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Aug.25.2010 WFMAD Day 16 – In the Kitchen NPR recently did a segment on the best meals shown on film. If your book doesn’t have a scene of someone eating something, you might want to consider one. Most people eat at least three times a day – often more – and a meal can carry every imaginable kind of metaphorical weight. It’s a great way...	Aug.24.2010 WFMAD Day 15 – Better Late Than Never I’m late. I know. I should probably hang my head in shame. But I’m not going to. Our weekend was filled with camping with friends and then today we had some family stuff that took up most of the day, which was way longer than I thought it would. I don’t regret one second. There are some things...
Aug.24.2010 WFMAD Day 14 – Do You Dare? Do you dare disturb the universe? This question is what holds many of us back from writing, or from writing the things that we really want to. Because our lives are ordered and comfortable and to become creative just might mess all that up. But… I’ve met so many people who want to write, who talk...	Aug.23.2010 WFMAD Day 13 – Alone Together Such a strange thing writing is, don’t you think? Visions of other people and other worlds swim in your head until you have no choice but to write them down. Then you have the burning need to have someone else read what you’ve written, so you embark on the rocky path to publication. The writing...
Aug.18.2010 WFMAD Day 9 – gunpowder and sunscreen I spent the weekend in a haze of gunpowder and sunscreen, visiting the largest American Revolution reenactment in New England at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. I visited this reenactment a couple of years ago when I was scouting out scenes for FORGE. In some ways,...	Aug.18.2010 WFMAD Day 8 – accountability You made it through the first week! Most of you. If you were able to write at least 15 minutes a day for the last week then HUZZAH!! What (if anything) felt different about this past week’s writing? If you stumbled, then I will pat the back of your hand, brew you a cup of tea and murmur soothing...
Aug.18.2010 WFMAD Day 7 – Ready for the Close-Up? When I am teaching writing to students, I sometimes tell them to think of themselves as a film director. Like Clint Eastwood, who dabbles in a little of everything; writing, acting, directing, financing, cooking, etc. The director has assembled her actors (characters), she kind of knows what...	Aug.17.2010 WFMAD Day 6 – When The Words Don’t Come We all have days when the words don’t come. I hate them. It’s like all my creativity is frozen in a country that has never been drawn on a map. Write? Me? Ha! ::bangs head on table:: Where do these days come from? Sometimes you can pinpoint the spot: you are worried about someone you love, another...
Aug.17.2010 WFMAD Day 5 – Suckitude plus Confusion Let me expand on yesterday’s remarks about the suckitude that often pours onto the page in the early stage of a writing project. I’m going to use the writing of WINTERGIRLS as an example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIjyJ_tqedc When I was first fumbling around with the first draft...	Aug.16.2010 WFMAD Day 4 – The Big Secret of Writing I could get in a lot of trouble for this. The Author’s Guild might send ninja zombies to my house. My agent might draw a line through my name in her Big Book. She’ll use my blood for ink. SCBWI will throw my membership card into the ocean. No one will return my calls. But you guys are all...

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