Journaling exercise: confronting whatever is keeping you from writing, in writing

March 23, 2015beccakinla journal, writer's block, writing, writing exercise, writing process Tags: choke, confront, exercise, fear, journal, journaling, perspective, problem, relax, sian beilock, writer's block, writing, writing process 3 Comments

So, as I mentioned a few posts ago, I’ve got some personal issues going on at the moment that held up my writing for a while. Basically, I wrote no new fiction for three weeks, and very little of anything else printable, which for some people sounds like nothing, but for me was pretty traumatic. About half the time, my brain felt like mush. The other part of the time, I felt anxious and stressed-out — which is not a state in which I can be very creative. I spent inordinate amounts of time alternating between staring at blank Word Docs and spacing out in front of article after article instead of writing anything of my own.

Anyway, one day last week, I was feeling particularly stressed out and recalled something I’d read about before about “writing away stress.” Continue reading →

Approaching the runway for landing: Winding up my serial with excitement and regret

February 9, 2015February 9, 2015beccakinla writing, writing process Tags: character motivation, logic, novel, regret, serial, sol stein, writer, writing, writing process 9 Comments

So, if all goes as planned, I will — G-d willing! — finish my serial (again…but that’s a whole ‘nother story) by the end of next week.

I’m a little freaked out Continue reading →

How attached are you to your dreams?

February 5, 2015February 5, 2015beccakinla revision, writing, writing process Tags: art, challenge, dreams, feedback, first draft, imagination, painful, revision, writer, writing, writing process 4 Comments

Taking feedback and running with it

I’m still thinking about the story that I mentioned in a post earlier this week, the one that I ran by the beta-testers that I’d acquired through my newsletter.

On Monday, my sister phoned, and she wanted to know about the comments people had made about the story (she had been one of those to offer feedback). In particular, she wanted to know which comments were those which I’d mentioned had popped up multiple times.

I told her what the comment was, and then added: Continue reading →

Results of an experiment: finding beta readers online from among fans vs in-person writing groups

February 2, 2015beccakinla how to write, revision, workshop, writing groups, writing process Tags: advice, beta readers, blog, mailing list, newsletter, revision, testing, workshop, writer, writing, writing group, writing process 6 Comments

A couple weeks back, I sent out a very short story I’d written a few days earlier to people who had signed up for my newsletter (you can sign up for that newsletter on my welcome page). I wanted some feedback, and I had more than a week until the next scheduled meeting of my writing group, so I decided to try something I’d heard other authors have done: generating beta readers from my mailing list and asking for feedback from them.

Here’s the results of my little experiment Continue reading →

Fun with Fan Mail: I can tell you about my characters because they live in my brain

January 15, 2015beccakinla art, writing, writing process Tags: art, author, character, characterization, convincing, skill, writer, writing, writing process Leave a comment

Usually, when I get fan mail for my work in print magazines, it’s from other writers. Occasionally, fans will stop me in the street. However, no fan mail for my serial in Binah BeTween had been printed in the magazine until last week.

At some point last Shabbos, my kids ran over to me to show me that I’d received a letter about Glixman in a Fix in last week’s edition. And then yesterday morning — lo and behold! — I got a letter from two more young fans forwarded to me by my editor so that I could reply before they go to print.

What was funny about the second piece of fan mail was the question. Continue reading →

Sol Stein sold me on “The Actor’s Studio Method for Developing Drama in Plots”

January 8, 2015beccakinla advice, how to write, recommended reading, writer, writing, writing process Tags: actors studio, advice, author, books, conflict, dialogue, drama, elia kazan, fiction, sol stein, stein on writing, strategies, technique, writing, writing process 4 Comments

Some of my regular readers might notice that my usual response to frustration in the midst of a writing project is to start borrowing writing books from the library and systematically going through them (in addition to eating chocolate, cleaning, and spending too much time on Facebook as an avoidance strategy).

A new favorite writing book, chock full of original, well-informed, and practical advice.

I’m two volumes into my current stack of five. The last couple of days, I’ve been reading Stein on Writing, written by novelist, playwright, and editor extraordinaire, Sol Stein. It’s not a new book, but it’s a classic, and I picked it up due to the acclaim.

I’m not done yet, but I’m just loving this book. It’s much more practical than most of the writing books I’ve read, which tend toward the touchy-feely, and after 50 pages of familiar (but articulate) ground (which I probably could use a review of anyway), Stein starts describing all sorts of new strategies for writers to employ.

My favorite one, thus far, is “The Actors Studio Method for Developing Drama in Plots.” Continue reading →

Rebecca Klempner

Author page of Rebecca Klempner

writing process