Blog
Blog
Blog
“Il faut cultiver notre jardin,” —Voltaire
For those of us who don’t do fancy French, this means:
“We must cultivate our garden,” says Pangloss at the end of Voltaire’s Candide.
No sentiment could be truer for women who write. Stop focusing on the whole wide world. Instead, maintain a space that is your own and encourages the fruits of your labors to blossom.
But the process of growing our garden requires the right tools. Reading this blog and learning how to revise your own stories could help you cultivate your garden, obtain peace of mind, and establish your writing legacy. Happy reading and writing!
Looking for a specific writing topic? Search the entire blog below.
Who the Hell Are You? Using a Pen Name
In my most recent online class, the teacher kept calling me by the wrong name. At first, I ignored it. But after the third round of being labeled with the wrong moniker, I vowed to speak up and correct him. I mean, my name was right there in front of his eyes every time he responded to my discussion questions.
But I hesitated.
Was I making a big deal out of nothing?
To Outline Or Not To Outline? Maybe That’s NOT the Question
You were forced to do it in high school or college. Maybe you even got a grade for it. Some authors swear by it. Others break out in hives when you mention the word.
The Outline.
Why does this little process provoke so much anxiety?
Brainstorming to Story Building
Got words on a page? You do? Well, that qualifies you as a writer.
But I’ll admit, the writer’s game drives me kind of cuckoo. There’s so much advice out there about overcoming writer’s block and finding inspiration, but little on how to construct a solid story. Even reading the best advice of bestselling authors, you’ll find more on overcoming resistance than a blueprint for how an actual author—actually writes.
Vague Descriptors: One of These Things is Not Like the Other
Editing teaches you how to move mountains in your writing—literally, you can delete the word mountain from one chapter and drop it into another. I kid, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Shifting around your story can be a panic-inducing process. You’ll worry about losing the pieces of your writing you loved most. And whether or not your words convey the feeling you’re trying to express. But if you keep adding skills to your self-editing toolbox, you’ll learn to move literary mountains.
Write about Small Things for Big Appeal
Writers love to tackle giant missions, overwhelming experiences, and impossible circumstances. It’s true—conflict makes the storytelling world go ‘round. But not every narrative needs to be Battlestar Galactica. Internal struggles and household dramas can deliver big payoffs for your audience, too.
“The little things can shake us up in big ways.”