How a Book Is Born, Part 12
In which I decide to kill off a character. And then rescind the decision.
In which I decide to kill off a character. And then rescind the decision.
So, last week, I had a conversation with a client that went something like this: Client: Could you fill out this 2-page form so we can get started on the project for which we would like to pay you a lot of money? Me: You bet! *works with great enthusiasm* There, done!…
In an earlier blog post, I talked about how writing this novel in a short period of time has required me to change some of my processes. The main changes include researching and rewriting as I go along, instead of making one mad dash to get the first draft complete and then revising to backfill…
When you first begin freelancing, it’s like being parachuted, blindfolded, into a ten-acre field you’ve never seen before and your job is to grow a crop. You have no idea where you are or what the soil is like or what the seasons will bring or what grows here. You’ve got a plow, or maybe…
Before I get to today’s post, read this interview with Dan Baum, former staffer for The New Yorker, now a freelancer. I agree with everything he says, which is how I know he’s brilliant. Pay particular attention to how he crafts every story pitch with a particular market in mind. I have been trying to…
__________________________________ I am at Mini College, a kind of week-long summer school intensive for university alums, and I am remembering back to who I was twenty years ago. Thinking, if I had known then what life had in store for me, I would never have done it. But the person I am now would never…
I hate being uncertain, as you can probably tell by how sure I am that I am always right and how convinced I am that I know everything, or at least that I know everything I need to know and can find out the rest. But life kicks everyone’s ass, even those of us who…