We’re sharing our best writing tips this month here on The Debutante Ball, and since this happens to coincide with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo for short), I thought I’d tailor my advice for the NaNo folks out there. November is quickly running out and for many writers it’s make or break time. So what do you do if you still have 10-20k left on your word count…
This week’s interview is with Diane Zinna. I got to hear her speak recently about her book THE ALL-NIGHT SUN and was enthralled by her journey as a writer and some of the themes in her book. Read below about how she writes in her car, books that have guided her, and how she overcomes writer’s block. And don’t forget to share this interview (on Twitter – see link) or…
We are thrilled to welcome Anita Kushwaha to The Debutant Ball this week! SECRET LIVES has been described as “a breathtaking novel about the ties that bind mothers and daughters together and the secrets that tear them apart.” Read below about her advice for her younger self, how she deals with writer’s block, upcoming projects, and more! Share or comment below for a chance to win a copy of her…
There are definite challenges to the path of being a creative writer. A lot of them are so widely agreed as horrible, that most humans are against the entire profession because of them! I love when I’ll meet a new human and I tell them I’m a writer, and they’ll immediately tell me how the have an idea for a screenplay or a novel and any day now it might…
Just the other day, I filled half a page with a brand new story idea, one that interweaves sacrifice and loyalty, action and inaction, what we owe ourselves vs what we owe each other, with a little – or rather a lot – of magic on top. Last week I wrote two short stories out of the blue and the week before that I figured out how to fix a…
Today we are talking about creativity and how to get some. Here’s a fun factoid: one of the most interesting things regarding the question of where creativity comes from is where it doesn’t come from. Research indicates that when people are allowed to improvise, the region of the brain associated with planning, inhibition, and self-censorship deactivates itself. That’s correct, writers! In order to do your job well, you must allow…
Something horrible happened to me the day I became an author: I stopped being a writer. I spent six years working on THE LOST GIRLS. It was the great pleasure of my life, second only to raising my children. Each morning I woke up and immediately started figuring out how I could avoid as many of my obligations as possible so I could spend more time writing. Days when I…
Though this week’s topic is how to keep writing when we don’t have time, I have a theory: 95% of the time, “I don’t have time” really means “I’m procrastinating” or “I’m burnt out.” I’ve been there too many times to count. And I’ve gotten out of it in traditional and not-so-traditional ways. 1. Change things up and write by hand. I write the majority of my drafts on a…
I write during my lunch hour, so when I sit down to write, I’m also often sitting down to eat. At the same time, my inner critic is tucking into a hearty meal of all my hopes and dreams. That’s how it feels, anyway. Pasta for me, and a nice big helping of total evisceration of my self-confidence for my friend, here. You might think that having a book coming…
The other morning I was out walking my dog and saw my breath in the cool air. Later the same day, it was an unseemly eighty degrees. Chicago hasn’t decided what season it is yet, but I can tell you what time of the year it is for me: Word Count Nuclear Winter. Every year at about this time, my writing habit drops through the basement. That’s because twice a…
