[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXouRAxA7kE[/youtube] Sometimes, when I’m sitting at my desk, writing about another world, I long to see a little more of this one. Today is one of those days. So I dove into my video archive, and found this view of Canaan Valley in West Virginia. Sometimes the mountain really can come to you.
Every time I open a novel, I feel as if I am going on a journey. A voyage of discovery with characters I do not yet know, but who I hope I will to come to love. That doesn’t always happen, of course, though I always want it to. I want to fall in love …
It is one of the best feelings in the world to hear that a manuscript I’ve been working on for months is locked. The editor is happy with it, I’m happy with it, and it can go on to be copy edited and eventually, come out into the world. It is a thrill to realize …
In life and in art,times of change can be the most important moments. When we move from one act of the novel to the next, from one book to the next, from one chapter of our lives to the next, we find ourselves balancing as on the edge of a knife, careful not to look …
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth This is one of my favorite quotes on writing, from one of my favorite sources. In the midst of our work, in the midst of trying so hard to get it right, there are times when we forget this. We want our books to …
A friend of mine told me that I can not fight tomorrow’s battles today. As much as I may want to. Now a writer does not fight literal battles, of course, but there are battles with my own prose, battles to develop a clear and well arcing story, battles to get the word out about …