Currently Browsing: Jen Brubacher
26 Dec 2012
To The New
What I love about Write Anything is the variety of opinions and experiences regarding writing. There are people here writing science fiction, romance, poetry, non-fiction… There are people who think NaNoWriMo is great, and those who hate it. I’m never bored by what my fellow writers have to say about any given subject. In a world (wide web) of useless advice columns and How-To lists, this is... read more
14 Dec 2012
Not Living the Dream
A friend of mine writes several series of junior books and has been doing this full-time for years. This is her day job. Yet despite living what many writers believe is The Dream, she’s admitted to being jealous of those of us who are not. Madness! This last year I worked on a novel I liked more than anything I’d ever written. I wrote it at the pace it demanded and when finished I kept with it for line... read more
16 Nov 2012
Publication as love
Publication. It’s a word like love, isn’t it? Supposedly joyful, suspiciously complex, with a path toward it like navigating piranha in a muddy river. This month we’re tasked with writing about the time when our stories and novels stop being ours: after publication. I’ve been asked: Can I handle criticism? Can I handle praise? I’m a stubborn language user so I have to answer... read more
2 Nov 2012
We write!
And so we have navigated our way through the year to November once again. When I consider a full year it seems long and complex, yet as summer slips on and autumn asserts itself I feel a quickening in the heart of my thoughtful self as if this is the only time that counts. Whatever I’ve been working on is tidied up and I start to imagine something else: something enormous and wonderful, something... read more
26 Oct 2012
The SiWC
Last week I arrived home to Canada, and last night I arrived in Surrey, British Columbia, and lugged my suitcase into the Sheraton Guildford where the Surrey International Writers’ Conference is having its 20 year anniversary. The SiWC is a huge conference, with dozens of presenters including Diana Gabaldon, Jack Whyte, Robert J. Sawyer, and Anne Perry. Hundreds of writers and aspiring writers gather... read more
8 Oct 2012
Published, By Any Other Name…
What is published? If there’s one topic that has come up more than any other since I began posting my fiction online, it’s the theme for this month’s post: What does “published” actually mean? It’s an exciting time to be a writer, with the internet becoming a common way to provide and access information from anywhere. Beyond that, ebooks have been shaking up the publishing world and presenting... read more
12 Sep 2012
Tools
I usually peer within my own brain for things to appreciate, but due to recent events I’ve lately been appreciating outside things: tools beyond myself. So here I present: The Very Best Tools to Help Me Write and Do Other Things Good Too (With thanks to Derek Zoolander for the title.) Laptop Until very recently I had a MacBook Pro I bought in late 2007. By the time it gave... read more
5 Sep 2012
The Balance
In July I wrote about one way I know when a project is finished: when readers can’t agree if it’s good or not. This is a controversial test because it doesn’t guarantee a lot of confidence about reception–no Happily Ever After if only half your readers are happy–but it’s also tricky because it means you’re judging whether the piece is finished after it’s out... read more
