And the changes are sticking

February 28, 2026March 2, 2026 ~ sharon ~ Leave a comment

I wandered through January making small “resolutions” as I thought of them. Having got most of my calendars figured out–I’m pretty sure the pocket sized one will get bigger for next year–I started some new projects. About three quarters of the way through January, I decided to get serious about jumping on my treadmill more often. I even bought some colored stars (I guess those gold stars in school really impressed me.), and I have a star on six out of seven days through February. Moving a bit every day is a good plan for me.

I also found The Artists Way workbook that I bought a couple years ago and let sit on an end table in the TV room. I started reading, and I’ve been doing morning pages for a full month! I remember hearing about them years ago from friends who swore by them. But I didn’t really understand the way they are supposed to work until I read the explanation in the workbook. I love the way they help me unload the mind-mess I wake up with. I’ve taken to ending them with a couple–just a couple–of things I want to accomplish that day or the next. I really believe writing one or two daily goals made me more productive. I certainly feel more productive this month.

I will say some of the thinking of Julia Cameron, the author of what I’ve taken to abbreviating TAW, was initially off-putting to me. She speaks in a language of recovering: recovering a sense of safety, of identity, of power, and so on. To me recovering implies a loss, or a sickness of heart. But when I substituted discovery for recovering, the book felt much homier and welcoming to me. I think I’m discovering more of the artist inside that I’ve always know was there, but that I didn’t give time to because I was busy working and trying to be a good mom to my kids. Now that I’ve retired, I feel like discovering the potential I’ve left dormant for decades.

I haven’t done as well on the solo artist’s dates as I might. That’s partly because my schedule is already so full. I have writing groups six days a week, three book clubs every month, plus a couple of study groups, the League of Women Voters, and a social gathering or two. And I feel that many of those events feed the artist in me without going it alone. I’ll try to fit in some of the prescribed dates, but I’m not too worried about that.

And the other thing I started doing was working through a revision course I took four years ago through the Sisters in Crime Guppy chapter. Our former president Jim Jackson taught the course. (He teaches three and I’ve taken them all.) I used the same novel I’m working on now for the course, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus a lot of attention on it because my “big volunteer job” started about half way through the course.

I kept every note, though, and I printed them out at the end of January and started with the first step–rereading the entire draft. This time, I learned so much more than last time! With nothing competing for my time and attention, I was able–finally–to discover that I won National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with the first draft because, as a pantser, I just wrote words as they came to me. The point of NaNo was to get 50,000 new words in the 30 days of November. I did that the year I drafted this novel, but only because I wrote whatever came to mind at any given writing session.

Reading through this time, I realized how much is way out of order, how much is backstory and info dumps that don’t need to be in the story, and where the big and small plot holes are. I also made a list of all the scenes in the book. I got into the early triple-letters (AAA, BBB, etc.). I’m working on my list of minor characters as I close out February. Because I wrote them as I thought of them, in previous revision attempts I fixed some minor problems without fixing the big ones. As soon as I finish the “character census,” I’ll make a new scene chart and put the scenes in the right order and start by fixing the plot problems

I can’t believe how much fun I’m having finding the problems in the story. And knowing I’m building a strong plan for my revision.

I’m not so foolish as to believe I’ll be creating a “perfect” draft this time around, but I think it will be good enough–with help from my critique partners–to try to shop it to an agent again. I really wasn’t ready for the pitch in October, but I wanted to give it a try. She, rightly, declined it. But the pitch was great for practice and I know the general outline of the plot and characters are good, or she wouldn’t have told me to send her pages. One of the big changes that will come in this draft is losing a good chunk of the very beginning of the story. Maybe I’ll have good luck next time, too.

A bientôt!

Farewell and hello

December 31, 2025December 31, 2025 ~ sharon ~ Leave a comment

December has flown by in my life. I didn’t get as much writing done as I’d hoped, although this week I started a wonderful adventure at the Winter Writing Sanctuary, offered by British woman named Beth Kempton. My friend Sharon Michalove, a writer I see nearly every day in online writing groups, spent a week last winter with Beth and told several of us about it Monday.

It’s only Wednesday (yes, New Year’s Eve), and I’ve already made some critical discoveries about the main character in a novel I’ve been trying to revise for several years now. I don’t think Sharon M. knew just how serendipitous her suggestion would be for me.

For example, the novel’s working title is Lovely, Dark and Deep. I took it from Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. Amazingly (to me), that poem opened the welcome message for this year’s sanctuary.

The main character, after a few trial names, is now called Beth. That decision I made long before I ever heard of Beth Kempton.

The exercises–really suggestions for things a writer might try this week–have focused on the palette of winter, greens, greys, golds and more. And each day’s inspiration has taken me down a path, when I journey as my character, has helped me really understand my MC much better than I have. I wrote the first draft of this novel for National Novel Writing Month (a now defunct event) in 2020. Other things have gotten in the way of my finishing–including wonderful family distractions this month. But just a couple of hours these past few days have really helped me get back into the revisions.

I’m going to be distracted yet again with an impromptu family dinner tonight, and, no doubt with some surprise that will come up tomorrow. But I think this week’s writing exercises will make the beginning of 2026 much more productive than I imagined.

So, farewell to 2025. It was a great writing year for me.

{In fact, I added a page to this website to post my short stories. Check out “Blood on the White Rose” if you haven’t read it yet.)

And hello to 2026. I’m hoping for more of the same.

À bientôt!

And we’re off…

October 28, 2025 ~ sharon ~ 4 Comments

When my friend Mary and I headed north for the Wisconsin Writer’s Association conference in Stevens Point on Oct. 2, little did I know that I would cross one of the first hurdles in any writer’s life. A hurdle that would make me want to be glued to my keyboard for the rest of the month. But various life events and previous commitments turned into the second hurdle between me and the end of this particular race.

So, about that first hurdle. Writers who want to try to be traditionally published must first find an agent. I figured I’d try one of the practice pitches offered early in the conference, and, what the heck, I signed up for a real pitch, too. That was on the last day of the conference and I figured it would be good practice, too. I’d have a chance to talk to an agent about what she was looking for, how I could improve my pitch, what I should plan for next time.

But as I paused in my initial statement — my mostly bungled log line and a bit about the plot and main characters — she grabbed a sheet of paper and said, “Here’s what you do next.” She actually asked to see my first fifty pages! I was astonished. (And to save us both embarrassment in case I trip over the next hurdle, I’ll keep her anonymous.)

But, after accepting congratulations from Mary and other friends at the conference, I got home and started polishing those pages. I’m still polishing with just a few days left to send them to the agent.

They were rougher than I remembered. And all in first person.

I made the decision months ago but didn’t act on it because I was busy with some short stories that had more immediate deadlines. So, on Oct. 6, I started changing the point of view from first to a version of third person, variously called “limited” or “close” third person.

I’ve had to fight two tendencies as I’ve revised. One battle is to keep away from the omniscience that is, frankly, a natural POV for me. I’m making it up, after all, so of course I know everything. The other is to let the reader into the head of my POV characters. In other words, I have to convince myself it’s okay to read my character’s minds and share all that with my readers.

Another problem was a decision to add the second POV, and that meant moving a discussion from a later chapter up closer to the front. Based on what my wonderful critique partners have said–independently, I might add–that seems to be my roughest chapter.

I should be working on that, not this, right now. I only have a few more days to get it done.

But in all the years I’ve been writing this blog, this is one of the key moments in my fiction career. And it may go no further if the agent who decided to take a chance on fifty pages decides they’re too rough for her to take any on. (Fingers crossed she likes them.)

Still, an agent let me cross the first hurdle and I’m still aglow with joy and hope. This is my celebration. (I’ll break out some wine after I send the pages.)

À bientôt!

5 tips for finishing your writing project

July 26, 2025July 25, 2025 ~ sharon ~ Leave a comment

My local writing group just held its first Writing Day Camp for Big Kids (high school age and older). My contribution was this list of tips to help finish.

1. Pick your project

What sort of project do you want to try? Aiming for a well-written family Christmas card is a much different goal that trying to write a full novel. Knowing what your goal is will help you figure out how much time you’ll need to plan for the project.

If you’re just getting started with writing, it may help to begin with smaller projects so you can learn how nice it feels–and how long it really takes–to finish something.

2. Get started

There is no right way to start your project. We’ve shown you how to start from a prompt today. You can also start from scratch, a process many call pantsing – writing by the seat of your pants. Or you can plot. If you like the idea of plotting, there are all sorts of free resources on the web, including:

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/narrative-writing/ (This is for teachers to guide students, but it has all the main steps for planning a story.)

https://jerichowriters.com/how-to-plot-a-novel/ (standard plotting)

https://jerichowriters.com/how-to-plot/ (“snowflake” plotting

Sites like these will often ask you to sign up for newsletters or buy classes or services. Feel free to ignore the requests. You can look at these without buying anything.

A book may be bigger than what you want to do, but the steps and advice can be pared down to smaller projects.

3. Schedule time to write

Put writing time in your calendar. One of the biggest problems we Gals have faced is working writing into our lives. And while you often hear the advice that your must write every day, it’s more important to keep to a schedule even if it’s less frequent. I know a couple of novelists who have completed books with the bulk of their writing time coming on weekends.

Seriously, if you keep a calendar, put your writing time on it. In BIG HIGHLIGHTED LETTERS if that helps.

If you miss a writing appointment, don’t quit. Just pick up at your next scheduled date. It’s all about building a habit.

4. Read

Read often and widely. Stephen King says he writes every morning and reads every afternoon. It helps to read the kinds of articles, essays or books you want to write. But it also helps to read well-written books of any type. Fiction or nonfiction, literary or genre. I’ve always believed the rules of writing seeped into my mind as I read books, magazines and newspapers as a child. I was good at writing in school not because I could diagram sentences well – I hated doing that—or because I remember all the rules of grammar. I still think I learn every time I read someone else’s work.

To keep your reading on track, there are books clubs in the area. I belong to a couple online and a couple at the Freeport Public Library. Check your nearest library to see if they have one.

5. Find your writing group

There are any number of regional, national, and international organizations for writers. They revolve around topics, genres and geographic areas. Some meet online, some in person. Membership costs vary. Here are a few to consider:

Chicago Writers Association — https://www.chicagowrites.org/join

Northern Illinois Newspaper Association — https://ninaonlinedotorg.wordpress.com/membership-2/

National Federal of Press Women — https://www.nfpw.org/join-nfpw

Illinois Women’s Press Association — https://www.iwpa.org/membership/join-us/

Wisconsin Writers Association — https://wiwrite.org/about-wwa-2/join

Off Campus Writers’ Workshop — https://ocww.info/join-ocww

Sisters in Crime — https://www.sistersincrime.org/page/join-now (There are Chicagoland and Wisconsin chapters of this group, as well as the totally online Guppy chapter.)

Women Fiction Writers Association — https://wfwa.memberclicks.net/index.php?option=com_mcform&view=ngforms&id=38580#/

Academy of American Poets — https://poets.org/membership

Haiku Society of America — https://www.hsa-haiku.org/join.htm

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators — https://www.scbwi.org/membership

Creative Academy for Writers — https://creativeacademyforwriters.com/join-us/ (This group is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada. You can join and take part in many activities for free.)

Historical Novel Society — https://historicalnovelsociety.org/members/why-join-the-society/ (Founded in the UK, it also has a US headquarters.)

American Christian Fiction Writers — https://acfw.com/acfw-membership/

National Association of Memoir Writers — https://www.namw.org/become-a-member/

Speculative Literature Foundation — https://speculativeliterature.org/membership/ (For information about the Chicago chapter, drop a note to lewella@speculativeliterature.org.)

Happy writing, everyone.

À bientôt!

Wisconsin writers’ tour

June 30, 2025July 5, 2025 ~ sharon ~ Leave a comment

In one whirlwind day this month, I attended a writers’ conference and met “Agatha Christie” in southeast Wisconsin.

When I heard about an Agatha Christie “evening” as a fundraiser for the Wisconsin Historical Society, I wrongly assumed it would be at the Historical Society Library on the UW campus in Madison. But when I figured out she would be performing in Lake Geneva, I bought a ticket anyway. The drive would be a little more than an hour from my house, not the forty-five minutes to Madison, but not a stretch.

A few weeks later, friends told me they were taking part in Book Fest in Janesville, Wisconsin, a faitly new summer event sponsored by the Hedberg Public Library. And it was free! Scheduled the same day as Agatha’s visit, I RSVP’ed for two of the Book Fest events. It was also about forty-five minutes from my house. (Lake Geneva would be about thirty minutes from there.) It was going to be a scorcher, so I was looking forward to a day out of the sun.

Happily, the drive over was a bit quicker than I though and I arrived in time to sneak into the end of a session I hadn’t signed up for. That was “Everything You Need to Get Started” with Ken Brodsy in the Fireplace room. The gatherine was in an almost living room-like meeting place at one end of the main library room. He had some great tips, even at the end, and a plotting handout I was happy to take home.

I’d signed up for “Bringing Your Manuscript to Port: Navigating the Varied Channels to Book Publication.” Two of my Wisconsin Sisters in Crime–Christine DeSmet and Peggy Joque Williams, were on the panel, but so was Kristin Oakley, a friend from a now-defunct writing group in Rockford. She’d moved to Madison and I hadn’t seen her in years.

The moderator and fourth panelist, Ken Humphrey, is also the man behind the Wisconsin Writers Association email, hello@wiwrite.org. (I love the domain name. After all, the only answer to “wiwrite” is why not?) Ken and I had been exchanging email about the WWA fall conference and my membership listing. He has resolved everything with aplomb.

Each of the four panelists followed different routes to publishing from traditional to hybrid to independent (self-), and they shared boons and banes of each path. They also had some great handouts.

I ordered the optional delivered lunch but got so busy chatting with the other woman at my table, and the morning snacks had been so good, that I barely ate it. She and I stayed put for the master class with Maggie Ginsberg, Madison author of Still True, which won the 2023 WLA Literary Award for Fiction and received an honorable mention for the 2022 Edna Gerber Fiction Book Award. Her talk on “10 Ways I Got Unstuck” was full of great tips for writers in any literary genre. And, of course, there was a handout. (Do you sense a pattern in my enthusiasm?)

I think my favorite was her reminder that it’s not fair to compare a work-in-progress to another author’s finished, published work. It’s messy before those final edits, no matter who you are.

After Ginsberg’s talk, authors lined the halls at tables piled with their books and swag, and library patrons had a chance to mingle, chat, buy books and get autographs. Kudos to Janesville’s Hedeberg Public Library for putting on such a great event for four years. Hope they can keep it up.

But, by now I was hungry, so I went downstairs to The Ground Floor, the Friends of the Library’s coffee and book resale shop. I bought some tea and finally had a chance to eat my lunch before heading toward Lake Geneva.

I detoured through Delavan, another cute southeast Wisconsin town, before following my GPS to a small country school that felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. As far as I could tell, I was nowhere near downtown Lake Geneva. The school was surrounded by fields, with nary a house in view.

The part I hadn’t noticed in my email with the ticket was that the school was a staging area for a shuttle to the actual performance location. Agatha was visiting Black Point Estate and Gardens on Lake Geneva, not someplace in Lake Geneva.

There were few enough at the talk that we caravanned through winding, shaded country roads to the estate. We had wine on the porch facing the lake before moving into the un-air conditioned 1888 home built for a Chicago “beer baron.” At that time, the rail service could get him from his summer retreat in Wisconsin to Chicago in about an hour.

The fence and gardens near the house reminded me of Monet’s Giverney in France, but the family wasn’t as interested in backdrops for painting as they were in fun at the lake. From the lawn near the house, you could see the sparkling water between trees at the bottom of the rolling lawn. Visiting during regula hours might be worth a trip back to the estate someday.

But I, and a couple dozen other folks, had come to meet Agatha. Local historian and actress Chris Brookes brought a circa 1950 Agatha to the event, sharing elements of her life and writing to that date. She’ll be doing another presentation Sept. 20 at Black Point, in case you’d like to hear her. It was fun. She read from a couple of her books, occasionally strolled back into the audience, and asked them questions.

After the performance, we could wander around the first floor and gardens. It made for a lovely evening, and I managed the drive home before sunset despite dawdling along the way. I even stopped in Sharon, Wisconsin, for a selfie. (I was tempted to bring a bucket of soapy water back to town, but I haven’t done it yet.)

Day trips can be lots of fun, can’t they?

À bientôt!