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A New Thing! Get Unstuck Calls for Writers

For a lot of the years that I’ve been writing, I’ve given free writing advice to anyone that asked me. Honestly, I thought I was obligated and also I’d never learned to say no. I would scrabble hard to make time for my own writing and then give away my time to someone’s cousin’s friend who was thinking of maybe writing a book someday. (Sorry if you missed that decade. 😉 ) Then I learned how to say no, and… Read More »A New Thing! Get Unstuck Calls for Writers

I Am Still Not In Charge

Last month I wrote about the many things I learned when I took a year off writing. I had learned about letting go. Remember? Let go, I said. No, more than that. More. That’s what my year off writing novels supposedly taught me.  I’m not in charge, I said. Who knows what actions lead to which results? Just do the creative things that give you joy and share them and call it good.  And then I went ahead and took… Read More »I Am Still Not In Charge

Six Things I Learned When I Took A Year Off Writing Novels

I recently wrote about the year that I took off from writing novels. Today I wanted to summarize what I learned during that time, and the direction I will be heading next. 1. Action Does Not Equal Result   Over the last 15 years, I have done everything that was asked and expected of me, including writing 1000 words a day, networking, joining writerly organizations and volunteering, attending conferences, pitching manuscripts, keeping up to date with social media and generally following… Read More »Six Things I Learned When I Took A Year Off Writing Novels

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I Took A Year Off Writing Novels.

(Here’s what I did instead.) Last November I decided to take a year off from writing novels. A Real Somebody was ready for querying, and I thought the manuscript was in great shape, but I’d thought that about my last two manuscripts, and they did not find homes.  Was this life’s way of telling me I should just move on? If so, I was willing. But I’d been writing novels every weekday morning since 2006! What was I supposed to… Read More »I Took A Year Off Writing Novels.

Colourful collection of washi tape on a wooden table.

A Thing For Washi Tape

Washi tape is pretty, am I right? And colourful. But in the quest to believe in your own ideas — those ideas that want to come into the world through you – washi tape is SO MUCH MORE! It’s THE tool in your tool kit. The ammunition in your arsenal. It is the cookie in your lunchbox. With washi tape, you can delineate a space for your idea. Just a wee bit of space. Maybe a square on a blank… Read More »A Thing For Washi Tape

A message from the other side of mother guilt

In the Acknowledgments section of my first novel I thank a woman named Lois who, more than any agent or editor or publisher, made that book possible. You see, when my eldest started kindergarten, she offered to have my youngest at her house one morning each week so that I could write. Gramma Lois did this for years. “Just thank me in the acknowledgments when your book comes out,” she’d say. And then, at the launch, she was right there… Read More »A message from the other side of mother guilt

Significant Incident #3: The Coop*

*Being a satirical (and possibly completely made up) story of events occurring in a rapidly-growing mountain town during the unprecedented year of 2022. ** Honey, is that you? Mom? What are you doing? I told you not to call me at work. I know. But I’m a customer today. A member. Want me to give you my membership number? M-o-m. It’s not like I don’t know our membership number. So, you’re at the customer service desk today? Yes. Alright then.… Read More »Significant Incident #3: The Coop*