Here’s a portion of a so-called rejection letter I got in 2004 for the earliest version of my future best-seller Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew: “Your story idea does not meet our needs. We look for pitches that offer, at the very least 1) a compelling story that educators will find […]
Writer Unbundled
If there’s one thing my writerly soul detests, it’s a buzzword. A fork in the thigh of originality and wordsmithery, every insufferable time. Remember “bundling,” one of early 21st century’s most annoying argots? Whole industries, from telecommunications to healthcare to pet grooming bundled bigger and spiffier packages in hopes of persuading, often forcing, us […]
The Wonder and Delight of the Rabbit Hole
The pink-chalk late winter sunrise peeked through the trees beyond my office window as I played out a chapter of my literary life’s version of “all good things come to an end.” Behind me stood a tower of storage containers. I’d begun packing up ten years of research that went into my novel The River […]
Ten Good Reasons to Recycle Your Content
We all know George Santayana’s ominous warning, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We could call it a kind of unintentional recycling. Then there are of us who remember the past and are called to repeat it, with the greatest of intention and purpose. Across a twenty-year writing career, […]
Seven Cliches That Weaken Your Writing
Today’s publishing market is a media-content glutton. Whether authoring fiction or nonfiction, we find ourselves churning out articles, posts, presentations, interviews, newsletters, and memes. Credibility is everything. We want our words to ring true, relevant, and original. That’s how we grab a reader’s attention and make them want to read more, how we build […]
A Different Kind of Wonder Woman
What an odd stocking stuffer, I thought—a five-inch Gumby-esque Wonder Woman, her limbs capable of metahuman positions. I tossed my husband a baffled look. No fan of the superhero, superpower stuff, I’ve always found my power in the ordinary, the everyday, the quiet people and deeds. “But you have been a Wonder Woman, writing […]