In February, I joined something like 10,000 authors entering the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards contest. I did it with some reservations, because really I love self-publishing so much I am reluctant about a contract with anyone. However, a pay check and reader feedback–oh, and recognition–this is all important to my career. The catch with the…
I am no stranger to the forced pause. I am a migraine patient (aka migraneur) and have been since I was five years old. I have what used to be called classic migraine, which means my symptoms include blindness or partial blindness, confusion, disrupted speech, etc. on top of the usual pain, nausea, sensitivity to…
You know what overwhelms me? Yeah, well, plenty of things. But I am referring to my daily walks from the desk in the quiet room of the library to the restroom or drinking fountain. Book covers! There are just so many of them! There are so many great ones! And surely not all those books…
Sitting in my most recent writers’ club meeting, my mind wandered to the issue of the modern reader and how a writer should and would respond. Most specifically, I was thinking about the attention span and the action requirements of the modern reader. Personally, I can relate. I have adult ADHD and even though I…
I think the first thing I need to define here is my idea of art. Now, there are whole books and classes and even lives dedicated to this topic, as well as ever-shifting popular and specialist opinions. I know. (I took a couple classes in college on aesthetics, as well as art appreciation, and the…
Lately I have heard and re-heard some very old writerly advice. It is this: Read. In other words, if you want to be a good writer, you need to read, and read a lot. Now, I have a little bit of a superstition of sorts about this. Actually, I guess it’s not really a superstition,…
Things I don’t particularly like about being a writer: Marketing Publicity Talking to people, especially answering questions on the spot (Crotchety!) Not getting paid for long periods of work Tweeting Distractions (from working at home) Not being taken seriously Self doubt Snooty writers and snooty critics Needing a GRE or 12 conferences in Hawaii Editors,…
Occasionally, in the life of a writer, your job demands that you curl up in the fetal position and bawl your eyes out. Maybe it’s only happened to me once, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the last time. You see, because I have only been a part-time writer (and full-time mom with a double-full-time…
I have ADD. Or, more up-to-the-current terminology, I have ADHD, Inattentive Type, commonly known as Adult ADD. The reason I bring this up is this: I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the generalization of being an artist, or the artistic temperament. I have suffered all my life from the same sort…
I don’t actually starve. But the word “starving” is a whole other blog topic dedicated to the slang usages and relative versus absolute poverty. That said… When I was a little kid, I was often praised for my artistic abilities. They even stuck me in a special school for it, encouraged it. My parents drove…
(Before I begin, let me declare the inclusivity of the term “artist” which I am using here. I include all kinds of visual, performance, literary, and other artists, but speak more from the experience of the painter, crafter, and of course, writer.) The starving artist is such an iconic personage in our history that it…
the starving artist 