Amicus Script or sidebar to my Law Bulletin October column, published Nov. 1. HOW TO WRITE A LOT OF WORDS FAST. 1. Set a timer for 50 minutes. Start writing. 2. Inhabit a scene. See, hear and write everything. 3. Dissect an action — write it out in excruciating, step-by-step detail. 4. Examine...Read More
Here’s my guest blog post on SheWrites.com’s Behind the Book. The other day I autographed my novel, Warming Up, published by She Writes Press, for a friend of a friend who I was told was a writer herself. Since my novel is, in part, about talented artists who are unable, at the start of the...Read More
Amicus Scriptor September 27, 2013 Last month, I encouraged you to submit your story or self-contained novel excerpt to a magazine, journal or contest. And today, you may be all ready to go — story polished, guidelines followed, deadline still pending in the future. But perhaps you haven’t yet worked up the...Read More
In last month’s pontification, I declared that writers do writerly things — join, learn, explore, write, share. And then, of course, the dreaded “submit.”I’m not sure which is more frightening, not knowing how and where to submit, or getting back the dreaded rejection. Lawyers don’t win all their cases, and yet they keep...Read More
July 26 AMICUS SCRIPTOR column: In the past few months, I’ve done some bookstore readings for my new novel, Warming Up, and at a couple of them, there have been people there I didn’t know! Not friends. Not friends of friends. Not fellow alumni. Generic members of the public. Why? Why were they...Read More
Carving a story from blank marble June 28, 2013 By Mary Hutchings Reed In my new novel, ʺWarming Upʺ (SheWritesPress, 2013), amateur sculptor Dr. Haverill Richardson, therapist to the main character, is unable to take the first swing at a hunk of marble because he doesnʹt know what itʹs going to be when he is...Read More
Read it out loud. Read it backwards. Take out every word ending in “-ly.” Review every use of “was.” Spell check. And though it may be politically incorrect, every editor says it: “You’ve got to kill your babies.” In other words, edit your work. Writing 500 words a day for the past year, you...Read More
March 1, 2013 If you took my advice from my last column and are thinking of attending a workshop or writersconference this year, I donʹt want you blindsided by a subtlety of craft that trips us all up from time to time — point of view. Editors are very attuned to this...Read More
My writing group will meet tonight, and one seat will be empty. It’s been empty off and on for the past few months, as the ravages of cancer and cancer treatments slowly overtook him. It started with what was surely the worst case of bronchitis ever—some thanks for quitting smoking!—and revealed itself as stage IV...Read More
Non-Billable Hours By Mary Hutchings Reed February 1, 2013 We’ve been writing together since April and have written past any blocks; returned to the path fromdiversionary research frolics; and been inspired by the writings of our favorite authors. But even as the manuscript grows, we might be feeling a bit of insecurity....Read More
