Several years ago I questioned whether I was meant to write. I was satisfied with nothing and had tried many different writing avenues without success or satisfaction, yet I still felt driven. So if I had to write, what should I focus on? What were my strengths?
I created the following quiz for my husband who had read all of my best and some of my worst material.
My mom hates me. I know this because she got my four-year-old this for his birthday. He named it “Spatula.”
I keep wanting to shriek and throw a book at it. Which isn’t a very nice thing for a writer to do to a book. And speaking of arachnids in (or should I say under?) literature, Charlotte from E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web is the only spider I would never throw a book at.
It’s official – the Heartland Writers For Kids And Teens website is up and running! Take a look around and meet the members of HWKT, get the when and wheres of our critique groups, or browse the articles on writing. If you’re new, the best place to start is “Who We Are”. If you’re a current member, feel free to browse and email me with any questions or info.
For general questions about Heartland Writers For Kids And Teens, to get a site username, or to join the mailing list, email us at ask@jwkclassic.
My husband and I decided, after noting water damage, that it was time to update the one bathroom in our late 1930s bungalow. This isn’t our first remodeling project. We’ve knocked down walls and installed sliding doors, built a deck, gutted our kitchen, refinished hardwood floors. But as I troweled globs of Thinset on my bathroom walls, slapped ceramic tiles in place over and over again and choked back the urge to strangle my husband, I thought how this particular project resembled the emotional and physical rollercoaster I endure as a writer.
The late Marshal McLuhan claimed readers could judge a book not by its cover but by its 69th page. In other words, if page 69 grabs your attention, the rest of the book will too. I took his tenet one step further and grabbed three of my favorite writing books: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman and On Writing by Stephen King. If we turn to page 69, what bits of writerly wisdom might they impart?
As writers, the most important thing we can do is read, right? But if you’re like me, you can’t remember what flavor rice cake you ate yester morn, much less the details of the 200 books you were supposed to read last year. Couple that with the oft-heard advice to “do your research†and “target your submissions,†and new writers everywhere can be heard mumbling, “What the denouement does targeting your submissions mean?â€
