Okay, so I attended the third of Susan May Warren’s series of My Book Therapy retreats this weekend in Seattle. And it rocked my socks off. (Seriously, I’m not wearing socks right now.) Later this week I plan to blog more about the retreat, but for now, I just have to say that My Book Therapy has been, hands-down, the …
Lessons from poetry class.
I took a poetry class in college. If you know me (which you most likely do if you’re reading this…but hey, if not, nice to meet ya…virtually…sort of) you can go ahead and laugh right now. ‘Cause, yeah, poetry and I go together about as well as Mountain Dew and houseplants. Which is not well. (Trust me, I tried it. …
Just like Sully.
Let’s talk about how I can’t count. No, seriously. See, way back when (like March??) I embarked upon what I’ve been calling my Top Ten Totally Stolen Writing Tips. Took a little tangent in mid-April when I met the ultra-cool Ted Dekker, then got back on track a couple weeks ago. But confusion set in and I thought, upon writing …
Go ahead, spend the money.
So, I’m walking through Hy-Vee earlier this evening and seriously, it’s like everyone’s looking at me. And not in a “look quick, nod ‘hello,’ look away” kind of way. Not a full-on ogle either, but somewhere in between. Why? Well, only thing I could figure out was that I’d just gotten my hair cut earlier in the evening and it …
Ted Dekker called me a freak.
Okay. So he didn’t look me in the eye and say “Melissa Tagg, you’re freak.” No, more like he looked at a room of 300 people and called us all freaks. But only after applying the title to himself first…a few dozen times. And if the guy’s going to lump me into the same category as him…I’ll so totally take …
Pick up the scissors and cut!
So, last week I took a little writing hiatus. Partially, I made the decision because I felt I deserved a little break after my recent determined (translate: bordering-on-obsessed) efforts to enter a couple writing contests. (In the spirit of Nacho Libre, insert: GULP, GULP, gulp, gulp, gulp, GULP, gulp, GULP, GULP.) And also, I just needed a little taste of …
Three for the price of one…
Just a couple things I’ve got to get off my chest before diving into my next Totally Stolen Writing Tip: a) Jonathan Acuff and his Stuff Christians Like blog-to-book story would’ve made a much better – and funnier – movie than “Julie & Julia.” I mean, I know nothing about Mr. Acuff’s personal life, but I’m just that convinced he …
When in doubt…
…skip the -ly adjectives and adverbs. Sometimes. Yes, technically this Totally Stolen Tip should be ranked 10b or something because it follows closely on the heels of “Show, Don’t Tell.” One of the best ways to show instead of tell is to nix the -ly adjectives and adverbs. I like to think of it this way: -ly adjectives and adverbs …
I Dream of…a really cool birthday cake.
When I was a little kid, there was this My Little Pony I wanted so, so, so much. A bright yellow one with wings and pink and blue butterflies all over it. Remember how much Jeannie wanted Tony Nelson to fall for her? (And I don’t blame her. Astronauts are cool.) Yeah, that’s how much I wanted that My Little …
It’s a woman’s prerogative…
…to change her mind. I’m not sure who made up this rule or if it’s written down or anything. Maybe it’s more of a universal “gentlemen’s agreement.” Regardless, I’m taking it to heart. See, I was going to keep writing about excuses in March. But as I thought through the rest of the excuses I often use for not writing, I …