Writing well requires an enormous amount of concentration and energy, plus a decent dose of self-confidence and courage. It’s not like making widgets on an assembly line, where your mind can wander while your hands stay busy producing. For that reason, even “normal” amounts of stress can freeze your writing fingers. (“Normal” meaning those stresses […]
Kristi Holl
A Writer's Flexibility
Persistence: the first quality a writer must have to make it in this business. What ranks a close second? It’s being able to give up control and go with life’s flow. That quality is flexibility. Persistent Flexibility I’ve been writing seriously for 35 years, and there are many things I’ve loved about writing. I’ve been […]
Mixing Writing & Adult Children
Keeping with our Mother’s Day theme of combining writing with raising children (Hats Off to Mom Writers, Combine Babies and Bylines,Combining Writing and School-Age Kids, Writing During the Teen Years), let’s talk about writing when you have college kids and grown children (plus grandchildren). Again, your writing skills need flexibility! (with granddaughter, Abby, at a book sale) Déjà […]
Writing During the Teen Years
Keeping with our Mother’s Day theme of combining writing with raising children (Hats Off to Mom Writers, Combine Babies and Bylines, Combining Writing and School-Age Kids), let’s talk about writing during the teen years–and the skills it will entail. The main challenge at this time is keeping (and constantly regaining) your sanity! Even normally active teens can […]
Combining Writing and School-Age Kids
Yesterday we talked about how to Combine Babies and Bylines. There are challenges galore when writing with newborns and babies in the house. At that stage, we usually daydream of that magical day when the kids will be in school and we’ll have all those uninterrupted hours to write. Yes, it is easier to write […]
Combine Babies and Bylines
I started writing when I had an infant, a two-year-old, and a preschooler. I wrote throughout their school years, their teen years, their college/adult years, and now full circle when I am babysitting grandkids. The (survival) skills you need to both write and parent change with each stage of your children’s lives. (Sometimes your […]
Hats Off to Mom Writers!
Mom writers are a special breed, and my hat goes off to you. I started writing when my children were babies and toddlers, but I haven’t been in that life stage for a long time. I often keep my grandkids (ages 12, 9, 4, and 1) though. It quickly brings back the challenges of combining […]
Do Facts Equal Truth?
About ten years ago, someone said to me, “You write fiction because you can’t handle the real world.” I was stunned by the accusation. For one thing, my fictional characters were very real to me! And I tackled real situations in my books–often based on actual events. From my childhood on, I’d learned a lot of […]
Alone with a Book
This is my story of a perfect day, told in three pictures… [photos from For Reading Addicts] Rake in a Book Just My Book and Me Good Night, Book
Write More Because Quantity Improves Quality
I just finished a second 55,000 word novel in six months and sent it off to my editor. In addition to the writing, this five months included Christmas and trips and some sickness. To my surprise, the quality of the last book was considerably better written than anything I’ve done in a while. I was […]