The Bluebird Café in Nashville has a storied past, as die-hard country music fans will tell you. Not being one of those, I hadn’t heard of it before this past weekend. Shame on me. The Bluebird Café is a tiny little “listening room” tucked into an unassuming strip mall, far from the noise and neon […]
Present Tense vs Past Tense – On the RMFW Blog
If you’ve wondered whether the story you’re writing should be in present tense or past tense, you’re in good company. The short answer is: do whatever feels right for you and your story. Since that’s about as helpful as a crocheted bicycle, however, I decided to dive a little deeper into the debate. Read about […]
Writers Have Keen Observation Skills – Or So I’ve Heard
Keen observation skills. That’s pretty much an essential quality for a writer, right? We observe setting. We observe atmosphere. We observe human nature. We observe conflict and emotion and irony. But boy, I’d be lousy as a crime scene witness. Detective: “Can you describe the perpetrator?” Me: “Um. I think it was a white guy.” […]
The Value of Writing Short Stories – On the RMFW Blog
When another writer asked me if writing short stories was “worth it,” I realized it depends—as it does in so many aspects of life—on how you define “worth.” For me, it’s worth it for many reasons. But you may define “worth” differently. This week, I discuss this concept over on the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer’s […]
Burnt Offerings – Hiking through a Wildfire-Ravaged Forest
Here I am, hiking through a burned forest. It’s been less than a year since the East Troublesome Fire tore through 193,812 acres of Colorado mountain forest, destroying 580 structures, 366 of which were homes. With 80-mile-per-hour winds, that fire ripped through miles-long swaths of Rocky Mountain National Park, roiled down mountainsides to the very […]
Repurposing Those Writing Fragments – On the RMFW Blog
If you’re like me (and every other writer), you’ve got a folder (or 12) of scraps of writing you’ve never done anything with. Writing exercises, ideas for scenes you never used, character sketches for characters you deleted after the second chapter. Those writing fragments can be mined and repurposed, turned into something new, or maybe […]
