We’ve all read work by snarky writers who’ve cast aside the rules and developed their own way. These are the rule-breakers, the free spirits. They don’t take themselves too seriously and even throw in a dash of self-deprecation for effect.
The ones I’m talking about are not bad people, but because of their irreverent behavior they sometimes get lumped in the snob category.
Last week the writing community lost one of its greatest gifts: Maya Angelou.
She was prolific. Lyrical. Compassionate. But above all, she was inspiring.
Which is the better vantage point for the writer: being an outsider or insider? Do the prophets in the wilderness or the embedded reporters make better writers?
This is an important question for us writers because it’s pertains not only to how you write but to how you should live. Should you seek happiness, the society of others, and success? Or should you seek isolation and individual expression?
We all can recall a favorite book we had as kids or one our own kids want to hear over and over. And over. Thousands of children’s books are published each year. These stories, which set the stage for a lifetime of reading, are often very simple. But publishers say that doesn’t mean they’re easy to write.
I don’t write thrillers. But after The Write Practice team and I talked with Joanna Penn, author and popular blogger of The Creative Penn, I kind of wanted to.
When Joanna agreed to chat with the team and I, she didn’t know we were going to post this here, but the conversation was so fascinating that I wanted you to see it. Fortunately, Joanna was generous enough to let me share it with you.
Tabitha King is her husband’s Ideal Reader. In the past decades she has been the first person in Stephen King’s mind while he sat at his desk transforming his ideas into black on white stories.
