on editing: getting started is the hardest part. because it’s work, and the work is deep and exhausting. but, once I’m in it, in the rich and tender heart of someone else’s storm, i feel so calm and purposeful, directed. like a quiet ship that’s wading through with a white flag that says, “not to… Continue reading on editing: a seafield.
A friend at work asked if he could read my short stories some time. “What stories?” I said. “I don’t really write stories anymore. Sometimes I do. But I don’t finish them. I just don’t feel compelled, really.” Admitting that I wasn’t working on anything specific used to be a moment of sickening defeat for… Continue reading Sweet Butter – The Non-Writer Writer.
When trying to be cute and unexpected ends up with you calling your boyfriend “daughter.” Yep. (See picture to the right). I thought “chorri” meant bird in Nepali, his native tongue. Bird is what we call each other. Sometimes bug. Sometimes tree. Whatever flies out of our mouths. But, daughter? That’s not in my league of… Continue reading The Time I called my Boyfriend “Daughter”
I never bought into the idea that reading was an escape. Sure, you go somewhere and visit with new characters, get “lost” in worlds and made-up dramas. But ultimately (as all things do) it just brings you closer to yourself. True escapism, in my book, would be reading for the sake of falling into a coma:… Continue reading Reading as Awareness, not Escape: an aside.
Tip #2. When self-editing, your Strikethrough key loves vague language. Example: A) “I was completely obsessed with Nick.” (Mmk, common enough…we know this person is obsessed, but what does obsession look like? Strikeout that previous sentence and then ask, How can we say this more dramatically, with language the evokes, excites, stirs? Raise some brows, my dears…)… Continue reading Self-Editing Tip 2: Strike Through Vague Language! (With Writing Prompts)
To my writers out there, I’ll share a technique I used the other day, when I was raging with anger and irritation: if you are angry, guide that anger (which is a wildly powerful energy) into your hands, and then into your computer, where you let your story merge with reality. Punch out the words. Yell… Continue reading Vicious Moods & The Writing (w. esoteric/metaphysical bent)
As a writer, you decide what’s real, what’s phantom. As a human, you decide this, too. Write your story so that, by the end of it, all of its living matter has left you. Be empty of it, so it may breathe and grow and birth many stories of its own. There are no mistakes, really.… Continue reading General thoughts, staring out a cafe window.
This week I vow to STAND UP to what scares me most, to write down my obsessions, so they do not occupy my strength, to sail forth through the murky water of possibility, expecting only a torrent of greatness, to lead boldly with the calming fire in my heart.
One of the beauties of working with author Monica Bruno on the final drafts of her first novel, RACHEL’S FOLLY, is how brave she was in allowing me to do what writers secretly fear of their editors: she encouraged me to uncover, explore, dig deep between the pages, to ask the terrifying questions that would… Continue reading On working with Monica Bruno, for her debut novel RACHEL’S FOLLY
Tip to bridge gap between where you are and where you want to be: sit with the energy of the future-you that you wish to cultivate. You with the published book. You with the speaking gigs. You flying across the country for book tours. Maybe your goals are smaller in scale. You with the relaxed… Continue reading You are Here, And Here, And Here
Polished Pear Creative Editing 