A good writing conference energizes and inspires as well as providing new information, or at least old information in a fresh way. Chicago Writers Conference, which wrapped up today, was a great writing conference. Speakers were candid, generous and actually concerned, it seemed, with sharing information rather than gratifying their own egos. While shattering dreams...Read More
I have been nominated as one of the Illinois Library Association’s Soon to be Famous Authors!Pictured above with my nominator, Larry D’Urso, Mount Prospect Public Library, at the Soon to be Famous Author Project Announcement Ceremony. Thank you, Larry, and the MPPL! Here’s the link to my remarks at the Illinois Library Association’s Soon to be...Read More
In my last column (“A ‘know-it-all’ approach to writing,” June 27), I wrote about Colm Toibin’s advice that a writer should know the whole story before writing his or her novel. Since I’ve always discovered the story by writing it, this for me would be a new way of working — but one I’m willing...Read More
June 27, 2014 For two years now, we’ve been writing about crafting your first novel and I have insisted that you don’t need to know your whole story in order to begin. This has worked for me through the process of writing a dozen novels, but recently I heard Colm Tóibín (Brooklyn, The Testament of...Read More
David Vinjamuri gives indie published books a boost in his Forbes article, mentioning Warming Up and the other ILA Soon to be Famous Author finalists. http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2014/06/06/with-ebooks-still-pricey-illinois-libraries-flex-their-marketing-muscle/Read More
Dear Friends: Thank you for being with us today, and thank you especially for welcoming Roi so warmly over the past few years. He looked forward to bridge club, playing golf with you at CCE, occasional fish fries and Lake Geneva Symphony galas, “the best Easter dinner ever” at Helen’s just...Read More
April 25, 2014 One of the comforts of being a writer is getting to write. But as soon as you publish those carefully chosen words, you’re suddenly expected to become a speaker. Lawyers have the advantage in this regard of having developed their presentation skills, but courtroom drama and negotiating-table dramatics are slightly different arts...Read More
Happy 2014, the year in which you will write that novel — or short story, or essay, or memoir, or poem, or all of the above. Amicus Scriptor will appear in even-numbered months in 2014, and I’ll be responding to “questions from the audience” as well as continuing to support you in your creative writing...Read More
