It’s college essay time again and I am flooded with students who are applying to schools with a November 30th deadline. We are scrambling to beat the clock for the University of California schools, mainly, but also early admission requirements to other colleges around the country, such as University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Tulane,…
Category: How To’s on Writing
Hand in Hand – A Writing Process that Works
Here are two of my daughter Rachael’s grades from the infamously difficult UCLA English department. Of course, I am a proud mother and am pleased to “crow” about them to you all, but I have a bigger point. These grades illustrate something I’ve learned over these past 13 years of working with writing students –…
Writing Frustrations or How Not to Write a Novel…
I have been struggling today with my new novel, working out the structure using John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story. It’s difficult because I started with an image and have written probably sixty or seventy pages of this novel, but realize that I have a big problem. My main character, a 17-year-old girl, is not…
The Joys of Writing “Flash” and Some Reading Recommendations
I currently am teaching an online course on Flash Fiction and Flash Memoir for Story Circle Network. This subject is close to my heart since flash is one of my favorite modes of writing. For the course, I have read a lot of short-shorts both fiction and memoir and have been reminded of just how…
Roget’s Thesaurus: A Hard Copy Must-Have
Roget’s Thesaurus. Ah, heaven. I try my best to educate my students on the necessity of having a hard copy of this three-inch thick book around if they are truly interested in writing. After all, when we’re stumped for just the right word, they see me stand up and head to my bookcase. “It’s time…
Literary vs. Genre Fiction: What are the Differences?
The differences between literary and genre fiction can be slightly elusive, so here goes what I have learned by reading descriptions of the forms in two well-respected books on writing: Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft and Sarah Stone and Ron Nyren’s Deepening Fiction: A Practical Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Writers….
Similes: Trickier Than You Think
“Similes: Trickier Than You Think” isn’t exactly a title that brings most people running to read a blog post. Dear Lord, you might think, just how wacky has this poor woman gotten that she is now worrying herself silly about the difficulty of a simple figure of speech? Dear, dear, the poor thing needs a…
How to Write Regularly
How to write regularly is one of the most common obstacles aspiring writers face. Time is the number one reason most cite for why they don’t routinely sit down and compose, but there are other issues as well, such as writer’s block. This is when you have the time and inclination, but once ready to…
Flash Essay: The Fun of Writing Personal Essay
I just completed teaching an online course for Story Circle Network entitled, “Writing the Personal Essay.” The course was five weeks long and each week the students were assigned reading material on a different type of essay, then required to write that type of essay by the end of the week. Just so that we…
Flash Essay: Birds in Flight or The College Essay Writing Process
This is the beginning of college essay season, when students start composing that 500-word paper, which may be the deciding factor in their acceptance to a prestigious/hoped-for school. I have helped many with these essays for the past 13 years, and my students, I am proud to say, have been accepted to Princeton, Yale, University…
20 Minutes a Day 