Lisa Heidle's Blog

Not sure how to use hashtags?

View story at Medium.com

Using social media, especially hashtags, can be daunting for writers. This article from Writers Relief makes it a little easier: https://medium.com/@writersrelief/55-social-media-hashtags-for-authors-and-how-to-use-them-cc56490b67d7

 

Filed under: Authors, Short Stories, Short Story, Social Media, Uncategorized Tagged: blogging, Hashtags, Stories, Uncategorized, Writers Relief, writing [image error]

Listen Up: Second Hand Stories Podcast

“Second Hand Stories is a fiction podcast aimed to showcase talented writers from all over the world. The world’s first story was told orally and Second Hand Stories desires to return to this tradition to inspire listeners to slow down and listen up.”

Second Hand Stories podcast is bringing back the oral tradition of storytelling one podcast at a time. This podcast, started and hosted by Jim Szabo and co-hosted by Colleen Stewart, showcases aspiring writers stories in a way unique way–writers are given the option of reading their own work, a rewarding practice for wordsmiths. Jim and Colleen then take the time to discuss the stories in depth. For a writer, hearing intelligent discourse about the work you’ve created is an education in and of itself.

I encourage podcast lovers to add Second Hand Stories to your playlist…you won’t be disappointed! And all novice writers, as well as more seasoned writers, share your work with Second Hand Stories! Hearing the work you’ve spent time creating, editing, re-writing is a true thrill!

Here are two of my short stories that have been read on the podcast:

The Wailer (Begins at 24 min 29 sec)

Cranes Equal Life

 

 

Filed under: Authors, Podcast, Reading Recommendations, Short Stories, Short Story, Uncategorized Tagged: Books, Colleen Stewart, Cranes Equal Life, Creativity, Jim Szabo, Podcast, Podcasts, Second Hand Stories, Second Hand Stories Podcast, Stories, The Wailer, writing [image error]

Books from the Road: The Child in Time by Ian McEwan

Fans of Ian McEwan’s work: Atonement, The Cement Gardens, Saturday, and other works, should read The Child in Time.

The Child in Time is the story of Stephen Lewis, a British children’s writer, who goes to the grocery store with his 3-year-old daughter. It about how when Stephen looks away for a brief moment, Kate disappears. And it’s about one man’s struggle to continue living, figuratively and literally, and how he must renegotiate with life itself after he experiences every parent or child-care person’s worst nightmare.

This story isn’t a genre mystery. It’s not a determined-parent-searches-for-and-finds-missing-child story. It’s a father’s story, a perspective that is often overlooked in our matriarchal caretaker society, and that in and of itself makes it a unique read.

Ian McEwan is the master of minimalist emoting. McEwan’s work is so powerful because he always starts from the point of basic humanity, the knowing that we’ve all experienced joy, loss, pain, fear, and despair; he doesn’t waste time describing base emotions. For example, he only gives the moment when Stephen must tell his wife, Julie, that he lost their little girl only two pages. In those two pages, as Stephen enters their home where his wife is napping, steps over Kate’s discarded pajamas and waits, not wanting to wake his wife, Kate’s mother, bring her into the horror that is now their lives, we can feel his shame, his helplessness, his anguish. As a reader, it takes immense willpower to resist closing the book so the poor woman can continue dreaming, not force her to know what has occurred.

For readers who love strong literary writing, who like to explore deep emotions and traverse paths that take you into the heart of humanity, this book is for you.

Buy The Child in Time by Ian McEwan 

 

 

Filed under: Authors, Book Reviews, Books from the Road, Reading Recommendations, Uncategorized, Writings Tagged: Books, Ian McEwan, Stories, The Child in Time, Writers [image error]

Review of BYSTANDERS by Tara Laskowski

The t[image error]hirteen short stories in Tara Laskowski‘s Bystanders are filled with imperfect, guilt-ridden men and women at crossroads in their lives. Many are starved for change and want to make daring choices, yet shame, responsibilities, and self-loathing keep them trapped and unhappy. In their paralysis, they are spectators to accidents, hauntings, bad acts, and misplaced love.

In “The Witness,” Marie, a young wife, is an eyewitness to a little boy being hit and killed while riding his bike. In the following days, Marie becomes fixated on the man who was driving the car… READ MORE

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Filed under: Authors, Book Reviews, Bystanders, Necessary Fiction, Quotes, Reading Recommendations, Short Stories, Short Story, Short Story Collection, Tara Laskowski, Uncategorized, Writings [image error]

Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path

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Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path: The Journey from Frustration to Fulfillment
Written by Nancy Pickard and Lynn Lott

Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path was published in 2003, and like other valuable guides, the insight holds true over a decade later.

 Although the steps are addressed to writers, I believe they can be applied to all aspects of life. Whether you are yearning to begin a new writing project, wanting to start a painting or a song or even trying to find a new path in life, recognizing which step you are on can make the difference between abandoning a new adventure and seeing it through to fruition.

Pickard and Lott have broken down the creative path in seven distinct stages that all artists will recognize:

 Step 1: Unhappiness (Key words: feel, reveal)

Step 2: Wanting (Key words: focus, collect)

Step 3: Commitment (Key words: decide, set in motion)

Step 4: Wavering (Key words: face fears, align core values)

Step 5: Letting Go (Key words: release, cross over)

Step 6: Immersion (Key words: resolved, preoccupied)

Step 7: Fulfillment (Key words: celebration, endings, beginnings)

The authors offer insight into how to recognize which stage you are in and how to overcome the resistance that arises. Understanding that there are actual stages and knowing where you are in the process can relieve a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. Having this valuable awareness might even keep you from prematurely abandoning a story, project or even a new direction you might be choosing in your career or life.

 

Filed under: artist, Authors, Book Reviews, Quotes, Reading Recommendations, Short Story, Uncategorized, Writings Tagged: Creativity, Lisa Heidle, Lynn Lott, Nancy Pickard, Reading & Writing Resources, Seven Steps on the Writer's Path: The Journey from Frustration to Fulfillment, Writers guide [image error]

Thoughts on Writing…

 

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I am honored to have been interviewed by Marcia Peterson at WOW! Women on Writing. We discuss writing routines, writing tools and habits, and my soon to be released short story collection. We also delve into the editorial process and why it is important for writers to overcome their fear and submit their work.

Here’s the full interview:

WOW: Congratulations on your top ten win in our Summer 2015 Flash Fiction competition! What inspired you to enter the contest?

Lisa: Thank you! I submitted to WOW! Summer 2015 Flash Fiction competition because I liked that it was a platform for women writers to submit their work. The opportunity to have your work read by and receive feedback from a literary agent like Eve Porinchak is rare. Her feedback was invaluable and inspiring.

WOW:  We’d love to know more about your writing routines. Could you tell us when and where you usually write? Do you have favorite tools or habits that get you going?

Lisa: I like to write in the morning when I’m fresh and the day hasn’t made any demands. Even though I have a home office, I tend to write at the kitchen table. Each new year I tell myself that I’m going to start using my desk then I end up back at the kitchen table. As far as tools or habits, I engage with my writing daily. It might be in the form of editing or submitting a piece, but I’m a strong believer that it’s all cumulative and that anything you do for your writing matters.

I believe revision is so important to the writing process. Many new writers try to skip this part of the process and I truly believe they are missing out on a rewarding aspect of the writing practice. I will work on a piece for months at a time, put it away, then come back to it with fresh eyes. When I do this, I’m able to see holes in the story that I just couldn’t see at the beginning because I was too close, too invested. For me, this moving away from the story for a time and then returning to it has become an essential tool for my work and I place a lot of value on it.

WOW:   You write fiction and non-fiction, including flash, short and long form fiction, articles and book reviews. Do you find one more challenging than the others? Are you drawn to one form more than the others?

Lisa: I’m a short story writer at heart. I tend to engage with characters in the shorter structure and, for me, I find it the most exhilarating form. I love being able to step into a character’s life and catch a glimpse of what they are feeling and doing. Someone once told me that everyone has a story and it’s important to them. That’s how I look at my characters—this is their story and it’s my job to honor it and tell it the best way that I can. The short story form allows me to do that. I also really enjoy writing flash fiction. I find whittling the piece down and still maintaining the integrity of the story an exciting challenge. It also builds the editorial muscle that is so important for writers.

For me, writing long form fiction is the most challenging. The first full length manuscript I completed was written in a multi-narrative, non-traditional structure, which I can see now was a way for me to continue writing in the shorter form that feels more comfortable. I challenged myself with my second and now third full length manuscripts to develop a more traditional story arc. It’s not as natural for me as the short form but I’m determined to do it well.



WOW:  You’ve also completed a collection of short stories will be released this year. Can you tell us about that? What did it take to complete that big goal?

Lisa: I am so excited for the collection to be released! I’ve been working on it for years. When I first started writing seriously, I knew that a short story collection was something that I wanted to accomplish. I’ve never taken my eye off that goal. The stories in the collection are close to my heart because some of them were my first. They’ve been revised, restructured and rewritten many times, all with the conviction that they would find a home in a collection. My hope is that readers will connect with the characters and their struggles, find something in these tales that resonate with them like so many of my favorite short stories have done with me.

WOW:   Let us know when your collection becomes available, and thanks so much for chatting with us today, Lisa! Before you go, do you have any tips for our readers who may be thinking about entering writing contests?

Lisa: Do it! Submitting your work is a brave act. I think it’s important to remember that there’s a tier process when sending out your writing. When you first start, standard rejections are common. Many writers fear the rejection and avoid or stop submitting. What they don’t know is that as you advance as a writer, the rejections become more personalized, which is how you really start to see areas that you are doing well and where the writing can be improved. It’s a surreal experience when you get rejected but feel great about it! All feedback has value for a writer. Listening to the feedback with a willingness to learn keeps you from becoming defensive and it teaches you how your work is being received. Writing is a solitary occupation, but it does not have to be isolating. Sending out your writing connects you to the world, other writers, editors and platforms like WOW!

Filed under: Authors, Book Reviews, Reading Recommendations, Short Story, Uncategorized, Writings Tagged: Contests, Creativity, editing, Eve Porinchak, Interview, Lisa Heidle, Lisa Heidle Interview, Lisa Heidle Short Story, Marcia Peterson, Submission, Submitting, WOW! Women on Writing, Writing habits [image error]

YOU: A Novel by Caroline Kepnes

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You: A Novel
Written by Caroline Kepnes
Paperback: 422 pages
Published: Alloy Entertainment, 2014; Atria/Emily Bestler Books; Reprint edition (June 16, 2015)

 

“YOU: A Novel” by Caroline Kepnes is the story of a young man obsessed with a young woman. Sounds simple enough, but Kepnes puts a unique spin on an old-tale by giving Joe Goldberg, arguably the protagonist and the antagonist, his voice by using a second-person point-of-view. His You is Guinevere Beck, “I really just go by Beck. Guinevere’s kinda long and ridiculous, you know?”, a young woman in her early-20’s who comes into the bookstore Joe manages. “You walk into the bookstore and you keep your hand on the door to make sure it doesn’t slam. You smile, embarrassed to be a nice girl, and your nails are bare and your V-neck sweater is beige and it’s impossible to know if you’re wearing a bra but I don’t think that you are. You’re so clean that you’re dirty and you murmur your first word to me—hello—when most people would just pass by, but not you, in your loose pink jeans, a pink spun from Charlotte’s Web and where did you come from?”
            Joe becomes instantly obsessed. His obsession for Beck is a pendulum that swings from worry over her safety to rage when she shows attention to anyone but him. Kepnes shows her skill as a writer as she takes the reader inside the mind of a stalker and leaves you there, a powerless observer. Joe systematically forces himself into Beck’s life as he gathers information from her phone, her Facebook and Twitter pages, and her computer. You have no choice but to watch as Joe invades Beck’s privacy, her home, her closest circles, then her body.
           As Joe inserts himself into Beck’s life, both her actual life and her digital life, she loses the mythical qualities that he projects onto her and becomes a flawed young woman who is trying to figure out who she is in the world. Her often clumsy attempts at friendship and romantic relationships that are typical of a woman in her twenties are observed and judged so harshly by Joe that the reader can’t help, at times, to see her as one-dimensional. If Beck is responsible for anything that unfolds, it is for being susceptible to the addictive qualities of fawning attention.
            In “You”, Kepnes raises the question of how to create personal boundaries in cyberspace. The connections that can be created via the internet can also be used to interlope into areas that once required a personal invitation. Does the responsibility now fall on each individual to police him or herself? Should a new moral definition be created: Thou will not steal. Thou will not kill. Thou will not cyber stalk?
            The creative control Kepnes shows in creating a contemporary story that not only entertains but forces the reader to consider modern life is admirable. That being said, this book is not for everyone. If you like stories that make you feel unsettled and make you question the world and your place in it, then this book is definitely for you.
Filed under: Authors, Book Reviews, Reading Recommendations, Uncategorized, Writings Tagged: Caroline Kepnes, Creativity, Lisa Heidle, Reading & Writing Resources, Reviews, writing, YOU: A Novel [image error]

Postcard Shorts: Stories that Fit on a Postcard

Postcard Shorts: Stories that Fit on a Postcard

Thank you so much to Postcard Shorts for publishing “Bird”, a micro short (250 words or less) I wrote. The inspiration for this site comes from a challenge made by George Hay, a science fiction magazine editor in the 1970s, to Arthur C. Clarke (and others). The challenge was to write a short story to put on a postcard.

It’s a good challenge for all writers to try and create a story with a limited word count. The process makes you consider each word and helps build your editorial muscle. Give it a try!

Filed under: Reading Recommendations, Writings Tagged: A Must Read, Art, artist, Contest, Creativity, Flash Fiction, Micro Short, Postcard Shorts [image error]

Creative Writing Challenge at Mash Stories

[image error]As creative writers, developing compelling stories is only one part of the path. If you want your work to be seen, you have to get it out there. Mash Stories has created a competition that challenges writers to create a 500-word story using 3 randomly selected words. All shortlisted stories are published on the Mash Stories website and narrated by professional voice actors in a podcast. It’s an exciting challenge with a unique opportunity that many contests do not offer.

I decided to enter this quarters contest and my story “Nexus 365” was shortlisted. It will be turned into a podcast later this month.

Read it here: http://mashstories.com/shortlist/nexus-365/

Check out  the other amazing stories as well. Clay Ramsey’s “The Assistant” is sure to send a chill down your back!

Take a chance! It’s a good challenge that can help build your writing publications!

Filed under: Authors, Reading Recommendations, Short Story, Writings Tagged: Clay Ramsey, Contest, Creativity, Flash Fiction, Lisa Heidle Short Story, Nexus 365, Publication [image error]

A Tiny Sense of Accomplishment Podcast

[image error] Sherman Alexie and Jess Walter have created a podcast where they discuss writing, do readings and interview special guests. In Episode #7, they share their years of writing submissions and how they still submit today. http://www.infiniteguest.org/tiny-sense/

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: A Tiny Sense of Accomplishment, Art, artist, Creativity, Jess Walter, Molly Ringwald, Podcast, Sherman Alexie, Writing Podcast [image error]