Writing Prompt: Finish the potato salad story

I dove face down into the potato salad and…
You finish the story.

Nancy Connally’s Critique Case Study Day 3: New Insights Dawn

Here are some learnings that come from the conclusion of Nancy Connally’s Critiquing Case Study:
For those giving feedback:
1) Critique the story, not the person.
2) Critique the story on the page that person is writing, not the story in your head that you want written.

For those receiving feedback:
3) Have the intestinal fortitude to tell the story [...]

Nancy Connally’s Critique Case Study, Day 2: How wisdom from an on-line writing village gave her perspective–5 specific tips

Nancy Connally tells how she balanced out the negative critique by learning from the wisdom of an on-line writing village…including finding out that even exceptionally gifted writers must learn how to cope with folks who don’t take to their work. –JGR
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Later that day, I checked in with a writers group I belong to (Women Writing [...]

Nancy Connally learns some important lessons on critics and critiquing: Day 1 of 3

Nancy Connally’s 3-day case study of some recent critiques and her response to them sheds light on several important issues in the process of giving and receiving feedback on our writing. Today, Day One, she tells of a negative critique she received from a person of stature and how that proved destructive in several major [...]

Janet Muirhead Hill Tells Writers How to Separate our Personhood from Our Work When Receiving and Using Criticism

Today, Guest Blogger Janet Muirhead Hill, author of the Miranda and Starlight series of six books and Danny’s Dragon, a story of wartime loss concludes her Riehl series on “Overcoming Rejection and the the Writing Life.” Quite inspiring, no? Janet, thank you for being one of the other Janet’s in the world and sharing your [...]

Janet Muirhead Hill Identifies Categories of Critics a Writer Meets

Guest Blogger Janet Muirhead Hill, author of the Miranda and Starlight series of six books and Danny’s Dragon, a story of wartime loss continues her series of Riehlife blog posts on Overcoming Rejection and the Writing Life. Tomorrow she’ll discuss “How to Separate Our Personhood from Our Work When Receiving and Using Criticism.”–JGR
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Monica Wood says [...]

Janet Muirhead Hill’s Advice on How to Use Criticism and How to Spring Back from Rejection: 5 excellent tips

Guest blogger Janet Muirhead Hill, author of the Miranda and Starlight series of six books and Danny’s Dragon, a story of wartime loss, is a member of Women Writing the West. As a seasoned writer she’s a good resource to give advice on how to use criticism and spring back from rejection. As a companion [...]

Janet Muirhead Hill Explains Why Writers Are So Sensitive to Rejection

Janet Muirhead Hill, author of the Miranda and Starlight series of six books and Danny’s Dragon, a story of wartime loss, is a member of Women Writing the West.
As a seasoned writer she’s a good resource in going behind the scenes of a writer’s psyche to explain why we writers are so sensitive to [...]

Editing Tip by Nancy Connally: Recording and Listening–with an addendum for MAC Users

Nancy Connally, a member of Women Writing the West, gives a few editing tips, including her technique of RECORDING AND LISTENING to help with crafting authentic dialogue and editing. –JGR
During many years of editing, I received some fine tips, such as:
- Read a document backwards to catch typos and misspellings.
- Set a manuscript [...]

As the pen goes, so goes the universe–Daniel Holland’s wisdom on writing

As you hold the pen,
You hold thoughts.
You hold the words of
the Universe.