I was asked a good question this weekend while attending a conference: Can you be a professional writer, but not a storyteller (or an “artist”)? As my previous post suggested, I am not sure everyone is a storyteller or “artist” waiting to be inspired by the right teacher. There are…
Tag: writing
This is likely to be a paired blog entry, as I am certain Susan will have something to say on the matter. I strongly believe that almost anyone can be taught a skill — which is not the same as being taught an art. Given enough practice, most of us…
I love Scrivener, a writing application from Literature & Latte. How much do I love Scrivener? I wrote the following in Scrivener: My doctoral dissertation for the Dept. of Writing Studies at the Univ. of Minnesota, Drafts of three feature-length screenplays, one of which I started in another (“screenplay”) application…
In college, I wrote software documentation for mainframe users, which meant I had the opportunity to use text editors and word processors on a variety of computer platforms. I composed documentation on everything from glorified typewriters (DEC VT102 and IBM 3270 terminals) to slick WYSIWYG (“what you see is what…
When I tell people that the key to being a writer is writing, a common response is skepticism. Earlier today someone asked, “Do you really write 100 pages or more a month?” Absolutely. I cannot imagine any serious prose or dramatic writer produces fewer than 15,000 words a month and…
I have decided I want to purchase a copy of A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose by B. R. Myers (0971865906). A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose I am not a “literary” reader, at least not of those vapid…
They say the best way to learn about writing is to read. Thankfully, we read a lot. Apparently, book publishing is still a $24 billion a year industry. We do our small part to help the industry. (see http://bookstatistics.com/) According to an article in The New Yorker magazine, one out of…