Nancy Christie's Blog, page 82

Can keeping a journal help keep me on track?

I keep a journal. Unfortunately, my journal-keeping is, at best, erratic, as is its purpose. Sometimes, I use it to make notes on story ideas but more often than not, it is my place to vent, to complain about what is going wrong in my life, to give voice (if only in written form) to the worries and fears that dog my footsteps during the day and plague me at night.

I know that there are writers who use their journal for more work-related notes, who believe, as John Jerome (author of The Writing...

Suffering from “starving-writer-in-a-garret” syndrome?

If you’re finding it hard to make ends meet while you’re writing, or need some financial support so you can focus on your fiction, non-fiction or poetry work-in-progress, here are some potential sources of grants and awards that might keep the wolf from the door.

Read through the requirements to make sure you meet the criteria. Then go for it. You never know until you try! (If you have a listing to add here, feel free to include it along with the URL in the Comments section)

General Resource Li...

Taking a break from pre-pub activities

On my Finding Fran blog, I had recently written a post about how different it is being an author today versus what it was like 10 years ago when my first book came out.

For example, tomorrow is the first stop on my virtual book tour for my fiction collection, TRAVELING LEFT OF CENTER AND OTHER STORIES. Now, a decade ago, I would have spent today packing my bags, giving last-minute instructions to my pet-sitter (and warning the cats that if they misbehaved, they were in deep trouble!), checking...

Tips For Working At Home—Guest post from Stacey M. Crutcher

If you are like me, you work from home, writing your novels, articles, corporate copy or what-have-you from a room (or corner!) in your house. And to those who have to trudge into an office every day, rain or shine, it may sound like an ideal situation. We’ve all heard it: the old “You get to work in your pajamas” or “How great that you can set your own schedule” remarks made with varying degrees of envy.

But the reality is that working from home isn’t quite as rosy as one would think. Working...

What I’m reading now—The Writing Trade: A Year In The Life

I’m reading—or more accurately re-reading— The Writing Trade: A Year In The Life by John Jerome.

(Why re-reading? Because, as I explained in a previous post, I can’t get to my bookshelves where the still-to-be-read books are waiting for me, like unopened Christmas presents. Another thing to look forward to when my office construction is done.)

I have a tendency to prefer books about writing—not about technical aspects like how to construct a novel timeline or when first person is a better choi...

First-time Playwright Shares His Experiences—Guest post from Michael Hill

Michael J. Hill

When I started the Monday Night Writers group, it was partly for selfish reasons. I was feeling isolated in my writing life and wanted to get together with other writers, to not only share what I know about the craft of writing but also learn from them as well. And it’s worked out really well, as this guest post from fellow MNW member Michael Hill illustrates.

A talented writer and former newspaper editor, Michael has just added another skill set: that of playwright. And when I...

What I’m reading now—Legends of Literature

Because construction still isn’t completed on my new office (don’t ask), which means I can’t get to my bookshelves, I am working my way through those books that are within easy reach: on the floor by the couch, on the nightstand by the bed, in the boxes lining the hallway. (Not their usual location but where I had to store them post-flood. Again—don’t ask.)

And one of these is Legends of Literature, edited by Phillip Sexton and published in 2007 by Writer’s Digest Books.

The book is filled wit...

Writers: Get Tough With Your LinkedIn Profile–Guest post from Robin Warshaw

So you have a LinkedIn profile. You have even added a picture and maybe a few links. And then… nothing.

You don’t update it. You don’t add to it. You don’t do anything to make it appealing.

And then you complain that having a LinkedIn profile does nothing for you.

Uh, huh. Well, news flash—what you get out of something tends to be related to what you put into it, and social media is no exception. And while sometimes figuring out how to put the information in and where it needs to go can be a lit...

“…doing it [writing] for love is the only remaining liberty” Erica Jong

“Despite all the cynical things writers have said about writing for money, the truth is we write for love. That’s why it is so easy to exploit us. That is also why we pretend to be hard-boiled, saying things like ‘No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money’ (Samuel Johnson). Not true. No one but a blockhead ever wrote except for love…

In a society in which everything is for sale, in which deals and auctions make the biggest news, doing it for love is the only remaining liberty. Do it f...

What I’m reading now—The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection and Triumph by 23 Top Authors

The Resilient Writer

I have a stack (okay, several stacks!) of writing-related books on my nightstand that I have read several times but am not quite ready to move to the bookshelves in my office.

And often, when I’m feeling frustrated, exasperated or just plain uncreative, I’ll grab one and read a few pages before I go to sleep, hoping that something will help, or at least, make me feel like I am not the only writer dealing with that particular problem.

The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection...