How Do Real Writers Write?

We take workshops, classes, read books, go to seminars and lectures. We follow the gurus of the writing world who tell us the inside scoop on how to best get our ideas and images on the page. We want to believe in the magic. Or we want the guaranteed formula. The gurus offer different approaches, a variety of attitudes, a multitude of tricks. And they are all correct. Because what they offer works for them. And it’s likely it will work for us too. And/Or not all of it will work for us. But we won’t know for sure until we try, and it’s while experimenting that the genius happens. Does getting up at 4:00 a.m. light up your page? Does mapping out your novel first with deep backstory and psychological knowledge of your characters? Does winging it on the fly? Do you like setting aside weeks or do you thrive in short bursts? Is it better for you to pull over on the side of the road and burn up a few pages? What pens do you like? What sized notebook or position for your laptop? Is it chocolate, spicy potato chips or a chipotle sandwich that sustains you? Outside or inside? By a window or in a closet? Noise cancelling headphones or heavy metal blasting? You see? The gurus have it right because they have tried it all and found the writing process that sustains them. And here’s the real insider info: No one has just one process. Switching it up because of time constraints, mood, energy level, the genre or the weather is a real response to getting ourselves to our page. We get to decide. We are real writers with our own process that adapts, evolves, and stays true to us. Try everything on and and the magic carpet will reveal itself.

Upcoming Events

Release Date: May 6, 2021: Maud & Addie, a middle-grade novel. In 1910, sisters, Addie and Maud Campbell are swept out to sea off the coast of Nova Scotia. With a half-filled picnic hamper, a carriage blanket and their wits, they survive the North Atlantic and landfall on a deserted island. As castaways, their resilience, courage and inventiveness are tested.

Join Maud & Addie on Instagram: maud.addie
and
Facebook: Writing Full Tilt

Online Weekly Workshops:

Thursday Evenings, ten weeks beginning September 17, 2020 https://www.writingfulltilt.com/workshops/

Friday Mornings, ten weeks beginning September 18, 2020, https://www.writingfulltilt.com/workshops/

Monday Evenings ten weeks beginning September 14, 2020. https://www.writingfulltilt.com/online-workshop/

BREATHING WHILE BLACK Virtual Exhibit at Augusta Savage Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Fall 2020. Terry Jenoure, Director http://www.fineartscenter.com/augusta

Third Eye on the Prize Poetry by Debra Sansone. Pre-publication order through August 14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4fGFprcLj8

Prompt Photo

Photo by Maureen Buchanan Jones
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