Where is your happy place? Most likely, your answer depends on how old you are and where you are in your life right now. Our happy places change as we change. Or maybe not. It would be fascinating to find out. Anyway, recently I was thinking about a place that was special to me more… Continue reading Happy Place
When characters talk to you
I've been writing fiction for many years, but when you're young and unguided, the stories don't amount to much. It's only when we can connect and understand our characters that their stories take form. It's when we listen to our characters and write what they're telling us. For a lot of people, this doesn't make… Continue reading When characters talk to you
Why Memoir
I've been writing what feels like my entire life. I remember loving books as a kid and creating my own and giving them to my mom as gifts. I wrote poetry (and still do) and short stories. There were many attempts at novels, but at my young age, those didn't get far. In middle and… Continue reading Why Memoir
Taken again
A long time ago, I wrote about chasing people. It was right after I discovered a close cousin/friend cast me and all her family and life aside to run away from home and start a new life. Now, I understand that desire. Many times in my past, I wanted to move away from everything and… Continue reading Taken again
Safety in Obscurity
***I wrote this post over a year ago but I never published it. I was hurt and angry about my first one-star rating. I'm sharing it now to see what you think and how you feel about the criticism and rejection all writers face.*** I got my first one-star rating today. The dreaded one star.… Continue reading Safety in Obscurity
Accepting Unwanted Change
A year ago, I developed an eye disorder that I know now is called Binocular Vision Dysfunction. How did I develop it? What caused it? I still don't know. But it's a part of my life now. Funny how life can change so fast. An unwanted change. Last February, Brian (my husband) and I were… Continue reading Accepting Unwanted Change
Living in the light
Death has been a theme in my writing for a long time. I didn't realize I wrote about death until recently when a friend pointed it out. It's true. My fiction is filled with all kinds of death themes, but they're not necessarily morbid. Death is a part of life for all of us, but… Continue reading Living in the light
I’m not Joan Wilder
Have I made a mistake with my writing? Should I have paid more attention to what readers want? Should I have followed a formula and used tropes? I'm not a genre-specific author. The one genre I loved when I was younger was romance. I read novels in other genres, but wanted to be a… Continue reading I’m not Joan Wilder
It’s NaNoWriMo time!
It's that time of the year! It's NaNoWriMo time! For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Anyone can sign up for this challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of November. I've completed seven projects since 2012 and I've signed up again this year.… Continue reading It’s NaNoWriMo time!
‘night, Mother
I loved my literature and writing classes in college. I was a literature student, so of course I did! But more than that, my teachers and professors introduced me to works I normally wouldn't have discovered and read. One memorable work is 'night, Mother, a pulitzer winning play in the early eighties by Marsha Norman.… Continue reading ‘night, Mother
Patricia Kirsch 