Nancy Christie's Blog, page 5

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 5

Accept the Reality of Rejection.

Isaac Asimov said that “rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil – but there is no way around them.”

The fact is that all writers, not just you, experience rejection in one form or another.

What determines your writing “life expectancy” is how you handle it. Don’t waste time and energy being angry or disheartened.

In Rejection Is an Enormous Part of a Writer’s Life, Alexander Ch...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 4

Focus on Successes.

Success can take many forms. It can be an acceptance by an editor, publisher or agent.

But success can also be completing a project, writing about something that challenged you emotionally or technically, exploring a new genre or form of writing, or being brave enough to submit your work to others to read and critique.

Every writer has his or her own definition of success—something I wrote about in How Writers Measure Success — 15 Authors Share Their Thoughts. It’s also the f...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 3

Create a Writing Space

Large or small, permanent or temporary, in your home or at a public space, it doesn’t matter where your writing space is, only that it exists.

Having a physical space that is devoted to your writing identifies it as an act that also deserves figurative “space” in your life.

Granted, not everyone has the luxury of a separate room as their writing space, especially if you’re sharing space with kids in the house or an adult with a work-for-home situation.

You may need to chan...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 2

Establish a Writing Routine

The muse doesn’t enter unless the door is open. And the way to open that door is by creating a writing routine.

Ideally you should aim for at least 30 minutes a day devoted to your craft.

Don’t think a half-hour is enough for a useful writing routine? Wondering what you can do in that short timeframe?

In 30 minutes, you can:

Outline an essay or article. (How to Write an Outline for Anything and Article Writing Tips: How to Write an Outline are full of tips!)Develop ...

31 Days of Rut-Busting Tips For Writers for 2025—Day 1

Set Your Writing Goal

It can be starting a major project (a book, for example), making a career move (becoming a freelance writer) or improving your writing or marketing skills.

How do you decide what goal works for you? Brainstorm a bit on what your writing skills are, how much time you can reasonably devote to your goal and what other obligations can affect your success at achieving it.

While it’s good to dream big, your goal must be rooted in reality.

Establish short- and long-term goals. For...

Looking back at 2024

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

This past year has, on the whole, been a good one.

We’ll ignore the health issues that thankfully turned out to be relatively minor. As for the ambulance ride—well, as all writers know, every life event can be fodder for our work!

And since that trip turned out to be the result of nothing more serious than low blood pressure, low blood sugar and a nasty flu, I ended up using it in my upcoming novel MOVING MAGGIE. Nothing is ever wasted!

First my novels—FINDING F...

Thoughts on writing and life for December 2024

Why I need to believe in the magic of writing

This is an edited excerpt from my December 2024 newsletter, The Writing Life. (Subscribe here.)

You can also listen to it on my Living the Writing Life podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Photo by Keenan Constance on Unsplash

In December, as I haul out my Christmas ornaments and hang up the stocking my parents bought for me decades ago (no, don’t ask how many decades, please!), I find myself believing in magic more strongly than any other tim...

Literacy Organizations That Need Your Help

During this season of giving, consider donating your time or money to a literacy organization.

Literacy—being able to read and write—can spell the difference between having a secure future and achieving stable employment.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

More than that, it fosters a sense of pride, allows people to communicate with others and to understand everything from simple directions to complex philosophies.

According to the National Council of Teachers of English, “High literacy rates h...

Wednesday Writing Inspiration for 11.27.24

Words for writers from Stephen King

 

 

The post Wednesday Writing Inspiration for 11.27.24 appeared first on The Writer's Place.

Update on MOVING MAGGIE—And other writing stuff

It’s been awhile since I posted about MOVING MAGGIE (aka Midlife Moxie novel #3)
MOVING MAGGIE (aka Midlife Moxie novel #3), so I thought I’d bring you up to date on where the book stands.

Originally I had kicked Alan, a character from Maggie’s past, out of the book. But just like in the story, Alan came back. After I made substantial edits to the storyline, including changing a relationship that Maggie had with her soon-to-be ex’s new girlfriend and eliminating the post-heart attack caregiving role she assumed after her ex’s heart attack (and that was really not Maggie’s style, anyway!), I was able to bring Alan back in because he did serve a useful role.

Not only did he provide a bit of tension as Maggie’s relationship with her landlord developed, he also led Maggie to think back to the person she had been in college: her singlemindedness and her willingness to choose her career over love.

So, Alan came back, and while he didn’t last clear through to the end, he was in it long enough to motivate Maggie to think about who she was and who she wanted to be, and how she wanted to navigate a possible (and very unexpected) romantic relationship going forward.

Now the manuscript has gone south to Florida for final edits with Ann Henry, and I’m back on TRANSFORMING TESSA. This is the part I most enjoy: the first drafts where synchronicities appear out of nowhere and new characters come into the story without me even planning for them. (Kind of like houseguests who show up on your doorstep without warning but far more welcome!)