A Retreat from Writing

Welcome to The Learning Curve. This is where I chronicle my adventures as a new writer. The goal is to inspire you to put that bag of chips down, step away from the television, and tell the world a good story.

A Retreat from Writing

Summer is coming! Yeah, okay. I actually prefer winter, but I know many of my fellow scribblers like the warmer weather. Some may even look for a writers’ retreat this time of year in a remote and desolate locale with the hope of writing without any distractions. A few brave souls may even bring their laptops along on a family vacation. By the way, good luck with that. Personally, this approach has never caused anything but angst in my world. This year was the only exception. Continue reading “A Retreat from Writing”

The Light

Welcome to The Learning Curve. This is where I chronicle my adventures as a new writer. The goal is to inspire you to put that bag of chips down, step away from the television, and tell the world a good story.

The Light

Technically, I wanted to name this article ‘What to do when the light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be a firefly and you end up banging your head against the wall, lost in the dark.’ The Evil Mastermind told me it was too long, so I tried again. ‘Do not go into the light or you can expect to be blinded and burned.’ He told me this was too long as well, and then hinted I might want to keep it light for the readers. Yes, friends, the light went on inside my head and I came up with the title you see at the top. It really is a lot of hard work being a writer. Thankfully, the minions here at Indies Unlimited have TEM to help us focus our thoughts. Continue reading “The Light”

Writing is Not Easy – It’s Magic

Welcome to The Learning Curve. This is where I chronicle my adventures as a new writer. The goal is to inspire you to put that bag of chips down, step away from the television, and tell the world a good story.

Writing is Not Easy – It’s Magic

Writing is not easy. Well, technically it is but most of you know what I mean. You’ve been there. The constant interruptions during writing time, or even trying to find the time to write, can be a chore. Why do we do it? God knows, it’s not for the money. If I just wanted people to see my name in print then I wouldn’t have an unlisted phone number. Not that this seems to matter much as I average one telemarketing call per day. Okay, that’s a different rant. My point is that writing is like having a second job. It’s work. It’s also magic. Continue reading “Writing is Not Easy – It’s Magic”

The Best Advice

Welcome to The Learning Curve. This is where I chronicle my adventures as a new writer. The goal is to inspire you to put that bag of chips down, step away from the television, and tell the world a good story.

The Best Advice

This month marks my one year anniversary at Indies Unlimited. I can only imagine that Stephen Hise was slightly intoxicated when he asked if I would consider writing a column for this site. After all, I am the least experienced writer on his staff, and there are nearly two dozen multi-talented people looking over my shoulder at the moment. (Seriously, you guys need to get back to work.)

One year into the adventure of writing a novel and there are a few things I would like to share with you. By you, I mean the struggling author in training. Continue reading “The Best Advice”