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Do You Write to Sell or Do You Write to Tell Good Stories?
Yesterday, when I was texting with a dear friend of mine who has been quite influential in my life and career, I shared with him that I was taking a break from writing for a bit. Which, as you know, if you’ve followed along thus far in my tales of woe, really means that I became burned out doing book promotion as opposed to book writing. Anyway, he asked me this question at end of our text thread: Do you write to sell or do you write to tell good stories? I looked at what he had written for a long time, pensively, unsure as to how I would answer…
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Writing Can’t Be ‘Thin Love’
Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all. ~ Toni Morrison I admire writer Toni Morrison. She is smart, insightful, and willing to write for herself. Her books are powerful and influential…and from the heart. After sitting here reading many of her quotes, I keep coming back to the one above along with this one: If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it. ~ Toni Morrison You have to love to write in order to take an idea and watch it come to fruition. Anyone who has the fortitude to do…
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Why I Write, Part III, The Finale
One of my favorite authors is Kate DiCamillo. She writes beautiful, lyrical stories that you generally find in the young adult section of book stores. Her stories are somewhat mystical, and despite that her stories are geared to children through young teens, I believe they are wonderful stories for all ages. I recently watched a video of her where she was talking about becoming a writer. She mentions that she walked around for 10 years wearing the uniform of a writer—a black turtleneck and jeans—saying she was going to be a writer, but she never did anything about it. Then, she said, she got off her duff and wrote her…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
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Why I Write, Part II
“The rain was beating down hard, hitting the awnings over the kitchen windows. The leaves of our old magnolia tree were drenched and wilting. I wished I could afford a place of my own. My parents had been kind enough to let me stay with them until I save enough money to buy something, but I was beginning to feel anxious. But this I knew for sure—that my house would be just as cozy as my parents, and in the backyard there would be a sprawling mimosa tree like the one in Michael Contelli’s backyard.” ~ From my short story entitled, Contelli’s Mimosa. 1992. This is how the short story…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
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WHY I WRITE, Part I
George Orwell started it. His famous piece, “Why I Write,” has inspired writers of all walks of life to talk about whey they write. I’ve never done this before, and on this snowy day, I decided to take a little time to critically analyze why I write, the process, and why I enjoy doing it. It’s been something I’ve wanted to take the time to do, and after speaking about this very topic yesterday with one of my students, I decided to set out upon the task. * * * WHY I WRITE Part I—The Early Years: My Bad Poetry All I can tell you is that I remember writing…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
