Challenges (yoga, writing, sex)
I have been thinking about challenges lately. Different varieties of challenges, but challenges each in their way. When life gets challenging, complicated and messy, the first thing to lapse is whatever I do for myself. When we are only responsible to ourselves for a...Separation Anxiety
I was talking with fellow writer and friend, Nico Taranovsky, about separation between the writer and the character. Sometimes there isn’t a lot of it. The closer we are to our character, the harder it becomes to write that character. It is like self-marketing. A lot...An Incredible Reasonableness
Richard Bausch was the visiting author at Hamline last week. During his interview*, he talked about trouble. We writers have to bring trouble upon our characters and right away. I’ll paraphrase: Bausch said that so called “entertainment” fiction is...Going to the Dark Side
When I met my boyfriend, Scott, he never watched dramas because they always include upsetting scenarios, like characters he developed an attachment to would then die in some horrible, sad way. He has a visceral reaction to these scenes, making them very difficult to...Re-vision
I always knew that revision was a necessary part of writing, as inescapable as the need to eat and sleep every day. But I don’t think I gave revision much thought–it seemed so obvious. You read your writing, identify the sticky bits, and fix them. Fixing...I'm Alida
I help people express their gifts to the world.
I do not believe in formulas. I believe that the stories we are compelled to tell the world make demands on us, and it is our privilege to meet those demands in order to reach the most people in the most authentic and compelling way possible.
