To become the woman you want to be, you have to remember the girl you used to be. You have to write like a girl.
(more…)Write Like a Girl: A Manifesto
writing
NaNoWriMo Tips from the See Jane Write Network
At See Jane Write headquarters, November is all about #BlogLikeCrazy, my annual challenge to myself and other bloggers to publish a new blog post every day for 30 days. But many women of the See Jane Write community will be participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, in November. If you’re in that number, I want you to know I have your back, too. I’ve put together some NaNoWriMo tips for you.
I asked the members of the See Jane Write Network Facebook group to offer their top tips for succeeding at NaNoWriMo, which challenges you to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Here’s what they had to say…
(more…)Blog Your Book with #BlogLikeCrazy
If you’re trying to decide if you should do NaNoWriMo or #BlogLikeCrazy next month, there is a way you could do both. Sort of. You could blog your book, which is what I plan to do this year.
For the second year in a row, I almost didn’t host #BlogLikeCrazy, my annual challenge to anyone who’s game to publish a new blog post every day for 30 days in November. Last year I was sick of blogging but fortunately, it was #BlogLikeCrazy that helped me get my blogging groove back. This year I was going to skip #BlogLikeCrazy so I could use November to work on the book that I’ve been ignoring for nearly two years, but then I realized I could just blog my book!
(more…)What Edgar Allan Poe Can Teach Us About Writing
Editor’s Note: If you ever stepped foot into my classroom when I was a high school English teacher then you know I love Edgar Allan Poe. Every October I would have my students dive into his poetry and prose and even complete a creative project inspired by his works. Thanks to that project, my classroom was filled with paintings, collages, board games and more that were all about Poe. So, when Tess Patalano of Reedsy contacted me about writing a guest post for the See Jane Write blog on the writing lessons we can learn from Poe, of course, I said yes. So, today, on October 7, the anniversary of Poe’s mysterious and untimely death, we present “What Edgar Allan Poe Can Teach Us About Writing.”
Guest Post by Tess Patalano of Reedsy,
Edgar Allan Poe was an enigmatic writer and personality: a master of the macabre and a noted originator of both the detective and horror genres with many anthologies even crediting him as the founder of the short story. His work spanned themes of death, love, hope, and despair, to name a few. But what can his writings teach us about the process of writing itself? Hidden within his poems and stories are kernels of wisdom that any writer can benefit from. Here are a few.
(more…)On Designing the Writing Life You Desire
Last week I attended SPARK Writing Festival at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with one goal: get the information and inspiration I need to finish my manuscript.
I have a book I’ve been working on for nearly three years and even though I’ve written the book, had it reviewed by beta readers, and had it edited, I have yet to pitch the book to agents or even make plans to self publish. Why? I’m not happy with the book — at all. It lacks focus. It lacks depth. And if you were to ask me what the book is about I couldn’t even tell you.
I signed up for SPARK hoping the workshops would show me how to rewrite my book; instead SPARK showed me how to rewrite my life.
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