Interview with Tracey Dyck

Do I have a treat for you guys today! Tracey Dyck is one of the most talented weaver of words I’ve ever met, one of the SWEETEST people in this universe, and just happens to be one of my very dearest writing friends. And because she and I live and breathe stories and words, we decided to interview each other about our writing lives. She interviewed me on her blog Saturday in which I talk about how I got my start in writing, give a peek of my writing sessions, and even admit to who my favorite character of mine…

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My Step by Step Editing Process

I have this total fascination with seeing how people produce their books. Is it not the coolest thing ever that we ALL create our books a little differently? It’s just the best gleaning ideas from one another and trying new methods. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever written a story the same way twice. Sometimes I make subtle changes to a familiar process, while other times I completely throw out said process and try something drastically new. AND I LOVE IT. It keeps my interest in the story and helps me learn what works best for me. Who knows if…

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In Which I (temporarily) Say Fare Thee Well to Editing

  Starting in January, I raised my supply of coffee and delved into *cue dramatic music* EDITING. Bum bum BUMMMM.* *You know this is an accurate response. Last year I turned my wee 20k word Beauty and the Beast novella, Burning Thorns, into a full out 84k novel. I’ve been meaning to write a Beauty and the Beast retelling since, like, the beginning of time or so. I absolutely adore retellings, I’m a total fairytale nerd, and B&B is my favorite fairytale. Obviously it was going to happen eventually. Honestly, I’m shocked I’ve only just now gotten around to it.…

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Fantasy: To Infinity and Beyond

Last week I listed 7 elements that always worm themselves into my novels. The most prominent one was fantasy. Pretty much anyone who even sort of knows me knows I’m a “fantasy writer”. I’ve been proudly wearing that label since I was 10 years old, after first seeing the Fellowship of the Ring movie and immediately pouring my life into writing one fantasy novel after the next. But what my little 10-year-old self didn’t know was that title of “fantasy writer” held so, so much to it. Back in the day, “fantasy” to me meant Lord of the Rings. Or…

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7 Elements I Love to Write

Today I’m joining in with a linkup hosted by Sky @ Further Up and Further In and Ashley @ Ashley Aspires called A Novel Idea. This is a weekly linkup to help writers stay inspired and look deeper into their writing life. You can learn more about it here or here. I won’t be joining in every week since, well, I only post once a week. Heh. But I really liked this week’s prompt. It got me thinking. I love questions that make me think. This week’s prompt is: Tell us about your writing style/what you like to write. The…

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‘Tis a Writer’s Life (Tag)

A while back (and by that I mean. . .in Janury) the amazing Jameson @ Lovely Whatsoevers (doesn’t she have the sweetest blog name?) tagged me for the Writer’s Life Tag. A tag about the writer’s life? Obviously I had to do it! Because, ya know, sometimes I consider myself a writer. *she says as she’s sprawled out alone in her room with her laptop blogging and drinking coffee* Yeah. Only sometimes. . . #thewriterslifeistheonlylife Ahem. Shall we? Questions Write-fuel: What do you eat/drink while writing?Being as how I literally have a cup of coffee in my hand while typing…

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On Writing the Brave and the Crazy

Back when I was a little baby writer, I had this weird thing in which I always “played it safe” with my stories. As in, I never wrote anything outrageous. I stuck to what I knew, kept to the clichés, never made anything different or interesting or unique. You can probably guess by now that my old stories came out very bland, and often pathetic copies of Lord of the Rings and Narnia. I can’t really tell you why I never ventured out and tried crazy, original ideas. I guess I was scared. I was scared to tackle tough issues…

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The Circle of Creativity

We’ve all had it happen, that exhaustion of the imagination, the drought, like someone took a straw and sucked up all the creative juices right out of us (okay, that was a weird analogy, but we’re going with it). I have it happen to me all the time, way more than I’d like. I just don’t want to write. Every word is forced, and comes out horrible and flat because of it. Every second staring at the blank page and blinking cursor feels like agony. I’m like butter scraped over too much bread, as Bilbo would say. A lot of…

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What I Learned from The Lunar Chronicles

For the last couple months I’ve been enjoying a book series, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. And by “enjoying” I mean flailing and screaming and crying and fangirling and all around obsessing. It has kind of been my world. As I writer, my brain automatically soaks in writing lessons while reading. Subconsciously, I’m constantly asking myself questions as I read like, “Why do I love this part so much?” “Why does this feel slow?” “That was such a good scene, what type of wording was used?” It’s a curse of the writer, we can’t help it. So since I…

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Writer: Stamped on Your Heart, Poured in Your Blood

Just this past week or so a realization hit me. Something I really wish I had learned a long, long time ago, but something I think all writers struggle with. I believe we writers far too often measure our self worth by that title of “published” or “not published”. I certainly have. I tend to think if I ever get published I’ll have “made it”, but while I’m unpublished I’m a nobody. Just a person holed up in her room thinking up silly stories. “I am nothing until I’m published,” I tell myself. Over and over again. But you know…

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