I have started writing a historical fiction novel. It was going to involve time travel–which would fuse historical fiction with science fiction. I started out writing with the time travel part. But then I went back to the main character’s childhood, and I’ve stayed there. I have found interesting tidbits from history, and I’ve written … More Writing quandaries
I am reading a novel which takes place right before the Civil War. The history of our country has always interested me, and I actually met the author. I won’t name the book or author as it is not my intention to hurt anyone. If I had not met the author, I would have stopped … More Is it worth reading a badly written book?
Dear Barnes and Noble: Pardon the pun. I’ve been reading news stories about you. You’re trying to survive against Amazon. You fired yet another CEO. Let me give you a few ideas. What can a live box store give that an online store can’t? Premium Customer Service. But this can’t be achieved when you’ve just … More Dear Barnes and Noble: It’s time to think outside the “box” #books #reading #writing #BarnesAndNoble
I am participating in the Writing Contest: You Are Enough, hosted by Positive Writer. Direct link here: http://positivewriter.com/writing-contest-you-are-enough/ Here goes: Please don’t tell them I’m here; I’ve been hiding from them—The Editor and The Critic. When they’re not looking, I sneak away to my offline computer, the one that doesn’t connect to the internet. It … More I am enough–and you are enough too!
Here in the great Northeast, it snowed the last day of April. Mr Porter and I were outside that morning, getting an estimate from a lawn dude to see how much it would cost to fix the yard. After taking trees down last year, the yard is full of holes. We stood in the sleet … More At least it stopped snowing
I’ll keep rewriting until I get it right. … More Rewriting and Never Again
I am writing a time-travel novel. This causes me to Google some strange things. … More My Google history
I’ve started writing a time-travel, historical novel. There are lots of things floating around in my head, and there are various ways I need to put it on paper before it can be exposed to the “real world.” I made a timeline, and obviously, since there is time travel, there will be a lot of … More Maps of my worlds
Okay, so its official term is “writer’s block” but since I don’t always feel like running with the crowd, I will call it Muteness. I have dozens of ideas in my head, some of which may hit paper or computer screen in the next few months, I am having trouble getting any of them out. … More Writing Muteness
I am not very good at being organized. I fight against it. Growing up, between the schedule of school, and dinner always being at exactly 5:45 pm, I decided to live my adult life more, shall we say, randomly. Yes, it makes for messy life. The laundry may or may not be folded the … More Cheating at blogging, and general disorganization
I started doing some research on death by guillotine because Bridget Hardy, a character in my upcoming novel “Ambassador” will enter the Next World this way. As writers, we are always told “write what you know” and as Captain Obvious would state, I don’t have first hand experience with this. But I have experienced some … More Guillotine Practice
Oh, I see. It’s going to be like that is it? I just wrote one of my best posts ever, and had a hand spaz and the whole thing deleted itself. Now I have to hit save after every sentence. I dragged myself out of bed today at 10 am, not sure if I’m still … More Slow Man weathers the Storm
I am happy to have another story published. This is a Flash Fiction piece, published at 101words.com Here it is: Facing my Opponent Sweat cascades down my head as I peddle, one, two, three miles, uphill both ways. I race along on the treadmill to the beat of my iPod. My opponent’s picture, the one … More Facing my opponent
How about the guy at the gym that does one set on the machine, doesn’t wipe it off while it drips of his sweat, then paces back and forth through the other machines, with headphones on, singing intermittently and scaring the crap out of each time he starts to sing, and then goes back to … More Things that bug me, aka First World Problems. What bugs you?
When telling a story, it’s best to start at the beginning, but if you can’t find the beginning just start in the middle. There’s never a dull moment in the Porter household. Just ask Bailey: He’s not bored; he’s exhausted. It’s a lot of work shedding fur all over the rug. He wore himself out. … More Let’s start in the middle
There is a feature in a magazine called “Reject A Hit”. It is a parody of what an editor might have written when rejecting a book that turned out to be a huge success. While the magazine seems to like printing submissions that reject classics, such as anything written by Charles Dickens, the dictionary (several … More Hungry for rejection?
Writers are told to follow the rules. After you have proved you can follow the rules, then and only then, may you break them. I disagree. If you have a high school diploma and a college degree, it can be assumed that you know the rules. While I have a deep respect for English grammar, … More And so it goes: Breaking grammar rules, just ‘cuz.
I did not know that brain dump was the technical term; I did not know it had a name until recently. When I scribbled emotions into my notebook, or banged them into the keyboard, I thought I was merely digesting the day’s events. I have trouble putting words to emotions with my speech, so I … More The importance of a daily brain dump
I’m out of town today, so I thought I would recycle this “draft” that never made it to “publish.” Disclaimer: For entertainment purposes only. All I wanted was some silence. I rushed across the library, my customized orthotic sneaker squeaking with every step. I tried to be quiet, but my limp seemed to advertise my … More Would a Prompt help?
We might get a little story like this: Grinder Father watched from the other side of the kitchen table as I finished my conversation and hung up the phone. “Was that Doug you were talking to?” I nodded. “What are you still dating him for? He’s just a “pump jump” at the gas station. All … More What if Stephen King and Flannery O’Connor teamed up to write my blog post?
SueAnn Porter 