by Linda Rodriguez I’m in the throes of final revisions. Toss me a lifeline. Or at least some really fine imported dark chocolate. There are several times when writing a novel is no fun. The first is the middle of the book. Middles are always sucky. There’s no way around it. They’re swamps that you […]
Recently, I have been trying to help a dear friend, who’s dealing with major chronic illness, the results of unhealed traumatic brain injury, vision problems, flood and tornado damage to her farm and house, and a right hand where a bone has come completely unmoored, requiring hand surgery. This woman, almost 70, is a major […]
by Linda Rodriguez I am currently in the final, panic-driven stages of downsizing before our final walk-through with the buyers of our house. I feel guilty even taking time to write this blog post because I know I don’t have enough time left, and we’ll be pulling all-nighters to make it. Those are a lot […]
by Linda Rodriguez We are preparing for the early-August final walk-through prior to selling our big house and moving to our new, drastically smaller home in early September. I’ve been decluttering and downsizing my home of 42 years for months now—in the midst of final cancer treatments, multitudes of writing/ editing/ teaching deadlines, and the […]
by Linda Rodriguez Research is vital for all fiction writers to a certain extent, and for those writing novels such as historical or science fiction or techno-thrillers, research can make or break their books. Yet research has its pitfalls and needs to be kept under control. It’s always a mistake to allow research to consume […]
by Linda Rodriguez My stepfather coaches my little brother’s team When I look back on my life, I realize I’ve been lucky enough to be closely involved with three men who had the ability to take on children who weren’t their own genetic children and love and care for them as fathers. It will be […]
by Linda Rodriguez As an artist and creative person, I can experience times when I reach down for ideas, for creative excitement, for images, and come up temporarily empty. These have usually been times that have combined lots of creative overwork and lots of business work—taxes, promotion, correspondence, contracts, freelance editing, etc. This kind of […]
by Linda Rodriguez In the mystery-writing community, people tend to divide themselves into plotters or pantsers. This seems to me to set up a false dichotomy where real authors either write out rigid, detailed outlines of their entire books before they begin their first draft or they start with nothing but perhaps an image or […]
by Linda Rodriguez Paffi Flood was unable to post today, so Linda Rodriguez is substituting for her. As we approach Mother’s Day, the airwaves are filled with commercials for gifts for mothers and suggestions for special ways to “spoil Mom” and celebrate this May holiday. You can’t escape them. So, this poem is for all […]
by Linda Rodriguez Yesterday I just crashed. I slept late. I couldn’t get myself moving on anything I had to do, not this blog post or another guest blog that’s due, not my usual stint on the WIP, not any of the several business emails I needed to take care of, not trying to clear […]