Category: Creative Process/Craft

How I Wrote My Debut Novel: Part Three – The Two Documents that are a Novel in Progress

Now that we’re writing daily and have a place in which we do so, we turn to the tactics— elements of the practical process I…

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How I Wrote My Debut Novel: Part Two – Focus and the Value of Writing in the Same Location

Place matters. We become emotionally attached to it. Over time, a place becomes imbibed with meaning and memory. A place becomes a sanctuary, an oasis,…

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How I Wrote My Debut Novel: Part One – The Value of a Writing Discipline

Eight years ago this month I finished my thesis defense, earning my MFA in Creative Writing at Butler University, Indianapolis. My thesis, after another draft…

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Three At Once

I have always worked on one project at a time. I enjoy thinking deeply about a project and letting myself sink down into it. When…

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From Telling to Showing

Writers of fiction are consistently told, and rightfully so, to “show, don’t tell.” In other words, a reader wants to see the story unspool, not…

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