Category Archives: The Writing Life

Life of a Writer: Emotions

Sometimes a writer’s life is full of doubt. At other times, a writer’s life is full of optimism.

There are times I’ve read what I’ve written and thought: This is a bunch of crap. Other times I think: This is really brilliant.

Which is correct? Probably a little of both.

Sometimes I wish for a life that would allow me to write every minute of every day. Other times I truly believe my attempts at becoming a successful novelist are a complete waste of time.

That’s when I wonder if I should take up basket weaving or decoupage.

Right now, the ending of FINDING VERITY remains a mystery to me. There are several directions I could go to get to “The End.”

I’m starting to have doubts about the title, too. In fact, I’m thinking about changing the title to RAT CITY. Don’t laugh… I’m serious!

It would be easy to give up. But, if I did that I’d always wonder because, although I’m not sure about the ending, the beginning is good. Really good. Maybe even brilliant.

I think.

For the Love of Books, Published 1938

Life of a Writer: Choices…

Progress is going well with FINDING VERITY and I fully expect to have the first draft done by this June. Word count is now over 66,000.

I feel good about the story and the writing. Self-publishing WINDFALL taught me a lot. My biggest lesson was keep the number of characters to a minimum. Apparently a lot of readers had problems keeping track of all the Windfall characters.

When I started FINDING VERITY, I fully intended to self-publish. And I might still do that. But, I’m wondering if I should be more traditional, find an agent…

Publishing is in such a flux right now. It is hard to know what to do.

All you writers out there…

What do you think? Do I need an agent?

Life of a Writer: A Writer’s “Free Time”

So busy…. so busy…

I truly believe that if one is serious about writing there is NEVER any free time. Because if a serious writer has “free time” it is spent writing. So, by definition, writer’s have no free time.

This has been a busy week. I entered the current contest at MoviePoet.  The challenge this month was to write a short script (5 pages or less) with only have two characters. The characters  must not have met, talked, or written each other before they meet. There were 34 entries and, when I enter these contests, I commit to reviewing the other entries. So, I’ve been doing that. I consider reviewing other writer’s work as part of my writing because I always learn from the task at hand.

I am up to page 30 on the ANGEL’S KISS, DEVIL’S MARK screenplay. This story is the sequel to my novel and screenplay titled WINDFALL.  My initial plan was to write the companion novel to go with the screenplay but I’m starting to falter on that plan. The story will make a good film but I am not convinced it will make a decent novel.

Most of my writing time has been spent on FINDING VERITY,  my current novel. Word count is almost 64,000 words and I am really loving this project. My goal is to have the first draft completed by June 1!

When the first draft is finished, I’ll be looking for “first readers.” If you’re interested, please send me an email!