Ten years ago today, on the 40th anniversary of Sandra Day O'Connor taking her seat as the 1st female Justice of the Supreme Court, I published my first opinion …
Top Writing Tips
Paddling your Bathtub into London: How Great Stories End
I am working through plotting issues myself and returned to these notes from a master class I taught on narrative endings a couple years ago. They are just my …
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Advice from Steinbeck to Kick Off NANOWRIMO
Today is the first day of NANOWRIMO, wherein some crazy folks try to write an entire novel draft in a month. I confess that is faster that I can write (and …
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10 Terrific Quotes from Elizabeth Strout's Fresh Air Interview
May I recommend this interview -- Pulitzer-Prize winner Elizabeth Strout with Terry Gross on Fresh Air -- to anyone who writes, anyone who wants to write, …
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Ain’t Nothing Like Him Nowhere
Writer Wins Love Lottery Because this is a writing blog, there is a writing angle here—perhaps the most important writing advice I can give anyone—but it's …
13 Writing Prompts To Get the Ink Flowing
When you want to write but aren't sure how to start... In The Wednesday Sisters, Linda gets everyone writing by spilling her purse out over a picnic table, …
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8 Great Tips for Successful Writing Groups
I've just added The Company of Writers by Hilma Wolitzer to my favorite writing books list on the writers tips page of my website, in part because of the great …
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10 Suggestions for Writing Dialogue
I did a panel on writing dialogue at the San Francisco Writers' Conference yesterday, and ran out of the handouts I brought. So for those of you who asked for a …
A Survival Guide to Writers Conferences: 1. Eat Chocolate for Breakfast
A friend who is heading for a writers' conference next month asked if I had any advice, and since it's not the first time I've been asked: 1. Eat Chocolate for …
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2,000 Words or 2:00, and Writing Friends
The history of my writing starts with a little brown lunch bag. Like the character of Linda in my novel, The Wednesday Sisters, my first writing teacher—at a …
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