Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2022, friday, mystery, the, april, new, anita, ray, and, february, mellingham, of, home, may, 20, 29, wednesday, 13, saturday, march, 12, 18, 11, an, series, last, call, for, justice, wrath, shiva, first, murderous, innocence, friends, enemies, family, album, double, take, murder, in, susan, oleksiw, return, to, web, site, blog, archive, followers, neglected, aspect, writer, life, story, plot, staying, focused, trimming, text, writers, predators, picking, up, on, hints, graphomania,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (210), and (129), that (51), but (38), for (37), this (36), about (34), have (27), with (26), was (26), #writer (25), one (24), not (24), share (22), story (22), you (21), writing (18), her (18), them (18), she (16), when (15), out (15), dog (15), from (14), what (14), know (14), are (14), has (14), april (13), more (13), all (13), after (13), february (12), may (12), mystery (12), who (12), just (12), think (12), their (12), they (12), can (12), december (11), march (11), how (11), his (11), life (10), back (10), down (10), time (10), plot (10), get (10), july (9), october (9), susan (9), first (9), email (9), than (9), other (9), work (9), too (9), idea (9), character (9), had (9), well (9), read (9), november (8), june (8), august (8), september (8), 2022 (8), pinterest (8), oleksiw (8), mellingham (8), stories (8), facebook (8), write (8), better (8), day (8), good (8), line (8), these (8), words (8), our (8), january (7), new (7), labels (7), blogthis (7), posted (7), reader (7), something (7), don (7), like (7), some (7), thought (7), wip (7), only (7), isn (7), comments (7), there (7), let (7), been (7), then (7), press (7), book (7), end (7), writers (6), into (6), because (6), editor (6), used (6), getting (6), house (6), every (6), thinking (6), ginny (6), care (6), now (6), him (6), could (6), bad (6), exercise (6), aspect (5), take (5), compulsion (5), occasionally (5), didn (5), really (5), knew (5), someone (5), also (5), mind (5), night (5), add (5), years (5), few (5), those (5), friday (5), usually (5), published (5), short (5), another (5), want (5), going (5), others (5), any (5), taken (5), two (5), many (5), each (5), editors (5), novel (5), sometimes (5), looking (5), hundred (5), last (4), home (4), does (4), would (4), most (4), question (4), often (4), small (4), wrote (4), said (4), once (4), while (4), wonder (4), hard (4), much (4), since (4), ideas (4), will (4), along (4), word (4), little (4), easy (4), dogs (4), hints (4), sure (4), see (4), develop (4), until (4), course (4), through (4), before (4), editing (4), experience (4), signed (4), everything (4), find (4), anything (4), trimming (4), way (4), myself (4), tend (4), street (4), self (4), 2016 (3), www (3), friends (3), anita (3), ray (3), call (3), posts (3), org (3), graphomania (3), why (3), which (3), notebook (3), whatever (3), honest (3), never (3), learned (3), people (3), ignored (3), give (3), doesn (3), middle (3), paper (3), finished (3), over (3), process (3), its (3), especially (3), attention (3), below (3), tree (3), without (3), giving (3), foster (3), use (3), suggestions (3), carefully (3), wasn (3), walking (3), current (3), final (3), draft (3), habits (3), means (3), catch (3), text (3), again (3), scene (3), beware (3), predatory (3), working (3), moment (3), follow (3), second (3), signing (3), comes (3), your (3), contract (3), deadlines (3), pays (3), did (3), tell (3), found (3), books (3), talking (3), overwriting (3), saunders (3), point (3), three (3), unnecessary (3), trim (3), lot (3), paragraphs (3), ways (3), always (3), envy (3), focus (3), walk (3), letting (3), enough (3), off (3), come (3), readers (3), morning (3), feel (3), instead (3), body (3), window (2), theme (2), 2011 (2), 2012 (2), neglected (2), com (2), web (2), site (2), family (2), wordsmith (2), leonardo (2), vinci (2), asks (2), probably (2), wants (2), hear (2), truth (2), graphomaniac (2), jot (2), india (2), couple (2), husband (2), whose (2), asked (2), stop (2), felt (2), early (2), made (2), sent (2), came (2), careful (2), anyone (2), should (2), everyone (2), answer (2), perfect (2), desk (2), scenes (2), times (2), term (2), description (2), seemed (2), less (2), pages (2), today (2), different (2), revising (2), holes (2), alfred (2), hitchcock (2), magazine (2), given (2), rescue (2), late (2), farm (2), here (2), main (2), talk (2), quirks (2), clues (2), turned (2), important (2), reading (2), creating (2), seen (2), shown (2), decent (2), got (2), kept (2), fill (2), motivations (2), figure (2), leash (2), sidewalk (2), fostered (2), look (2), seriously (2), possibilities (2), woman (2), reason (2), focused (2), characters (2), third (2), harder (2), already (2), begin (2), preditors (2), several (2), months (2), friend (2), https (2), finish (2), check (2), ready (2), meet (2), absurd (2), publisher (2), royalties (2), pay (2), goes (2), knowing (2), outfits (2), break (2), page (2), goal (2), forced (2), near (2), grab (2), worse (2), imagination (2), typos (2), george (2), swim (2), pond (2), rain (2), essence (2), moves (2), rest (2), fiction (2), cut (2), anthology (2), choices (2), slow (2), sentence (2), remind (2), long (2), setting (2), internet (2), total (2), else (2), computer (2), wander (2), waiting (2), even (2), shows (2), turn (2), works (2), takes (2), concentration (2), rob (2), rabbit (2), path (2), around (2), stephen (2), king (2), katherine (2), anne (2), porter (2), john (2), gardner (2), whole (2), threads (2), together (2), deeper (2), organic (2), vision (2), top (2), mountain (2), binoculars (2), admitted (2), themselves (2), fall (2), best (2), meaning (2), done (2), rush (2), ending (2), aside (2), bring (2), creativity (2), craft (2), events (2), beta (2), food (2), world (2), shoulders (2), taking (2), longer (2), hours (2), doing (2), still (2), meal (2), real (2), toll (2), nap (2), meditate (2), thing (2), pandemic (2), area (2), picture, powered, blogger, followers, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, blog, archive, susanoleksiw, twitter, amazon, return, murder, double, album, enemies, murderous, innocence, wrath, shiva, silva, justice, woods, series, subscribe, atom, older, comment, grander, miserable, compulsive, either, preference, spent, british, artist, sculptures, funded, annual, trips, countries, wife, launch, explanation, liking, mysteries, stopped, nodded, yes, exactly, teenager, beyond, recognition, wanted, reworked, sadly, matter, uninvited, commentary, young, ones, practical, career, beneath, wise, response, carries, wakes, certain, littered, scraps, pad, filled, notes, remain, printed, truly, stacks, notecards, mean, carry, pen, wake, definition, obsessive, inclination, seems, obvious, construction, graph, mania, describing, passion, filling, thousands, notebooks, added, image, nile, pixabay, subscribed, hundreds, websites, survived, decluttering, enjoy, etymology, rarely, arcane, caught, rare, expected, felicity, brien, finds, signs, close, barn, virtually, owner, enjoyed, shadow, black, haired, mutt, discovery, personalities, specific, figures, appearance, relationships, determining, happened, change, aspects, previously, remains, feature, depending, eliminate, sign, slightly, worried, part, villain, qualities, cliche, deal, dislike, somehow, guy, sympathetic, usual, details, clarify, instance, presence, crucial, clue, own, posed, issues, needed, roam, worrying, seat, barking, loudly, shadows, passing, car, compassion, outside, reappeared, began, sorts, pivotal, cliched, single, worked, scribbled, chapters, leave, sit, pipeline, hint, grappled, hardest, however, astute, unconscious, result, solved, problems, lazily, past, social, worker, caseload, focuses, teenage, girls, homes, appeared, steps, partly, revised, linger, developed, direction, planted, red, herrings, dragged, next, twenty, were, rejected, consciously, facto, options, narrowed, picking, publishers, listened, challenges, excellent, tells, gritty, based, lawyer, surprised, able, sell, picked, high, nightmare, prededitors, future, progress, sfwa, resources, authors, traditionally, successfully, indie, contacted, told, visit, link, type, name, concerns, prepared, otherwise, fast, needlessly, expect, warm, fuzzy, lunches, gives, money, proofreader, designer, publicist, rules, publishing, contact, right, wrong, committed, heart, country, full, preying, week, offers, tenth, ripe, help, expanding, seem, cousins, nigeria, wherever, generous, live, million, dollars, helping, banking, information, announced, great, joy, same, moon, personally, store, beaten, bullying, wondered, stand, rewrites, etc, cave, presses, income, publish, promote, earns, post, purpose, offer, reel, pushed, prodded, almost, hiring, fix, polish, considering, skeptical, understood, meant, approached, entire, professionally, met, despite, tightening, screws, face, patently, illegal, rights, imagined, maybe, pretty, predators, saturday, exercises, forces, core, expression, swiftly, clearly, sharp, quick, knows, precise, exact, telling, least, hope, happens, recognizes, weakness, himself, addresses, includes, appendix, six, passage, sounds, slash, reduce, number, remove, clutter, piece, emerge, stronger, clearer, whenever, arrived, stages, missing, lines, extras, couldn, reread, aloud, conscious, ever, apparently, suffer, trimmed, removing, overlengthy, skip, omit, erase, adverbs, entangle, nothing, expressed, recasting, revealing, behavior, action, adjectives, useful, show, rewrite, across, flaws, confess, adding, descriptions, understand, terse, paragraph, flesh, behaved, earlier, sense, person, identity, dealing, unfortunately, survive, repeated, revisions, reach, stage, focusing, distractions, commitment, task, hand, ability, block, learn, spot, neighbor, lawn, easily, distracted, having, trouble, eye, bookshelves, reorganizing, jobs, parade, fascinating, faltering, moments, fifteen, accepted, pup, interest, soft, bed, big, believer, daydreaming, solution, excuse, forcing, shut, phone, sturdy, five, year, old, major, breaks, sees, exception, gets, scent, assume, track, nearest, squirrel, likely, meandering, circling, circles, trying, keep, tied, powers, chocolate, lab, run, unfenced, ungroomed, yard, interesting, staying, wednesday, drafts, thoughts, contemplate, 312, wondering, captured, authentic, recognize, standing, raised, scanning, landscape, ask, goals, willing, unattractive, offensive, decide, heavily, socialized, society, imagine, daily, flat, copy, eared, complain, marring, turning, corners, loved, discussion, difference, between, honorable, trustworthy, shifty, under, arrest, describe, designed, force, honesty, worth, intent, significance, discovered, finding, wholeness, rather, imposing, step, hang, camp, discoverers, hoist, grand, view, reached, original, excites, falter, tinker, liable, set, weeks, wait, lesson, pull, shelf, favorite, recently, observation, making, novelist, blank, slower, speed, relieved, narrative, resting, meditating, eating, beginning, creative, head, simple, memory, draws, throughout, weather, shifts, taste, fragrances, air, ambient, noise, seeps, barely, linked, incipient, philosophy, monologue, need, health, fully, draw, abilities, allows, feed, ourselves, feeds, feels, familiar, dropped, painter, ago, lying, floor, studio, tool, art, needs, restored, spring, managing, deportment, bringing, opening, lungs, strides, sitting, straight, make, odd, bits, meditation, ten, minutes, benefits, very, job, burst, energy, refill, junk, onto, sofa, twice, evening, closed, days, state, suspended, fuzziness, brain, strong, exaggerate, cooking, makes, where, eat, places, ordering, sleep, news, covid, war, ukraine, disrupt, notice, damage, place, shaped, nature, intended, classes, running, train, visiting, boston, holding, lunge, changes, brought, confront, mostly, sentences, arc, widely, learning, peers, colleagues, sharing, expertise, support, online, groups, swap, reviews, neglect, publications,

Text of the page (random words):
ut word choices sentences paragraphs and the arc of the story we read widely and carefully learning from our peers and colleagues and sharing our expertise when asked we support each other as beta readers at book events and in online groups we swap books and share reviews but there s one area i tend to neglect and i know i m not the only one after two years with no place to go but the computer my shoulders are no longer shaped the way nature intended instead of exercise classes or running to catch a train after visiting friends in boston i get my exercise holding the dog in check when he wants to lunge after a rabbit i used to meditate twice a day first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening before i closed up the house these days i feel like i m in a state of suspended fuzziness i m not sure my brain is strong enough now to meditate i exaggerate but you get the idea the thought of cooking a real meal makes me want to take a nap but after two years i think a lot about where i can go to eat or the best places for ordering in i still sleep well at night but bad news about covid or anything else war in ukraine can disrupt that the pandemic has taken its toll and like many others i didn t notice until the damage was done self care is a very real aspect of doing any job well working hard at anything takes a toll and once the burst of energy has been used up and it s time to rest and refill the well any one of us may want to take a nap grab some junk food and fall onto the sofa for a few hours this is not self care this spring has been all about getting back into a better way of managing my care as a writer walking the dog is an exercise now in deportment bringing those shoulders up and back opening up the lungs and taking longer strides instead of sitting at my desk for hours straight i make a point of getting up and doing odd bits around the house meditation can be only ten minutes and it s still enough to bring the mind home and taking time for a decent meal pays benefits in many ways when i dropped in on a painter friend several years ago i found her lying on her back on the floor of her studio my body is a tool for my art she said it needs to be restored now and then in the beginning i thought of creative work as something that came out of my head but that is too simple i use my imagination of course but i use my body also and not only body memory creativity draws on how we feel in the morning and throughout the day the weather that shifts us one way on the street or another the taste of food and the fragrances in the air ambient noise seeps into a scene and an idea that was barely linked to an incipient philosophy shows up in a character s monologue we need good health to be fully in the world from which we draw our stories and develop our abilities to tell them well self care allows us to feed ourselves which in turn feeds our work it feels good to be back on that familiar path posted by susan oleksiw at 8 14 am 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels beta readers book events craft creativity eating meditating resting self care walking writing friday april 29 2022 story and plot every now and then i pull off the shelf one of my favorite books on writing recently i ve been thinking about john gardner s observation that it s better to be a little slow in making up your mind if you re going to be a novelist don t rush to find an answer or fill in a blank in the story line slower is better than speed when it comes to letting ideas develop when i first read this i was relieved because my mind does take a while to bring all the threads of a narrative together one of my bad habits is thinking a story is done before it is the original idea excites me so i rush to get it down on paper but near the end i tend to falter and wonder about the ending i ve come up with instead of setting the story aside at once i tend to tinker a little and then write to the end sometimes that works but often not i m liable to come up with a much better ending if i set the story aside for a couple of weeks or wait until a better idea comes along that can take months this is a lesson i have to remind myself of every time i think i ve finished something katherine anne porter said she didn t begin a story with intent for its meaning or significance but discovered it at the end she s talking about finding the organic wholeness of a story rather than imposing one on it some call this theme or meaning of a story but whatever the term it is the vision we see when we step back and see the whole i too hang out in the camp of the discoverers waiting to hoist my binoculars for the grand view after i ve reached the top of the mountain my copy of stephen king s book on writing is dog eared and don t complain to me about marring a book by turning down corners a book is to be read and used and loved i especially like his discussion on the difference between plot and story story is honorable and trustworthy plot is shifty and best kept under house arrest he goes on to describe an exercise that is designed to force the writer to be as honest as she or he can be knowing that without honesty no story is worth the time when i m working on the final draft of a novel i have to ask myself how honest have my characters been have they admitted if not to others then to themselves what their deeper motivations are their goals and what they re willing to do to get there have they admitted to something unattractive even offensive in themselves have i shown them in every aspect letting the reader decide how to feel about them we are heavily socialized in this society and sometimes getting to the truth is harder than we imagine we re not used to it in daily life but we have to find it in fiction if our stories are not going to fall flat these are my thoughts as i contemplate 312 pages of my current wip i know the whole plot is there and that all the threads come together what i m wondering about is something deeper more organic have i captured a vision of an authentic life and will readers recognize it this morning i m standing on the top of the mountain binoculars raised scanning the landscape posted by susan oleksiw at 6 49 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels first drafts john gardner katherine anne porter on writing plot stephen king story writing wednesday april 13 2022 staying focused i envy my dog his powers of concentration i walk our chocolate lab rob three times a day and sometimes i let him run through our unfenced and ungroomed back yard but the walk is the more interesting exercise for me dogs have focus and rob is no exception when he gets a scent in the middle of the street i assume he ll track it to the nearest tree since this attention usually means a squirrel or less likely a rabbit but he has to follow each meandering circling path and that often means i m going around in circles trying to keep up with him and not get tied up in the leash day after day i follow this short sturdy five year old down the street it takes something major to break his concentration and let go of whatever he has found he breaks off only when he s ready or sees another dog as a writer i envy that total commitment to the moment and the task at hand to the ability to block out everything else to learn everything he can from that spot on the neighbor s lawn i m easily distracted by email especially if i m having trouble with a scene worse all i have to do is look up from my computer and let my eye wander to the bookshelves and i can think of a hundred reorganizing jobs waiting for my attention and then there s the window looking out on the sidewalk and street the parade of life is always more fascinating than my faltering plot these moments add up so that at the end of the day i wonder why it has taken me so long to write fifteen hundred words i m a big believer in daydreaming letting the mind wander until a solution shows up that s one excuse for not forcing myself to focus but it isn t always good enough i ve learned to shut down the internet while i m writing turn off the phone and tell friends my writing time is not a good time to call this works a lot of the time but not all of the time i ve accepted that i ll never have the total focus my pup has but then he has no interest in creating anything more important than a soft bed at the end of his walk even this i occasionally envy time to get back to work posted by susan oleksiw at 6 37 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels distractions dogs email focusing internet writing friday april 1 2022 trimming the text one of my flaws as a writer is writing too much i confess to overwriting adding in long descriptions because i m not sure the reader will understand if i m terse sometimes i add a short paragraph to flesh out a setting or a character how they behaved in an earlier moment to give the reader a sense of this person s identity quirks or ways of dealing with others unfortunately i really like some of these paragraphs and they tend to survive repeated revisions when i reach the trimming stage i go after them it isn t always easy but i know i have to cut them most of us have learned to skip omit erase adverbs they slow down the reader entangle her in an unnecessary stop along the way and add nothing that isn t better expressed by recasting the sentence and revealing character or behavior through action adjectives can be useful but again if they show up too often i rewrite the sentence and remind myself there are better ways of getting the point across now that i m an editor for a new anthology i m more conscious than ever of overwriting one of my bad habits and apparently one that a lot of other writers suffer from this is too bad because some of the stories i read would be good choices for the anthology if the writer had trimmed the text removing unnecessary words and overlengthy paragraphs george saunders recognizes this weakness in himself as well as the rest of us and addresses it in his book on short fiction a swim in a pond in the rain saunders includes an exercise in an appendix that asks the writer to cut a six hundred word passage down to three hundred words it sounds easy but it isn t of course anyone can slash three hundred words but the goal isn t just to reduce the number of words but to remove the clutter and let the essence of the piece emerge stronger and clearer i think about this whenever i think i ve finished a story and have arrived at the final stages of editing i think i m looking for typos and missing words but really i m looking at all those unnecessary lines the extras that i couldn t let go of i reread and trim i read aloud and trim i read again looking for more words to trim trimming forces me to find the essence of each line the core idea and expression when i do the story moves swiftly and clearly and the point of each line is made sharp and quick the reader doesn t know what has been taken out she or he only knows how well the story moves how precise and exact the telling at least that s what i hope happens posted by susan oleksiw at 7 48 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels a swim in a pond in the rain editing editing exercises george saunders overwriting trimming typos writing saturday march 12 2022 writers and predators over the last several months i ve listened to a writer friend talk about the challenges of working with a small press he s an excellent writer and tells gritty stories based on his experience as a lawyer i wasn t surprised that he was able to sell his novel as hard as it is today to get published but the press that picked him up has turned a high moment in his life into a nightmare this post isn t about how bad a predatory press can be when the purpose of the offer is to reel in a new writer who will be pushed and prodded and almost forced into hiring their editors to fix and finish and polish his novel before signing with them the writer did everything he knew he should do talking with others published by this press reading the contract carefully and considering other possibilities he knew i was skeptical and i understood how much this meant to him after signing he approached the entire process professionally met all the deadlines despite the editor s tightening the screws on him near the end he had to face down a patently illegal rights grab and did so but in the end the experience was worse than anything he could have imagined well maybe not he s got a pretty good imagination the reason i m talking about the experience here is because on my fb page another new writer announced with great joy that she had just signed with the same press for her first novel she s over the moon she s not someone i know personally i only see her comments occasionally on my page but all i could think about was what was in store for her since many writers are beaten down by a bullying editor in one of these predatory outfits i wondered if she d stand up to them meet the absurd deadlines for rewrites etc or cave in and pay for their editors to do the work the goal of many of these small presses is to get income from writers not to publish and promote work so that the writer earns royalties this country is full of people preying on writers every week i get a few offers from pr outfits who have found my second or third or tenth novel on the web and want me to know that this book is just ripe for a break out with their help of course i also hear from editors who are expanding their line and my books seem just perfect for their house i m sure they have cousins in nigeria or wherever those generous people live who want to give me a few million dollars just for helping them out with my banking information i did not contact the second writer in question and tell her what i knew about the press i ve thought about this and i don t know if i am right or wrong she has signed the contract so she s committed but my heart goes out to her knowing what she s about to experience so two rules if you are a writer looking for a publishing house first the publisher gives you money and pays you royalties the publisher pays for the editor proofreader designer and publicist you do not pay them and you do not do their work for them second if you are thinking of signing or have signed with a small press visit writer beware link below type in the name and read everything that comes up if what you find concerns you be prepared get out of your contract if you can otherwise be ready to write fast sometimes needlessly to meet absurd deadlines and don t expect any warm and fuzzy lunches with your editor and if you re a traditionally published writer or successfully published indie writer i have a question for you would you have contacted the woman who had just signed and told her what you know let me know what you think h...