Hmm…

Tag: writing

  • Not My New Year’s Resolutions

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    harmamae
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      I’ve never believed in the whole goal-setting thing as much as I should believe in it. (I’ve been told I must set goals or fail at life since elementary school, and when people phrase things like that I have trouble believing them). It doesn’t help when goals you have set – eg: finishing nursing…

  • Writers Repeat Themselves (says F. Scott Fitzgerald)

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    harmamae
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    “Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves—that’s the truth. We have two or three great and moving experiences in our lives—experiences so great and moving that it doesn’t seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded…

  • Happy Endings vs. Sad Endings

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    harmamae
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    And Everything In Between Endings are one of the hardest things for me to write. Obviously, I feel the weight of the readers’ expectations—hey, if anyone is reading this, they’re trusting me to end this satisfactorily! And I’ve read so many books where a so-so ending kept the book from becoming great. But both happy…

  • The E-Publishing Experiment

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    harmamae
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    Update: Times have changed, but this short story is still available – in my bookstore. Or if you’re a member of the Edmonton Public Library, you can check it out here. You can read my updated thoughts on the ebook industry at “Reasons for Declining Ebook Sales: My Update on the Ebook Industry, and Musings…

  • Why You Read, Why I Write:

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    harmamae
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    “To some degree, we thrust ourselves into the hands of a storyteller, trusting that he will deliver us safely from a daydream that swiftly turns into a nightmare.” (The Passive Voice, quoting David Farland) What should stories do – teach us something about reality, or allow us to escape from reality? Those that are more…

  • Why It’s Harder to Write a Term Paper Than a Blog

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    harmamae
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    Some people might think blogging is pretty scary – putting up stuff for all the world to criticize, and maybe to use to your disadvantage when you run for President someday (fortunately, there’s no chance of me doing that). However, I realized these past two weeks that writing academic papers scares me more. Then I…

  • Healthy Romance Makes Bad Novels

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    harmamae
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    What’s a Novelist to Do?  I come up against this problem all the time when I try to write a romance about two healthy, well-adjusted people – what on earth should come between them and prevent happily ever after? This is related to ‘The Trouble with Modern Romance.’ In the good old days, the couple…

  • Fish Out Of Water: Chapter 13C (Why Polly?)

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    harmamae
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    This page used to lead to a chapter of one of my stories. You can see all the books I currently have published here. 

  • A Thought from Lord Byron

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    harmamae
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    O nature’s noblest gift – my grey goose-quill! Slave of my thoughts, obedient to my will, Torn from thy parent bird to form a pen, That mighty instrument of little men! – Lord Byron How very delightful to hear your pen listens to your thoughts so well! Mine is hardly so obedient…

  • The Trouble With Modern Romance

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    harmamae
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    The trouble with modern romance novels is that our culture sees no reason for two people who are in love not to be together. This significantly cuts down on the potential for conflict in the novel. In comparison, Jane Austen had it easy. I’m going to use Jane Austen as an example for a second,…