Love to Write

Last week, I had the privilege of spending an evening with the Maitland chapter of the Florida Writers Association where we discussed the Art of Writing Short. We explored a number of examples of flash fiction and micro-memoir, including the elegant simplicity of six-word memoir. Everyone agreed: it certainly requires skill and practice to put our thoughts into fewer words without sacrificing depth or impact. Writing short is indeed an art form all its own and presents a worthy challenge for writers.

Our editing tips over the next few months are part of a series called Dial up Your Dialogue, by Writing Your Life editor Teresa Bruce. Be sure to follow along each month for Teresa's fantastic tips to energize your dialogue. Dial up Your Dialogue, Part One As you write and revise your work—whether you’re telling your ancestors’ stories, recalling personal anecdotes, or trying your hand at fiction—keep this in mind:

Writing Your Life client John Mitchell has enjoyed one heck of a week! He received a message all aspiring authors dream about--his book won an award. It was also selected by a book club where they invited him to join the discussion, and a noted author praised his work. Wow! Mitchell's book, Seven Ships: A U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer's At-Sea Career, was just selected as a finalist in the 2018 Florida Authors and Publishers Association (FAPA) President's Awards, in the autobiography and memoir category. All finalists will receive a gold, silver, or bronze medal at FAPA's annual President's Award Banquet in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, this August 4, 2018. We are going

Last week’s newsletter featured a writing prompt that explored the foods of our Fourth of July traditions. Food really is a magnet that draws up our memories from the deep beyond. Author Rick Bragg released a new book earlier this year that gloriously weaves together story and food. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of the bestsellers All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man, and The Prince of Frogtown shares

What do a pilot, scuba diver, entrepreneur, inventor, builder, and world traveler have in common? These traits all happen to describe one man. Mary Karr writes in the introduction of The Liars’ Club that the reason she chose to write her book as memoir instead of fiction is, “When fortune hands you such characters, why bother to make stuff up?” This is exactly the reason why Writing Your Life client Don Richardson was urged

As many of you can tell by the workshops and talks I've been offering lately, I'm on a writing-short kick. I'm encouraging everyone to embrace the challenge of telling a story--beginning, middle, and end--in 1,000 words or less, not 1,005 or 1,050. One thousand words equal four doubled-spaced, typewritten pages. Now, if you're really up for a challenge,

Our Free Seven-Day Writing Challenge that began on June 18 wrapped up earlier this week. Participants were actively engaged all week and shared so many amazing pieces of original work. The challenge featured daily writing prompts, including one special day of sprints, writing on a one-word topic for one minute, for a total of five words in five minutes. Whew! Here are comments from some of the challenge participants:

"I really enjoy the community of writers, their stories, and the encouraging comments they post both to my writing and the writing of others. I am always impressed by the level of writing and enjoy seeing how familiar names appear and seem to have improved since the last challenge." Sarah Fine