There is a lot of preparation required before planting: tilling the soil, pulling weeds, fertilizing. Once the groundwork is done (outline, research), then comes the planting of seeds — a lot of seeds — more than are needed for a healthy garden. I know that not all seeds I plant will take root. Some will be healthy, others weak and thin. And I can’t just stare at it every day, waiting and watching for the plants to grow. Instead, I walk…
If you ask a writer how to write a novel, you’ll hear a dozen different answers. From note cards to outlines. I tried them all and each time I felt bogged down, stuck. In fact, I got lost in the quagmire of paper. I felt like I was preparing for a full-scale invasion rather than writing a story. I kept hearing the words, “Just get it down.” I didn’t understand what that meant until I did it. Earlier this year…
I am a lot like my father. I didn’t realize it until today. In 1986, my father took pen to paper (literally) and wrote down one of the many bedtime stories we enjoyed as children. He painstakingly hand wrote, revised and edited, while my mother obligingly typed. Each revision, change and typed page was labeled and stored in a file folder. When polished, he mailed Mountain Adventure to publishers, only to receive rejections. So, the book was placed in a…