Thanks to everybody who came to Diesel Books in Brentwood last night. Especially to eight of my students who read their amazing work from Kicking in the Wall: Tom Hartman, Kathy Katims, Cynthia Lim, Bob Goldman, Barbara Lodge, Erica Jamieson, Jeri Okamoto Floyd, and Ruth Rudnick. Thanks also to Diane Leslie who makes Diesel feel like you’re…
Here’s an article I wrote for my publisher about Kicking In the Wall. It’s also posted on the New World Library website. KICKING IN THE WALL 5 Minute Exercises: A Key to Overcoming Writers Block Early in her career, Patti Smith got writer’s block: “I would go as far as I could and hit a wall,…
Every once in awhile I get an email that reminds me why I write books about writing. Below is one of those emails. The message also makes me hope that this blog might be a way for writers to meet other writers and connect. Happily the Comment section is once again open, so please comment…
I've had half a dozen really good ideas for this blog during the past week – mostly whan I'm walking Nelson first thing in the morning. Interesting stuff about writing, lots of inspiration – but you know what? I didn't write any of it down. I thought oh, I'll remember that, I'll write the post…
Here's a link to interesting, valuable advice about writing and blogging from Joyce Carol Oates. She said if she was starting out today she'd write a blog before writing a book. (I agree with her – I found the voice for A Year Of Writing Dangerously by writing this blog for six years.) http://cs.writermag.com/WRTCS/blogs/staff_blog/archive/2012/05/30/joyce-carol-oates-on-blogging.aspx Think…
Here's something I have to learn over and over when I start something new: I have to be patient with the mess. And I hate this. I want the perfection of the idea in my head to translate immediately to the page. I want to Xerox my brain, not actually have to write. I don't…
Thanks to Katie Robbins for featuring three days of my writing prompts on Figment.com It's a great site for writers – check it out: Figment.com FIGMENT DAILY THEMES As the award-winning author of 14 books and a distinguished writing instructor at the acclaimed Writer's Program at UCLA Extension, Barbara Abercrombieknows a thing or two about finding–and…
On Saturday June 9th, 9:00 to 3:00, I'll be conducting a writing workshop for women through the YWCA in Santa Monica entitled "Defining Your Future". (Barbara Clark teaches the second part of the workshop the following day.) Writing is a way to understand yourself and to define your own life, your goals,needs and wants. Whether you…
Grace's seventh birthday is today and a daughter emails me that as the cousins were carpooling to school this morning, Grace announced, "It feels so new to be 7!" It struck me that writers should be saying this every morning. It's our challenge isn't it? To look at the world new again every single day…
Life does not come neatly packaged in plots. This is one of the many, many reasons it's so hard to be a writer. Not only do you have to write but you also have to figure stories out – who wants what and why, who did what, and then – what does it all mean. …
