Category Archives: In Progress

All Writers Need to Believe in Stories

New writers are encouraged to read, and so read I did – about the evils of misrepresentation, the cleverness of subverted tropes, the laughable Mary Sue phenomenon, fantasy clichés, fantasy subgenres, new books, classic books, books that I could have written better, books that put my prose to shame, books that irritated me for reasons I could not identify…

Leaving the Novel in Progress (Part 2)

My fiction feels like a way to prove myself, and that isn’t healthy. The relationship must either change or end. A follow up to my last post.
Yes, it’s been a while. Forgive the delay – I had a strange work schedule and several class projects to juggle. Anyhow, back to the matter at hand, which can be summed up like this: “I’m writing a book, but I don’t know what it’s about.”

Leaving the Novel in Progress (Part 1)

How the beautiful promise of a published novel narrowed my focus too much. I did consider stopping, once or twice, but the idea terrified me. Wasn’t the NIP (novel-in-progress) my anchor? Wasn’t it the reason I studied literature and creative writing, and read widely, and started this website – and wasn’t it my lifelong dream to be the Author of a Book? There was no other job I wanted to do. There was nothing else I was this good at. What else could I do with my life?

November Plans

I’ve got some catching up to do: books to read, a book to write, a new course of study on the horizon…
As always, the Halloween season has been great fun. At work as a tour guide, I introduced people to the wonders of autumn, told semi-spooky stories, and gave out countless candies. It rained, and it was chilly, but the kids wore raincoats under their capes and wings and still had a good time.

Now I’m eyeing the row of books that have accumulated on my shelf over the past few weeks – Ada Hoffman’s The Outside, Perpetual Astonishment by Tomson Highway, and Esi Edugyan’s Out of the Sun.

Links & Pursuits September 2021

Autumn is nearly here! After another summer without air conditioning this can only be good news in my house. I’m thinking of having a kind of mini harvest festival to celebrate the turn of the season – something involving apples and a bonfire.