After my last blog post I started back working on my flash fiction pieces and I’ve realized something about my writing process: I write short. Meaning? I’m going for stories in the 750-1000 word count range and yet most of my first drafts (and second drafts, if we’re being honest) barely reach 600 words. I’m…
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Am I a REAL Writer?
I’ve been away for too long haven’t I? Sorry about that. A lot of stuff is going on in my life right now – stressful stuff. I haven’t been in a writing mood so instead I’ve been reading writerly type blogs. And I swear lately I’ve been reading that they all knew from a young age…
Quick Fix: The Man of My Dreams
THE MAN OF MY DREAMS By: Jennifer Gregson Dear Diary, Killing someone is harder than it looks. I should have used a gun. My old bow and arrow worked, but it was messy. See, a few years ago, an old witch cursed me. She cackled when she did it too. She claimed my dreams would…
Too Many Books, Not Enough Time
I finished the first book of Game of Thrones (still haven’t seen any of the HBO series….sorry) and was looking through my To-Read list on Goodreads and realized I have more books that I want to read than time to read them. In between running around after a very mobile toddler, writing, exercising, eating, sleeping,…
Quick Fix: Because You Loved Me
BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME By: Jennifer Gregson “I should have dumped your ink a long time ago,” Sylvia said as she tried to open the fountain pen. “You can’t, I won’t let you.” The pen wrestled out of her hand and started scribbling something on the nearby pad of paper. Sylvia stood, stunned that the…
Bad Poetry (or The Joys of Being Stuck)
I’ve been feeling stuck, creatively. Uninspired, the writing hasn’t been flowing, everything seems wrong. I’m judging things I write or have written, I have no energy, the passion is gone. Even my Photo-a-Day project has felt stagnant lately. I’m just stuck. I posted on twitter and asked fellow writers what they do, and only got…
Quick Fix: Just Gone
JUST GONE By: Jennifer Gregson “Landing procedure beginning.” The mechanical voice echoed through the empty ship. I glanced out the window and saw the dark red planet growing bigger by the minute. I shut my eyes and swallowed hard. Please don’t crash, I said out loud to no one. The past few years had taken…
I’ll Show You Mine….
Clean first draft, before the pens took over. So, it has occurred to me that I haven’t actually told you guys what my novel is about. Bad writer! Without further ado, my novel in a sentence: A young art protege, thrown into early fame, yearns for a normal life with her immature parents, only to…
Believe or Not…I’m Walking on Air
Friends, Cheers, MASH, Golden Girls, Facts of Life, and Greatest American Hero (see title – and YouTube clip). What do these shows have in common? Memorable theme songs. Even though MASH didn’t use the lyrics (suicide is painless didn’t really fit the show) the song is hummable. What happened to theme songs? Some new shows…
Block Revision Has Begun
Well, I’ve started. Block Revision, that is. This is a process – a major process, a very long major process – that involves going scene by scene and fixing things. Finally writing on the actual manuscript using all the worksheets and index cards from the past few months. The process: You start with your new…