I’m curious about something. How far have you gone for your writing? Have you given up jobs, moved to certain areas, taken classes? To what lengths did you go for your story?
Author: bawieland
This isn’t modest, but…
I printed up my manuscript today and started reading it.
Is it horribly immodest to day I’m happy with it?
Help I need to edit my first draft
Since I have no idea how to do this, I’ve gathered some ideas from around the internet. Here’s some of what I’ve found. Note that none of these are endorsements because I haven’t actually gotten that far yet. I’m still figuring it all out myself. But here are some things to consider:
Five reasons to like vampires
People are always* asking me, “Why do you like vampires so much.” I admit, I’m sometimes embarrassed by the question. I know it’s often thought to be the realm of angsty teenage girls. And if you’re demanding my honesty, that’s when I first became enamored of them myself.
Spinoza: What a weirdo
I get that everyone has hobbies, and that whatever your hobby is, someone is going to think you’re a nerd for it. I’ve spent way too much money on yarn and knitting needles. I garden until I hurt and I’m sunburned. I’ve even been accused of LARPing. All of this is laughable in some way to some people.But really, Spinoza’s hobbies …
The good old days: Going to the dentist
I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Thoughts and prayers.
Rembrandt: The selfie-made man
perhaps no one pioneered the selfie quite like Rembrandt van Rijn, the most famous of the class of painters known as the “Old Masters.” Over his career from the early 1620s to his death in 1669, he is known to have created more than 90 self-portraits. These include full-size paintings, sketches, etchings and several cameo appearances in many of his famous works.
So what gives? Was Rembrandt simply smitten with himself? Or was he using himself as a character study?
Perfectionism, or do the thing that scares you
Most of what I know about writing, I learned from my dad. But he was a merciless reviewer of the arts. His brutal assessments instilled an abiding perfectionism in me that has in turns served me well, held me back and given me a monstrous case of anxiety.
Sailing with the VOC fleet
When you’re writing historical fiction, details matter. It was important to know when ships bearing luxuries from overseas might be arriving back in port to Amsterdam. So off to the internet I went.
A confession
No one had to tell me how important the first page is. I got it already. I got it each time I picked up a book in a store, opened it up to the first page, read a paragraph and set it back on the shelf.
Amsterdamned 