Posts
On Writng and Life: There is a Time for Everything.
The preacher was right when he said in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything. Take the very first novel I completed. First, a violent storm in my personal life and then a storm by the name of Hurricane Ivan left me, my family, and our city devastated. But all was not lost. The citizens…
He Cries When We Cry!
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. —Psalm 30:5 Sometimes, the hardest time to write or talk is when your going through an inner conflict of the heart, of the mind, of the spirit. When everything within you cries out no more, no more!! Yet it is through those tears,…
Interview with Writing Mom and Author Jody Hedlund
Be a Trailblazer Contest: During the month of September, Jody is running an epic contest with a prize package worth $300. Here’s the link to the contest page: http://jodyhedlund.com/contest/ Tell us a little about your family and your call to write. I’ve been married for twenty years to my college sweetheart. My husband has been…
Are You Ready for Publication?
Not your manuscript. You. Here’s the test: Strip down to your pre-fall Garden of Eden nakedness and stand on the fifty-yard line during halftime at the Super Bowl while everyone submits critiques of your body on the JumboTron. If you can handle that without buckets of drugs and/or a lifetime of therapy, then you’re probably…
Breaking Sedentary Habits Through Vertical Work Stations
by Michelle Discavage Today I bring you practical tips to break your life of sedentary habits. I think we all know that prolonged periods of sitting and sedentary lifestyles are not in our best interest. We know we should be exercising, lifting weights, and eating well. Right? But did you know that in the January 18,…
Letting Go of Appearances
You already know the signs when something’s got to give. Overscheduled and overtired, you dread what you once enjoyed. Overextended and over-budget, essentials find their way to negotiable status. Daily living takes on a frayed look, tattered around the edges, which you most likely recognize because you’ve been there before or you’ve been there a…
AWOL and Writing Conferences!
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been AWOL from Defying Gravity, mainly because I’ve been busy pursuing my dreams and blogging over at Writer…Interrupted. So if you haven’t bookmarked or google connected with me there, I give you permission to click on over there and do it now. Go ahead, I’ll wait. That was quick! I…
Secrets of a Great Pitch by Agent Rachelle Gardner
Now that Writers’ Conference season has arrived, I wanted to go over some tips for pitching to agents and editors. We can probably all agree on the “don’ts” of pitching your project. Don’t pitch in the bathroom. Don’t pitch a novel that’s incomplete. Don’t pitch with your mouth full. What are some positive tips we…
Wendy and the Lost Boys by Julie Salamon
Julie Salamon undertakes a daunting task: writing a biography on Wendy Wasserstein, Pulitzer-Prize and Tony-award winning playwright. In fact, Wasserstein was the first woman to receive a Tony award, making her somewhat of a standard in theater studies. Through her plays, Wasserstein reflected the issues of the Baby Boomer woman: career, birth control, love, marriage,…
Pardon Me While I Attend the Revolution…
When starting a revolution, tell your wife by Ron Estrada One day in May of 2010, I announced to my wife that I’d started a tea party. This was shortly after I announced that I was running for precinct delegate (which doesn’t require “running” at all because they can’t give the job away). I described…