I’m an introvert. I write introverted characters. People that know me are not at all surprised by this. While there are, of course, extroverts in my stories, I honestly don’t think I would even know how to write an extroverted character from their own point of view (like…how do I even get into their heads?).Continue reading “Writing the Introvert”
Category Archives: Writing
300th
It’s weird for me to consider that I am currently writing my three hundredth post on this blog. Partly because Dec 16, 2017 feels like a REALLY long time ago (the date of my first post). But also, that means that I have been consistently posting here every Friday for almost EIGHT YEARS? I’m sorry.Continue reading “300th”
The Archives
I’ve definitely made clear over the years my love and appreciation for libraries and how librarians are clearly magicians in disguise. Libraries have given me decades of adventures at the tips of my fingers. First, the GIANT (though I didn’t know what I had when I lived there) library of my childhood. Then, the tinyContinue reading “The Archives”
Rogue Characters: Murder Mystery Edition
Have you ever had a writer friend who talked about how sometimes it felt like they weren’t writing the story – their characters were? I know. It sounds absurd. But sometimes – it really does feel that way. Last week, I had rounded 80K on the first draft of my murder mystery novel, and IContinue reading “Rogue Characters: Murder Mystery Edition”
Kavarna: Twenty Years
I’ve been hitting some milestones lately that have felt…unreal. Impossible? I’m in my sixteenth year of teaching – but I swear I’ve only been at my college for a few years. I’m also coming up on twenty years since I graduated from undergrad (the specific date is three days from now) – and given theContinue reading “Kavarna: Twenty Years”
UW Madison Arboretum
I spent my entire life with no idea that the city of Madison was home to a 1,200 acre arboretum (with an addition 513 acres in outlying properties). It shouldn’t surprise me, given most cities have large parks and my own UW campus houses an arboretum, as well. I’d just never stumbled upon it –Continue reading “UW Madison Arboretum”
Learning my Genre
I’ll be honest – when I first started writing novel-length stories, genre was the furthest thing from my mind. I just knew I had stories I wanted to tell. So I just wrestled them onto the page. But then I started querying and publishing. And suddenly, I had to put my stories into tidy littleContinue reading “Learning my Genre”
Writing as a Process
There are so many writers out there who are adamant that a writer must do this or a writer must do that. That someone isn’t a writer unless they XYZ. The most common one I hear is that to be a writer, you must write every day. When I hear things like that, I can’tContinue reading “Writing as a Process”
Kickstarter Update
Back when I did the Kickstarter for Wherever Would I Be, one of the ‘add ons’ was to have a character named after them in my work in progress (a murder mystery). Because writing and publishing books takes a long time, I thought I’d give an update on how that’s going. I should note –Continue reading “Kickstarter Update”
Research: Murder Mystery Style
When I made the decision to pursue writing my murder mystery story I’d been kicking around for a few years, I knew that I wanted to take the time to make sure everything was written correctly. I’ve spent so many hours watching detective procedurals on TV, but I’ve also heard about instances were said showsContinue reading “Research: Murder Mystery Style”
Ami Maxine 