many authors advocate for working with their characters before they begin to plot their story. Revealing information about the characters is helpful with main plot and subplot. A standard in the writing world is a heuristic that asks you all sorts of questions about the character. They are as numerous as books on writing. A [...]

Let's talk for a moment. Frankly. What does a workshop mean to a writer? What does it mean to a writer that they can work uninterrupted on their craft? What does it mean to a writer to gain insights from professionals in the field to help them on their way to a writing career? What [...]

Let's talk about outlines for a moment. I used to be outline phobic. I had the misconception that outlines locked me into plans I couldn't necessarily follow through on. Now, I use outlines in a whole 'nother way. Whatever a writer uses to get them through the story is a useful writing technique. Notice how [...]

Last entry, we talked about being active when you received crit. Now, how can you get good karma points as a reader? I actually do a lecture on this with my students, because we have to do some peer edit training at the beginning of the semester. There are a couple of pitfalls that peer [...]

Two weeks out from the end of the summer semester. Mamma wants some down time! I guess I should have figured six weeks in which you taught a class, oriented a new group of students, presented to the board, added a level on another campus, and interviewed and hired for a new teaching position would [...]

Once a writer has a first draft, this is the point where things get interesting. For many writers, the idea of showing drafted work to someone initially is very hard. I tell my students from day one that they have to get over that. The benefits of getting feedback on any piece of writing far [...]