I was a person before I was a mother. I don't mean that I have somehow become something other than a person, or less than a person since becoming "mama." What is I mean is that motherhood has changed me just as it has changed my schedule, my social life, and pretty much everything else, and yet I am still me.
It took me a while to admit to myself that I wanted to be a writer. That is to say, in a professional sense.
The first step was realizing that I really enjoyed writing. I started my first book over five years ago, and I didn't begin with publishing in mind. I was just having fun, and trying to watch less television…
I've always loved a good DIY. My friend Meg likes to rib me for how often I say things like “tutorial” and “I saw this on Pinterest!”…
I’ve decided I want to be a writer.
There. I said it.
The reality is that I’ve been writing ever since I could. Not with any serious ambition, mind you, and aside from schoolwork, only rarely have I allowed anyone to read what I’ve written. But in every phase of my life, I can look back and see where the impulse to write would arise…
Before reading On Writing by Stephen King, I had never really given much thought to dialogue attributions. But as a green writer with a first draft to edit that includes a ton of dialogue, I am hungry for advice on how to make this thing good…
"The road to hell is paved with adverbs."
Stephen King, On Writing
I recently read Stephen King's On Writing. I don't do horror, so I had never read anything else by Stephen King, but he is a fellow Mainer, and the book came highly recommended as one of the best books on writing, so I thought I'd check it out.I loved it.The first part of the book is a memoir. It was fun to learn more about the man behind the iconic name, and King is an engaging storyteller. That section alone would have made for an entertaining read, but the real reason I had picked it up was to find out what advice a man who has sold millions of books would have for someone like me who is just starting out, so I really enjoyed the second section of the book, which focused on the craft of writing.This book is full of gems, but I had three big take-aways. First, the passive voice should not be used. (See what I did there?) The second is to avoid the use of adverbs, which he likens to weeds. The last is related to the second: beware of ridiculous dialogue attributions like "she shouted menacingly" or "he jerked out" and stick with the simple he said/she said as much as possible.I've just begun editing my first draft in earnest, and I'm keeping all three of these things in the forefront of my mind as I make notes on changes. I plan to dive more deeply into each of these subjects in separate posts in the coming weeks. And by then I'm sure I'll have plenty of examples of these sins from my own story to share.
"If you can do it for joy, you can do it forever."
Stephen King, On Writing
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