Category: On Writing

Bad Stories, Bad Blood: It’s Been A “Bad” Week

Yes, that was my week, last week. Bad stories, Bad blood. Bad, bad, bad.  In fact, it was so bad, it was great!!!!  Bear with me.

First, I got an email invitation from the Cream Literary Alliance, a writers’ group in Palm Beach. It was for a three-hour workshop. It contained that magic word, “obsession.” I love that word. I especially love it when it’s the driving force in a novel. (Obsessive love –is there any other kind?– was the antagonist’s motive in my first novel, Scandal.) Last week’s invitation promised that Steve Almond would teach a craft class on How To Turn Your Obsessions into Irresistible Prose. Continue reading “Bad Stories, Bad Blood: It’s Been A “Bad” Week”

Thoughts From A Screenwriter On Wrapping His First Movie

Doug Spak

Readers of this blog have met my friend, fellow author and screenwriter, Doug Spak. He contributed his first guest post here about writing a screenplay in 42 days.

Although I met Doug at the Algonkian Novel Workshop, Doug’s talents have detoured from novel-writing to screenplays. And, he is obviously good at screenwriting since his first screenplay, A Christmas Masterpiece was filmed this summer in Cincinnatti  for a Hallmark-style movie to be aired during the holiday season.

In today’s Guest Post, Doug describes the thrill of watching his screenplay brought to life: Continue reading “Thoughts From A Screenwriter On Wrapping His First Movie”

How I Got The Literary Agent I Really Wanted

Paula Munier with her Newfie retriever, Bear

I spent the better part of last week saying things like, “My agent said….”

“My agent thinks…”

“My agent is waiting for my revisions…”

That’s right. That means the deal is done. I have a literary agent. Continue reading “How I Got The Literary Agent I Really Wanted”

Why We Talked About Quitting At A Writers Reunion

At breakfast in St. Augustine, Florida

Writers sometimes need to get together with other writers to swap stories of the hardships of a writing life, and occasionally to celebrate a piece of good news about the latest WIP (work-in-progress.) This week, I got together with two compadres who I met several years ago at the Algonkian writers’ workshop in St. Augustine, Florida.

Since then, I have mentioned members of this 8-strong group (we call ourselves the Gonks) in posts on this blog. Several of them have contributed guest posts on how to get published (Greg), how to query agents (Mandi) and how to write a screenplay that will get optioned (Doug.) Continue reading “Why We Talked About Quitting At A Writers Reunion”

What I’m Learning (NOT As A Writer) From Grey’s Anatomy

I’ve been binge-watching Grey’s Anatomy for the last couple of weeks. Apparently, I’m one of 2.4 million new viewers a year who are tuning into re-runs of this show now streaming on Netflix. Continue reading “What I’m Learning (NOT As A Writer) From Grey’s Anatomy”