Lisa Manterfield's Blog, page 10
May 27, 2016
Short Stories, Travel, and Teaching in PNW
Short Stories After much procrastination (I’m talking months!) I have finally created a page for my short stories and got them up on Wattpad. Huzzah! I only have two up at the moment, but there’ll be more coming soon. I’m also noodling a more ambitious Wattpad project, so stay tuned for that. If you enjoy […]
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May 20, 2016
Jump-Start Your Writing With Prompts
In the corner of my bedroom is a large bag of journals. At first glance you’d mistake me for one of those people who fills book after book with profound thoughts, but that’s not who I am. Each journal has a handful of entries for each time I decided to dedicate myself to journaling. I’d […]
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May 6, 2016
Learning to Trust
My friend and I signed up for a Flying Trapeze class. It felt daring and adventurous, and I imagined the thrill of flying through the air—with the greatest of ease, of course. I pictured lithe circus performers, their long graceful bodies making perfect arcs above the awestruck crowd, and I thought, “I want to do […]
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April 29, 2016
Writing is Rewriting…and Rewriting…and Rewriting
This morning I sat down to rewrite the opening of my novel, The Smallest Thing, for what feels like the 4,000th time. I’ve been submitting the manuscript to agents and getting some really encouraging feedback. They love the premise, love the writing, but…something’s missing and that something is leading to “no”. I’m, surprisingly, not too […]
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April 15, 2016
Getting Cozy at The Funk Soul Cafe: My Interview
I had so much fun talking to Robert yesterday on his Funk Should Cafe radio show. We talked about my circuitous route into writing, about losing and reclaiming identity, and about bucking expectations. We also talked about the power of telling a personal story, and the benefits and dangers of getting personal in writing. You […]
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February 26, 2016
Q&A with Jennie Nash on Taking the Self-Publishing Path
I was very honored to be invited onto a live Q&A with book coach, Jennie Nash, this morning and to share my experiences on the self-publishing path. As always, it was a lively conversation. Here is the replay. We covered a lot of ground, so if you were on the webinar and didn’t get your burning questions […]
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February 12, 2016
How Do You Know When a Book is Finished?
Michelangelo is quoted as saying that a work of art is never finished, merely abandoned. But there are degrees of doneness and the trick is to know when to let go and when to go back and make improvements. And yet, at some point you have to call a project “done.” Last year I completed […]
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February 9, 2016
Exciting News from the San Francisco Writers Conference
I’m off the San Francisco this week for the San Francisco Writers Conference. Aside from getting to spend four days in one of my favorite cities, I’m also looking forward to getting out of my writer cave and, well, spending the weekend in an even bigger writer cave. But seriously, there’s a special energy that […]
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January 29, 2016
Rowing into the Unknown: The Genesis of a Novel
I’m starting a new novel project this month. I have a nugget of an idea, a main character with a story to tell, and a somewhat fuzzy cast of characters for her to encounter along the way. Like my last novel, this idea was sparked by a piece of history that was significant to me […]
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January 8, 2016
My Dazzling Dozen Reads of 2015
As all the cool kids are putting out Top 10 lists, I thought I’d share my Top 10 books of 2015. The problem is I read so many good books last year, I couldn’t narrow it down to ten. So, instead, here is my Dazzling Dozen: The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins This book […]
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