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My 5th Novel Has a Name (at least for now)
Today, it’s official. I have a book title. I have a copyrighted ISBN number. I have a “mood” for the cover. And while I am going to seek traditional publishing this time around and solicit an agent to represent me, I still need to go through this process to help move in the right direction and keep me motivated should I venture down the self-publishing road again. The characters in this novel are not only in my head, but in my soul. Each one is a part of me, and a part of you, and a part of everyone we have met along the way. With five main characters, a…
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The Loss of George
* This week, I learned much too late of the passing of my favorite professor and one of the best people I knew, George Friedman. He passed away in late February. Every once in a while someone comes along and makes an impression on your life. That person, for me, came in the form of Dr. George Friedman, professor of English at Towson University. George, as I came to call him, was the singular inspiration for my first novel, Beneath the Mimosa Tree, which began as a short story in George’s class—Writing Creative Short Fiction—during my first master’s degree. When he returned a short story I wrote, and verbally told…
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Franco and The Blonde: Fiction Friday
Today, I’m trying my hand at a bit of short fiction. This piece of flash fiction is under 600 words at 595 words. This scene popped into my head last night, perhaps because at dinner, our family was talking about our Italian heritage and the legacies we leave behind (I know…a little heavy for a dinner conversation during a coronavirus crisis). Nonetheless, I knew I was going to write this scene when I went to bed last night, and I banged it out this morning, just to touch base with my creativity. I’m so immersed in teaching 4 online courses right now, that I have little time for something like…
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Podcast 13 – Ideas to Help Foster Creativity During This Crisis
It’s difficult to feel happy during a crisis when there is so much heartbreak happening on the front lines of this coronavirus pandemic. I know I’m feeling a little depressed by the situation and can only watch bits of news each day in order to carry on with the things I have to accomplish for my students and university as I teach from home. We are all doing the best we can, and being home hasn’t been all awful, but I do feel as if my creativity has been zapped a little. Do you feel the same way? Today’s Podcast 13 offers ideas for those of us writers who need…
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Giving In To Creativity
* Sometimes you don’t just need to mentally clear your head, but you also need to clear out your workspace to foster your creativity. It’s like starting over again with a clean slate. I took time yesterday to do just that—and then wrote 1,000 words of a new thing that’s been brewing in my head. It’s a more complicated story with four main characters, and a little darker than what I normally write. At the beginning of a project, it’s always exciting to see where it may take you. Well, truthfully, it’s exciting and scary at the same time. But, it’s taken hold in my brain, and the story seems…
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What Blogging Has Meant to Me
* “You’re still blogging?” “Wow…you’ve been blogging for a while?” “How often do you blog?” “I didn’t know you had a blog. What’s your blog about?” “How do you come up with ideas for your blog each week?” “You’re still blogging?” * That’s pretty much how it goes most days when I mention that I’m a blogger. Going strong and steady since April 2011. One to three blog posts a week. You can count on me for that. With the help of a then-student and now friend, Bill, we put our heads together and came up with Steph’s Scribe. I needed a title. I needed some content. He gave me…
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How Reading and Writing Inspires Me
There are few things that give me more pleasure than totally immersing myself in (a) reading a book, and (b) writing a book. Reading has saved me in many ways. It’s made me smarter, more empathetic, more worldly, and a better writer. It’s given me a sense of purpose. As a youngster, I was too busy playing all the time and being active; I didn’t really fall in love with reading until my senior year of high school, when I read a novel that opened up my world. From that point on, I became a reader. Reading has allowed me to visit places and see things I have yet to…
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When An Idea Hits You, You Jump [for joy]
Hi You All, I’m glad you’re still here reading my blogs. I’m so thankful and happy about that. As you’ve been with me for a while, you know that this summer I experienced what we might call burnout, or the feelings of being a little tired from all that has occurred over the last several years with my writing and the promotion of my writing. Since 2012, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind, and I’m not complaining at all. It’s all been wonderful and crazy and fun. It’s been non-stop high energy as I’ve turned out three fiction books and a textbook all within the span of five…
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Every One of My Books Has Killed Me a Little More
*** You see the title there, and maybe that’s why you clicked over to see what’s going on here. If you did, please know I didn’t say that quote. It was said by the famous late writer, Norman Mailer. “Every one of my books has killed me a little more, ” he said. I didn’t know the man. I’m not on par with him as a writer. I am not as prolific a writer as he was. And I certainly don’t earn my primary income as a writer as he did. And yet, I can totally understand what he said. As some of you who follow my blog…
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Creating the Physical Space in which to Write
I N S P I R I N G S P A C E S One of the things we talked about in my college classroom recently is not only WHEN we find time to write, but WHERE we find time to write. I’m very lucky that our home came with a beautiful office that we have tweaked a little with paint and a chandelier. (My husband said, “You took down the fan for a chandelier? We have enough chandeliers in the house.” To which I replied, “You can never have too many chandeliers.”) Finding the TIME to write has its own challenges, but part of it, for me, lies…
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The Truth About Burnout, Steps to Rejuvenation
I know this post is coming sooner than you or I expected it to come, so let me explain. Earlier this week, I experienced something unfamiliar. It came out of nowhere and yet came from everywhere. I imagined myself in the image of an old wind-up toy that had hit a wall; I was marching along, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was swimming in “noise,” as we communication folks like to call it. It was filling up my head and causing me not to think clearly. Some people might call it burnout. Burn•out (noun) /ˈbərnˌout/ def. physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress. “high levels of professionalism…
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5 Guiding Principles of Creative Leadership
*** Last week, Dr. Leeanne Bell McManus, Chip Rouse, and I gave a three-hour presentation to an organization entitled, “Event Planning: A Seminar in Communication.” Centered around ideas from our textbook, Event Planning: Communicating Theory & Practice, we talked about communication theory, ideas, tips and case studies, and offered strategies for leaders in event planning. Additionally, one of the aspects we talked about was creativity, and our textbook includes a chapter dedicated to leadership. I like to talk about the combination of the two: creativity & leadership. One of my favorite articles I’ve read to date on this topic is from the Harvard Business Review and it’s entitled Creativity and…
