What do you create? Plays for stage and screen. My latest film, The Paper Store, was adapted with creative- and life-partner Nicholas Gray from my play 516 [five sixteen]. It’s in post now. My latest play Two Front Teeth was most recently named a finalist for the National New Play Network showcase; before that it appeared at the Kitchen Dog Theater’s New Works festival in Dallas. Broadly, my scripts are about good people who do very bad things. If you like morally commendable heroes who light the lamp for justice, my stuff may not be for you. And that’s ok. If, on the other hand, you’re … [Read more...]
WCIBY Whirlwind!
Last week was a whirlwind! I kicked off pub day with an interview at 13Wham News This Morning (watch here), and chased it with a great chat with Bill Kenower from Author2Author Radio about superhero nosebleeds, outlining, and how writing is a lot like gardening (listen here). And had interviews up at SheKnows.com, Chick Lit is Not Dead, Chick Lit Central, and Chick Lit Bee. Friday night was my first reading for WHY CAN'T I BE YOU, and it was fun to kick it all off at the Greece Barnes & Noble. I even got to see Steph the Bookworm (right), her friend Taylor (left), and her mom, Kim … [Read more...]
I think Malcom Gladwell just gave me permission to be messy.
See! I'm messy with a purpose! … [Read more...]
Don’t Open Your Sunroof in the Rain and Other Life Lessons
I've been wrapping up one project and plunging right into another, so my head is almost always someplace else. The thing I love best about my brain is the way it keeps problem-solving for my characters, even when I'm away from my desk and not entirely conscious of the thoughts that are spinning. The thing that annoys me is that when my brain is working out dialogue or checking for flaws in a new plot twist, the other things I'm attending to in autopilot mode don't always get the most careful attention. I imagine my autopilot as a Jetsons-style robot who has a few bugs in her program. Of … [Read more...]
Wordless Wednesday – Writing, writing, more writing
Day Six: We’re out of coffee filters. The natives are getting restless.
So J was away on a business trip for a week. I stocked up on food before he left, and with the exception of a workout and meeting up for coffee with my favorite teacher from high school (who happened to be in town for a conference), I did not leave the house all week, and I barely talked on the phone. I wrote, and then I wrote some more, and then I thought about writing, watched TV for a bit (Oh my gosh! TERRIERS!!!!), and wrote again. I let go of schedules. I slept when I felt like sleeping and ate when I remembered to. I missed J like crazy, but I was at a point in my manuscript where I … [Read more...]
And for my next . . . book.
I am so excited to announce that I'll be working with Plume again on my next book! From Publisher's Marketplace: STAY author Allie Larkin's next novel, about a heartbroken woman who is mistaken for a long lost classmate at a high school reunion and decides to assume her identity, to Denise Roy at Plume, in a very nice deal, by Elisabeth Weed of Weed Literary(World). And there's a super dreamy guy, who has an awesome, awesome dog. . . I'm having a blast writing it and I'm thrilled that I'll get to share it with all of you! … [Read more...]
Writing Binge
At certain points in my writing process, the best way to work is to completely dive in. So when J left this weekend to go camping with the Larkin men, I used the opportunity to throw myself a one-woman writing retreat. I loaded up on supplies: Easy meals so I wouldn't have to spend time cooking, and super yummy snacks to bribe myself with if my attention started to wane. Then I took the plunge. Aside from coming up for air to play with the dogs several times a day, I lived in my manuscript all weekend long. And it was blissful. What were you up to this past weekend? … [Read more...]
Writing Exercises
I've been getting a lot of questions about what writing exercises I do and how I do them, so I figured I'd post my current favorite writing prompt: Take a song lyric, use it as your first line, and free-write for three minutes. Pick a short phrase – ex. “Come on, baby” instead of “Come on, baby, light my fire,” so it will be easier to allow yourself the freedom to go in a different direction from the actual song lyrics. If you decide you like the ideas you've come up with, make sure to take out the song lyric in the next round of edits. My personal preference is to write in … [Read more...]
Non-writing
There's a part of my writing process that involves not writing. And not only is it not writing, but it's not doing much of anything productive at all. It's not doing dishes and not doing laundry and not vacuuming. It's not paying bills and not mowing the lawn and not going grocery shopping. It is basically sitting on my butt and reading, or watching movies, or playing Scramble on my phone until my thumb starts to hurt. This, for me, is the hardest part of writing, because even though I know I need it, I have a really hard time justifying it to myself. I need downtime to be productive. I … [Read more...]
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