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Tag Archives: writing
WFMAD Day 18 – Getting By With a Little Help
In my humble opinion, Joe Cocker’s version of this song is way better than the Beatles. What does Joe Cocker have to do with your writing? Your character needs some friends. We are often so focused on developing our main character and The Forces Of Evil Who Rally Against Her, that we neglect to use [...]
WFMAD Day 17 – Classical borrowings
Welcome to a blast from my past. Fractured Fairy Tales was a feature on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, a cartoon that ran in the early 1960′s (and is now available on Hulu). Aside from being stupid-funny and guaranteeing that your children will regard you as ancient if you go all nostalgic as soon as [...]
WFMAD Day 16 – Early bird catches worm, etc.
August is half-over! MORE than half-over. When I came out of swim practice tonight, the sun was nearly set. Screw your courage to the sticking point, friends! Dig deep and find the fortitude that will keep you writing until August fades away! It’s late and I’m beat and you’re impatient, so let’s hop to it, [...]
WFMAD Day 15 – The Genius of P D James
I would do anything for this woman. Image credit David Sandison This is P. D. James, one of the finest mystery writers, no, one of the finest writers alive. She just turned 91 and is still writing. (She didn’t publish her first novel until she was 42.) She is my hero. From an article in [...]
WFMAD Day 14 – Hero’s Journey, Part 2
(Start your day out right by debunking a few grammar myths!) I have a theory about creativity. It has everything to do with growing. We go through many, many adolescences in our lives. The first one (from roughly age 12 – 19) is the most dramatic. Once you survive that, you might never want to [...]
WFMAD Day 13 – Hero’s Journey, Part 1
(Today’s goal for me – write blog before painting.) Do you know about the Hero’s Journey model of storytelling? It was popularized by Joseph Campbell in his book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Briefly, Campbell found common mythical elements in many stories across countless cultures. (Note – the chart I’ve linked to needs to [...]
WFMAD Day 12 – Covered in Paint
Because, seriously, I am. Covered in paint, I mean. I have been painting for the past 10 hours. No, not an artistic masterpiece. I’m painting the mudroom. (We gutted our house in April. It seemed like a good idea at the time. When this project is finished (current projected date: March 2057) I know I’ll [...]
WFMAD Day 11 – Marking Time
I saw a lot of early autumnal hints on my run this morning. Dark, low clouds scuttled from Lake Ontario to the Tug Hill Plateau like hungry crabs. The first small flock of geese passed overhead, either going for a test flight, or intent on getting south early so they’d have the best condo choices. [...]
WFMAD Day 10 – Reaching for New
I am reading The Plague of Doves, by Louise Erdrich (which I recommend highly, btw!) and am struck by the layers and layers of storytelling that Louise presents to the reader and the number of narrators of these layered stories. Louise nests these stories one inside the other with incredible skill. (I have no idea [...]
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WFMAD Day 19 – Anger is a writer’s best friend