The first time I went to the doctor after the pandemic hit, the line outside the clinic reminded me so much of the airport TSA line that I felt guilty not removing my shoes. They took my temperature, told me to wash my hands, and gave me a hall pass. When I arrived at the […]
When Will I Read? by Lani Longshore Read More »
One of the benefits of joining Tri-Valley Writers is the availability of critique groups and the beta reader group. The time I have spent working with other writers has always been worth it. Aside from sharing a love of the craft, I get a chance to see how my peers address plot and character development
Why Critique Groups Work by Lani Longshore Read More »
I’m journaling every day because of the pandemic. I want to leave a legacy for future historians. Even if my notebooks are never cataloged, researched, or cited, I feel that I am contributing. Perhaps it is time to evaluate all of our work not by what it brings us but by what it contributes to
Don’t Judge Your Story By Its Sales by Lani Longshore Read More »
When the shelter-in-place order came out, I decided to journal every day. I thought I would be doing my part to help future historians. What I discovered was that I was learning a valuable lesson in character development. While reading through the journal, I noticed that although I miss my friends, I’m not suffering from
COVID-19 and Character Development by Lani Longshore Read More »
My husband just received another box from one of his brothers containing papers from their late grandfather. JFK Brown was a mining engineer who worked with the Canadian government in World War I and the US government in World War II cataloging resources that could be used for the war effort. The box we received
The Treasures You Are Creating by Lani Longshore Read More »
The shelter-in-place order for California may not give you extra writing time. You may be so busy finding work-arounds for your normal duties that you don’t have energy for your stories. As a writer, however, this is what you’ve trained for. Flex those writing muscles and create a file for future work by watching life
This Is What We’ve Trained For by Lani Longshore Read More »
Whether you are blazing away on your writing New Year’s Resolutions or still churning out excuses why you aren’t, one thing that I’ve found useful is to have a list of writing prompts handy. If I’m stuck, a writing prompt can help loosen the word jam. If I’m falling out of love with my project,
A Few Prompts for the New Year by Lani Longshore Read More »
I was talking with other writers about story ideas, and we decided that we all needed to relearn how to be as imaginative as children. Young brains can combine random elements into any story, and by golly most of the time it works. That creativity gets beaten out of us because as adults we have
The What If Game by Lani Longshore Read More »
Fire season is the time to check your emergency supplies. As well as having a plan for your family (medicine, food and water, and power cords just in case you find some place with electricity), make sure you have an emergency plan for your writing. Do you have backups of your work-in-progress? Are your notes
Get Ready To Run by Lani Longshore Read More »
Have you poured your heart and soul into a draft of your novel or spent the month of November writing 50,000 + words for NaNoWriMo, and now don’t know what to do with all your effort? Are you stuck with your research? Or not sure if you’ve done enough to properly world build? Perhaps you
Workshop Á La Carte, December 21, 2019 Read More »
