Category: Quotes, Words, & Phrases

August 1, 2016

My Biggest Roadblock to Writing a Novel: Why Coming Back from Vacation Is Hard

Ok, that’s not the only reason I missed my deadline and haven’t started posting again as planned although, I have to admit, it’s really hard to give up all this reading that I’ve been doing. And it’s not totally hyperbole: books might very well be my biggest roadblock to writing a novel (or more novels). Or doing anything else, for that matter....

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June 7, 2016

Put the Puzzle Pieces Together in New Ways

Neologists kind of use the last writing prompt with prefixes, affixes, and roots. Take a root word from here, an affix or two from there, and voíla, you can build a new word. It’s like a puzzle that can be combined into hundreds, thousands of different ways. And the best part? You usually don’t have to think about it. It...

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June 2, 2016

As in Ersatz Realism

Just kidding. We all know that books have to be actual and truthful representations of real life (*snicker*). We would never fake it with an ersatz reality. Or have our characters give a show of ersatz emotion. But we might use the word in dialogue somewhere. Waiter: We ran out of coffee beans. Is ersatz coffee all right? Customer: Ersatz...

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May 30, 2016

A Life Worth Writing: A Quote for Memorial Day

On a day when we stop to remember those who served in the United States’ armed forces, it seems appropriate to quote one of our first patriots, Benjamin Franklin. A man who helped that nation begin. A man whose deeds have been written about and read for over a century. His words seem to epitomize one of the main goals...

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May 23, 2016

A Well-composed Book Is a Magic Carpet

Clearly, I’m a bibliophile, but the power of books is simply amazing. Through the conventions of language, we can experience different places, cultures, and points of view that we might otherwise never be exposed to. We can learn facts. We can learn skills. We can learn empathy. The possibilities are truly endless despite the fact that we are all using...

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May 18, 2016

I Was a Different Person Then

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May 15, 2016

Writing Means Sharing: a Quote by Paulo Coelho

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May 10, 2016

Forget the Drinking Class, Work Is the Curse of the Reading Class

Actually, although enjoyable, my formal work also gets in the way of writing (another form of work), and squeezing in the writing is also getting in the way of reading. On the one hand, I’m very happy and satisfied that I’m getting the writing done. On the other hand, I feel like an addict who’s gone too long without her...

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May 7, 2016

Stephen King on Short Stories & Kissing Strangers

Here’s the rest of the quote: “A short story is a different thing altogether–a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger. That is not, of course, the same thing as an affair or a marriage, but kisses can be sweet, and their very brevity forms their own attraction.” Read more here.

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April 27, 2016

A Tony Morrison Quote: “Don’t Tell Us What to Believe, What to Fear”

This quote is so full of different writing advice that I had to break it up a little. From motivation to ego to personal truth to a warning against proselytizing to a metaphor telling us to show -not tell: that’s a lot for one quote!

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