Category Archives: LHA

WFMAD Day 28 – Back in the Saddle

I received this terrific set of questions a few days ago: “How do you start again after stopping for a few years? In writing three novels, I built skill upon skill and felt pretty good about the third. Now I am petrified to write again. I start, the writing is horrible, I stop. I’m not [...]
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WFMAD Day 27 – Go Bag

I think the most striking statistic about Hurricane Irene so far is CNN’s statement that the storm will affect 1 in 6 Americans. (I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.) We are far away from the danger; might get some wind and a little rain. We’re used to losing power frequently, so that’s [...]
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WFMAD Day 26 – Permission to write suckaously

Several of you asked me to address the universal discomfort of sucky early drafts. Given the barn floor quality of my early drafts, I consider myself an expert in this area. “Queen of Awful Early Drafts,” that’s what you can inscribe on my crown. Here’s the thing they probably don’t tell you in MFA school: [...]
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WFMAD Day 25 – Dive in

(PSSSSST! BE SURE TO SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF TODAY”S POST! I HAVE TO ASK YOU SOMETHING!) One of the differences (for me) between an early and a late draft is that as I revise, I trim or cut the opening chapters. I have a bad habit of frontloading too much information in early drafts. [...]
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WFMAD Day 24 – Overcoming the pain

No earthquakes up here on the tundra today, so I’ll write yesterday’s original blog idea. The idea came from my right knee. The right knee that started acting up at mile 13 during yesterday’s run, and forced me to stop many, many times to stretch. (Because it’s not really my knee that is the issue. [...]
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WFMAD Day 23 – Earthquake edition

I had a great run today. On that great run, I thought of the PERFECT WFMAD blog post. I shuffled home, ate, showered, and headed out to run a few errands before I sat down to write. Somewhere in the middle of the errands, there was an earthquake. No, I did not feel it, though [...]
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WFMAD Day 22 – Habit-trails

We are gerbils. We have our paths that we run daily; kitchen, car, office, school, work. We pause at regular intervals to eat and to (ahem) get rid of what we’ve eaten. Most of us bathe regularly and brush our teeth. We are the products of our habits. Only problem is, when not enough of [...]
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WFMAD Day 21 – The Calm Center of Chaos

Ready for week three? I’m not. I’m stuck back in the middle of March. Every time I see a calender, I break down in hysterical sobs. So much yet undone, so much more being piled on my plate, and I’m supposed to be writing a book in the middle of this chaos? Do you know [...]
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WFMAD Day 20 – Stuck in a rut?

Is your writing stuck? Maybe not. Maybe the ideas are sputtering along. But you’re not happy, because you know (down deep inside) that what you are writing is a bit mechanical. Bloodless. DOA. If you have the kind of busy life that makes it hard to develop a consistent writing routine (hence your presence on [...]
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WFMAD Day 19 – Anger is a writer’s best friend

If you haven’t read the post I wrote at 4 am this morning about the lawsuit recently filed that accuses authorities at a Republic, MO middle school of covering up the alleged rapes of a special needs student, please do so now. We do not have a word in English that adequately expresses how angry [...]
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