Posts Tagged ‘writing process’
Where does your writing take you?
I went to film school, so I have a pretty strong background in dramatic structure. I do a whole outline, and as I work I get progressively more detailed. But if something happens in those sponatenous moments of writing that’s different than my outline, I go with the spontaneity, and change the outline to suit it. -Author…
Read MoreWriting inspiration from Vladimir Nabokov
I’d click into anything with a title like that. : ) The Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov is one of my favorite writers, and sometimes I feel somewhat like a type of (accidental) groupie. I studied at Cornell, the university where he taught until he made his name with Lolita and happily gave up academia to write…
Read MoreHow do you feel when you wrap up a writing project?
This week, I’m wrapping up a writing project I should have concluded long ago. This is a contemporary story I’ve loved writing about three very different expat women living in Rome, Italy. Their lives cross when they meet up at a 1950s movie night at an Italian seaside resort off-season. Although my contemporary characters are…
Read MoreWriting inspiration in the mountains
Although I live in Rome, I love to escape when I can to the nearby mountains of Abruzzo. I have a small place in a little town up in the Apennine mountains, and I enjoy going out there to escape the chaos of Rome – to hike and mountain bike and ski. I was out…
Read MoreAre you participating in NaNoWriMo 2014?
It’s that time of year again. Writers around the world are gearing up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and taking on the challenge to write 50,000-word the manuscript during the month of November. Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? But if you break it down over the 30 days, it actually means committing yourself to writing under…
Read MoreIl rientro…la rentrée
September is well underway, and even if the weather is still beautiful in my part of the world, those crisp evenings provide us with a hint of what’s to come. Summer is almost over. The kids are back to school, and we’re back to work. Holidays are fading into pleasant, but distant memories. This is…
Read MoreThe chicken and egg debate in writing
I was think of the old expression ‘What came first the chicken, or the egg?’ as I was reading W. Somerset Maugham’s foreword to his fabulous The Painted Veil. Maugham claims he always started his novels and short stories from a character, and the setting and story would naturally fall into place. In his foreword,…
Read MoreWriting inspiration on the commute
I’m very pleased to be a car-free commuter. My early morning walk into work is just under 20 minutes and – at the risk of sounding immodest – it’s one of the prettiest commutes ever. I live in Rome and each day I watch the Colosseum loom into sight as I descend the hill in…
Read MoreI’ve been nominated for the Liebster Blog Her Award
An extra big thank you/grazie to my blog buddy and real-life buddy each year in Matera, the talented author Catherine McNamara, for nominating me for the Liebster Blog Her Award. If you don’t yet know Catherine’s work, take a look at my earlier author interviews with her for her novel and short stories. As part of…
Read MoreListen to your subconscious when writing
“Things will come to you and you’re not going to know exactly how they fit in. You have to trust in the way they all fit together, that your subconscious knows what you’re doing.” I came across this fantastic quote about writing by acclaimed American author Donna Tartt. A New York Times Book Review article…
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