Archive for the writing Tag

How Writers and Editors Are Like Snails

John Updike once wrote that “writers walk through volumes of the unexpressed and like snails leave behind a faint thread excreted out of ourselves.” (“The Blessed Man of Boston”)     As an editor, I’m fairly gastropod-like myself. I leave my trail of commentary on a manuscript as evidence of where I’ve been (in fact, I may have an even
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Why We Need Introvert and Extrovert Authors

You probably saw the headline and thought I was talking about two different types of authors, right? Ah, but this is an entirely new and different kind of post. This is how to draw on your hidden abilities as an extrovert and an introvert.  Obviously, it's becoming ever more important for a good writer to use both. Story is king
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Your Writers Group 2.0 Update…

As I get ready to launch Your Writers Group 2.0, the broader community/training site that's taken many months to produce, I've been researching a lot of great sites and programs for writing and generally thoughtful reading. There's a ton of great stuff out there for free. What I think is missing is balanced help on NOT publishing too soon–on writing,
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Why Absolutely Everything Is about the Story

I had this thought yesterday: Everyone who lives with barriers to belief who has made a conscious negative response about faith has fully misjudged God. The realization of that stopped me. Somehow I knew it was a glimpse of God’s perspective and his true love for those he misses. And so I stopped and considered it. And no more than
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A Better Way to Sell Out

Writing makes me happy. But I have something of a strained relationship with publishing. Being an introvert, I don’t want the spotlight, though being human, I do like being well-regarded. Publishing is legitimizing, but it’s also exposing, which depending on your personality can be invigorating or shall we say unpleasant, as in fly-unzipped-on-laundry-day awkward. So if I’m going to do
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