Writing Category
Whose Story is It Anyway?
Posted on November 13, 2014 2 Comments
I talked about this before, when I had “dueling” editors/mentors, but most of all, it comes down to you, the author, to decide what story you want to tell. Editors, friends and others will always have an opinion about what your story should say, and how you should say it. Recently, I put this to […]
What Fuels YOUR Ideas?
Posted on November 12, 2014 4 Comments
Where do you get your inspiration? For me, it can something as simple as a “what if” question to change a story that’s already been written. OR, my mind thinks about an update. As a mental exercise, I’ve done two updates. I’ve not written these down, and who knows if I’ll ever do them or […]
Writing Emotions – Part 2
Posted on November 6, 2014 Leave a Comment
Writing emotional pain is challenging. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote while my latest rejection was fresh and raw. This week, I thought I’d try something different. How would you write about your greatest joy? How would I? Hmmmm. I think I’ll have to think about that. And give it a try. My greatest […]
My Next Step – Part 2
Posted on November 5, 2014 Leave a Comment
I’m moving on. Meghan’s Choice is in the hands of two publishers and is entered into two contests. I have been advised to let her go for awhile and move on. What are my options? Let’s look at them. I could start the sequel, Rose’s Redemption. But I really feel like that’s putting the cart […]
NaNoBloMo – not this year
Posted on November 4, 2014 Leave a Comment
There’s the NaNoWriMo challenge which a bunch of friends of mine are trying to write a 50,000-word novel or that word count this month. There was another challenge, and I was tempted, the NaNoBloMo – which is to put up a blog post every day. I can’t do that either, but I will attempt to […]
Let’s Face It – what about brick walls?
Posted on October 30, 2014 13 Comments
What is it in your life you don’t want to face right now? For me, it’s this: after all I’ve done to get my manuscript ready for publication, it still might not be ready. It’s been professionally edited. I spent a lot of money on it – never mind the time. What prompted this? I […]
Writing Emotional Pain – without bleeding too much on your readers
Posted on October 23, 2014 9 Comments
“Please reject.” The email was from a complete stranger. I almost didn’t open it because I thought it was junk mail. Then I thought, oh. Oh. A reject letter. I might as well see who this is really from. I was once told that writing one’s pain makes a compelling read. It’s deep and people […]
The Waiting Game – how to play it
Posted on October 15, 2014 1 Comment
I hate to wait. Don’t we all. But I’m in The Waiting Game now, and for at least a week or so, I will discipline myself to find something to do besides thinking about whether or not I’ll get an agent or an editor. Since I don’t like waiting, I’ve decided not to sit around […]
Just When You Think You’re Done – Part II
Posted on October 9, 2014 Leave a Comment
It seems to me that writing is a never-ending process. Some friends of mine recently moaned about “line edits.” And they’re not published yet. Neither do they have an agent or an editor. So what are they doing? Making their manuscript the best they can to give their story the best chance to get published. […]
The Next Step
Posted on October 1, 2014 3 Comments
Writing is a process, and this blog talks about my writing process. Over this last weekend, I was in St. Louis at a writer’s conference to pitch my novel and try to either get an agent or a publishing house interested in Meghan’s Choice. I’ll talk a bit about Meghan’s Choice on a different post […]
Donna L.H. Smith 