Today’s lesson in the Plot Your Novel in Just Five Days challenge is number three, “Identifying Key Points of Interest.” This one builds on Monday’s and Tuesday’s assignments but is much more complex than the lessons of the first two days. The first day involved setting a Story Question, External Goal, and Internal Motivation forContinue reading “Plot Your Novel: Day 3”
Category Archives: Writing
Plot Your Novel: Day 2
Today, the second day of the Plot Your Novel in Just Five Days challenge, is subtitled Researching the Route. Yesterday I had to formulate the Story Question, External Goal, and Internal Motivation for my main character. Today I had to consider what the character needs to do or have happen in order to meet herContinue reading “Plot Your Novel: Day 2”
Plot Your Novel: Day 1
Today is the first day of the Plot Your Novel in Five Days challenge. It’s a free workshop, with a new 15-minute lesson posted each morning, each one assigning a task to move your plot forward. I’m hoping the structure will help me move forward with the book I’ve been outlining. Today’s assignment asked usContinue reading “Plot Your Novel: Day 1”
Blog Like Crazy: Wrapping Up the Month
The Blog Like Crazy challenge ends tonight. For the month of November, participants vowed to post a blog entry of at least 300 words each day. I did manage to post every day. In fact, most days I posted more than one entry, if you count my writer birthday lists. And many of my entriesContinue reading “Blog Like Crazy: Wrapping Up the Month”
Journaling 2: These Dreams
A couple days ago I pulled out an old journal I kept, back in November and December 1998, and I posted on this blog about the entries I found there. One surprise for me was just how often I recounted my dreams in the journal. I’ve always been someone who has strange and vivid dreams.Continue reading “Journaling 2: These Dreams”
Happy Birthday, Blog!
One year ago today, my blog debuted on this platform. I’d been writing a blog for years, but it was on a different site, and the host company had become increasingly difficult to work with, so it was time for a change. Here’s a link to my very first entry on this site. So, whatContinue reading “Happy Birthday, Blog!”
Revisiting an Old Journal, 22 Years Later
I have kept journals for decades. Mostly I write in them, though I also go through periods when I draw as well. Most of my old journals are still in boxes (I moved last year and am still working out where to keep things). But I have a dozen or so of them out andContinue reading “Revisiting an Old Journal, 22 Years Later”
Ideas: Where Do They Come From?
Like all authors ever, I’ve often had people ask me the question, “Where do you get your ideas?” The question is always about ideas for novels. But right now, halfway through the month of November’s #bloglikecrazy blogging challenge. I am suddenly struggling to come up with blog ideas. The first two weeks went well. EvenContinue reading “Ideas: Where Do They Come From?”
My Piccioli Ancestors
I wrote recently about my paternal grandfather and his Italian immigrant parents. There is so much more I could say about their family. But today I want to tell a different story from my family’s past. This one comes from my paternal grandmother’s childhood. That’s the Piccioli family to the right, minus two older brothers.Continue reading “My Piccioli Ancestors”
Character Studies: Creating Characters for Fiction
I’m working on a “beat sheet,” kind of a preliminary outline, for my next novel. Since the book is intended to be the first in a series, the characters I’m trying to bring to life now are characters I plan to be writing about for some time, so it feels especially important to get themContinue reading “Character Studies: Creating Characters for Fiction”
