Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 229

The Role of Gossip or Spreading Tales

For a little while I was in the dark (which seems to happen a lot). But then I noticed a particular pattern to conversations I was having with my daughter's friends' parents.

"Elizabeth! I heard the funniest thing the other day when your daughter came over to play. She said you listen to 'old lady music!'  She kept talking about the kind of stuff you listen to on the radio in the car and I was just cracking up!"

It took me several weeks of random playdates for me to realize that my...

What Makes it Worth It

I was at my primary care doctor's office on Wednesday for a check-up and blood-work. (Fun-fun!) Anticipating the long wait I usually have at the doctor, I came armed with not just a notebook and pencil, but a book I was using for research, my laptop, and some ideas I had for plot development. Yes, I was multi-tasking…again.

Since I'd kept myself busy, I'm not exactly sure how much time passed while I waited in the exam room. I'm guessing it was a lot of time because the doctor hurried in...

Productivity Can Equal Downtime

The last few weeks have been really crazy for me. I've been working on a November deadline, working on revisions for a separate project, volunteering for Scouts, and trying to make sure the kids have everything they need for the start of school.

And, actually, I've gotten a lot done. If I run an errand, I can I hurry in the house from the grocery store, put everything away, and immediately plop down and start writing—that's just out of necessity, since I don't have any time to waste on a t...

Pushing Our Characters to the Edge

Monday afternoon seemed specially engineered to make me crazy.

It started early in the afternoon. And we'll substitute "snap" for all the bad words that I thought during those six hours.

I was in the kitchen when I looked at the clock. What?? That couldn't be the time! I was supposed to be volunteering for the Girl Scouts at the festival booth…now. Snap!

Daughter was still in pajamas. Snap! And she hadn't eaten anything. I was wandering around in glasses and no makeup. I put my...

Capitalizing on the Strengths in Your Manuscript

Over a week ago, I wrote a post about figuring out what your specialty is as a writer—realizing what you're especially good at writing and then writing it.

But I think it's also helpful to be able to look at our story with enough objectivity to determine the strengths within a manuscript, too. That requires us to narrow it down even a little farther than our general strengths.

I know that my characters are my strengths.

But which characters are strongest?

Early in a manuscript, I ...

Emotional Investment in Our Story—When to Have it, When to Lose it

When I'm working on a book, I spend a lot of time in the story's world.

I hang out with my imaginary friends. I think about what they'd do in different situations. I wonder what makes them tick.

I frequently think about my storyline and characters' personalities as I drive the car around town, brush my teeth, or run the vacuum.

To come up with a good story, we do have to immerse ourselves in it. It takes a lot of time to think about all the different aspects that make up the book.

B...

Twitterific

Here are writing links that I've posted to Twitter for the past week. If you're looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top left-hand corner of the blog (on the black header right above my blog name…next to the Blogger symbol…the small search window is next to the magnifying glass) and the roundup with your subject will come up. To narrow your search down on the page, do a CTRL+F, type your subject, and hit enter.

Tips to streamline your...

What Creativity Is—and Nurturing It

Are you creative in lots of different ways? Or is your creativity specific to writing?

Some of the most dreaded words I hear are "Let's ask Elizabeth, since she's the creative one."

Ack!

Because, really, I'm creative in only a couple of ways. I don't come up to creative solutions for problems. I don't have creative ideas for crafts. If you're designing a bulletin board for a classroom I have absolutely no suggestions for you. I can't come up with creative decorating ideas for your...

Looks and Personality

Yesterday a good friend of mine flew into the Charlotte airport with a short layover. I figured it would be a great time to catch up with her in person while we had a cup of coffee (there's a Starbucks right outside of the security check-in.)

While I was waiting for my friend's plane to land, I was milling around in front of the security checkpoint. I must have looked like I was up to no good at all because a security guard kept leveling suspicious looks at me. Of course, I did carry my h...

Writing About People We Know

It's always really interesting talking with readers about writing. Their questions are always really different from writers' questions.

In the past I've never noticed much similarity in the questions I get, but recently, at different events, I've heard variations on the same question several times.

Do I write people I know? Do people I know wish I'd write about them? Do I write about myself?

Writing people we know: When the readers were asking about putting real people in books, they ...