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Books and writing are the core of my life. I edit books, write books, and teach writing. I love this work, and will be happy to provide any editorial or writing service you need.
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August 9, 2023 By Elizabeth 1 Comment

Favorite Quotes

During a recent class, I discussed rhythm, starting with a passage from Ursula Le Guin’s excellent Steering the Craft, and moving on to Virginia Woolf’s equally excellent explanation: “Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can’t use the wrong words.” Simple, right? I then read aloud one of my favorite examples of style/rhythm/right words. It’s three paragraphs … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books I recommend, The Writing Process, What I Read, What the Teacher Learned in Class, Writing Tips Tagged With: books, reading list, rhythm, style, writing, writing tips

April 2, 2021 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

“I’m Doing the Best I Can”

For my birthday last year, a friend gave me a book, one that I probably would not have bought for myself because it’s a memoir. I don’t tend to read memoirs. But I loved the title: All the Way to the Tigers. Who wouldn’t be intrigued? And the author’s name rang a bell—Mary Morris. I checked to see what else she had written and recalled that many years ago, I had read one or two of her novels. So, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Writing Process, What I Read, Writing Tips Tagged With: art, goals, memoir, perfection, writing, writing tips

July 18, 2020 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

The Creative Walk

I walk. It's a defining characteristic, a must-do every day. These are not long walks, they rarely qualify as hikes, but for me a walk is frequently--maybe always--a creative walk. I read this article about walking about a year ago. I nodded in agreement through most of it, but was certainly surprised to learn all that was happening in my brain as I walked. What did not surprise me were the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Writing Process Tagged With: birds, books, create, creativity, walk, writing

August 2, 2019 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Write What You Know

Write what you know

“Write what you know” is one of the more confounding pieces of writerly advice. It can, unfortunately, be interpreted as “write what you have experienced.” I say unfortunately because, for most of us, that would result in deadly dull fiction. I used to complain to my mother about having been raised in white-bread suburbia. Way too boring to write about that. I would much rather have had the sort … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Writing Process, Writing Tips

May 23, 2018 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Outline or Not

Creative writing has few hard and fast rules, and certainly there is no rule—or consensus—on whether to outline or not when you start a novel. (A nonfiction book is different.) Open any book on writing, attend any writers’ conference, talk to any successful novelist, and you’ll get a variety of answers. My answer to whether you should write an outline or not is a resounding … sometimes. As I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Writing Process

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