Does the word “research” give you the shivers? Dark memories of term papers or visions of endless numbers and figures? Well, it’s the first Friday of June (already!), and A Drift of Quills is here to show you what research means to fiction writers!
Category Archives: writing
A Drift of Quills: Tackling Writing Challenges
This month A DRIFT OF QUILLS is talking about writing challenges we’ve faced, and how we’ve resolved them. And—we’ve got a guest! We’re so pleased to welcome P.S. Broaddus, who has recently released his debut middle-grade fantasy novel.
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…
My calendar says a book review is supposed to go in this spot. Oops? I’m reading a book! Actually, I’m reading three… And I’m writing! (True story!)
Deliver Me: A Short Story
Want to read a short story? Just the other day I wrote here on the blog about writer’s block, and it just so happens that I penned a short tale about that very subject a few years ago. I was poking through my files today when I ran across it and I thought, “Aha! Serendipity!” I hope you enjoy! If you like it, I would love to hear your feedback. Just leave a comment below, email me, or comment via Twitter or Facebook. DELIVER ME BY ROBIN LYTHGOE “Deliver me…” Such a small whisper couldn’t even begin to penetrate the […]
Writer’s Block: Zap It!
Writer’s block… Cue the soundtrack for ruination and doom! But wait! Is it all in my head?
5 Quotes for the Writer’s Horizon
Writing is simple—but it’s not always easy. There are some days when the sheer number of details crash over me like an ocean wave and take me down. Those are the days when I need the advice of authors who’ve been on this journey themselves; when I need to remember the horizon and not just the minutiae of dealing with adverbs, word counts, voice, grammar and punctuation, filter words, and seemingly endless literary jellyfish. On the wall right across from my desk I have two tall shelves stuffed with books. I like books, so it pleases me just to see […]
QUILLS: What Makes Us Write?
Guest author H.M. Clarke joins A Drift of Quills as we talk about what makes us write.
Rockin’ Robin
This is Rockin’ Robin, coming at you live from — um — Well, I’ve been happily busy in the land of Tairenth, writing my fingers to the nubs. So … I’m late getting this post written because I completely forgot about it! I have a pretty good excuse. Really! In fact, I have a few of them: I’ve been hard at work revising The Sharpness of the Knife, Book One of Journeys of the Sira Na. I am making steady progress, but it feels slow. I want to say it’ll be out before Christmas, but I wouldn’t advise any breath-holding. Feel free, though, […]
Just Goin’ With the Flow…
So there I was, innocently typing along — and monkey wrenches started flying! I grumbled when I put up my dukes, but I didn’t flinch. No, sirree, Bob! STUFF happens, and sometimes a body just needs to knuckle down and buckle down and do it. Then one of the wrenches hit me in the head. Ouch! Let’s back up a little bit. Before I went to Hawaii (I won’t say how long, but it was a while…), WordPress decided it would only publish some of the new pages I wanted to add and it would look the other way for the […]
Naming Names
Good news! The first draft of the first book of my new fantasy series is done! I finished a few days ago; you may have heard me whooping with glee. Nicholas Sparks says that “Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing.” It is pretty marvelous. But then we have Ernest Hemingway proclaiming, “The first draft of anything is $#@%,” and I have to laugh, because in this case that’s true, too. My manuscript is peppered with comments and notations I must edit. Some of them are easy fixes (NameThisGuy), and some of […]