Tag: Writing

A short despair, if you'll indulge me

ByRachel July 10, 2009 1 Comment
If you've time, perhaps you'd like to hear about my moment of despair. Right now I'm unemployed and have no guarantee that anyone in the publishing world is ever going to print what I've just spent the last 13 months of my life working on every weekday. I may not have anything to show for this endeavor, except to be even further behind those of my peers who are already showing promising careers....

What's so Creative About Creative Writing?

ByRachel July 8, 2009 7 Comments
What makes a piece of writing creative? Why do certain genres--novels, short stories, poetry, journalism, even copywriting--get the additional word "creative" attached to them? Is it because they require the execution of certain forms? Perhaps the manipulation of form, such as the rising and falling action of a story or the line pattern of poems, and a careful choice of words...

Old School Writing Style

ByRachel July 7, 2009 4 Comments
J. R. R. Tolkien had an old-school writing style. He studied mythology and Old English extensively, and his prose in Lord of the Rings reflects a high, mythic sound reminiscent of older books and stories. A sound I don't run into anymore in the world of literature. That is, until now. Imagine my surprise when I ran across a modern book (copywright 2002) with a high wordy sound like Tolkien, and...

Under the Avalanche of Publishing Research

ByRachel July 5, 2009 1 Comment
I've been skipping around blogs and web sites which talk about querying, publishing, agents, author platforms, and other subjects relevant to a hopeful writer. After about a week of this, I feel that I'm only at the tip of the iceberg. I also feel more than a little overwhelmed. The sheer number of said blogs and websites contributes mightily to the problem. One site can have five links that I...

NaBloPoMo

ByRachel July 2, 2009 3 Comments
I am participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month, a cousin to National Novel Writing Month in November), which is a month of daily posting. I gotta admit, the name is half the reason I'm doing it. NaBloPoMo. I love it. So, as my first post, I will give a random rundown of my life as it stands right this second. I'm frantically working towards my deadline of having third draft Flynn...