The Book

Steering the Craft began as a workshop Ursula K. Le Guin gave at the 1996 Flight of the Mind conference and was adapted to book form in 1998. It's a slim volume with a long subtitle: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Mariner and the Mutinous Crew. It contains ten chapters, each featuring a brief lesson, literary examples, and a writing exercise. Le Guin is passionate about the interplay of words and her love of writing (and writing craft) is very clear. She uses excerpts from classic works like Jane Eyre and The Return of the Native to illustrate her points, and keeps things moving with mix of both poetry and prose. There is also a glossary of terms, an appendix delineating the forms of the verb, and a section on how to conduct a peer group workshop. The chapters cover essential writing skills such as punctuation, adjectives and adverbs, and point of view, and are a mix of author essay and literature excerpts.

Le Guin's premise is that, "Skill in writing frees you to write what you want to write. It may also show you what you want to write. Craft enables art."

November 11th is a significant day for me. On this day in 2002, I started my first National Novel Writing Month novel. I had dutifully sat down at the computer at midnight on October 31st to begin my novel, and had written a few hundred words daily, but by November 10th, the story was going nowhere and I wasn't the least bit invested in it.

On the morning of November 11th, I decided to do something crazy - scrap my novel and start over.

On November first, at midnight, over 100,000 authors will dive into the National Novel Writing Month challenge. The TED office has been buzzing with NaNoWriMo excitement ever since we started on our NaNoWriMo issue of Between the Lines, but now it's reaching a fever pitch. Three staffers have signed on to the Novel-in-a-Month challenge, and at least two others are on the fence, so I thought this would be a good time to out our participants.

We often refer to ourselves as "TED" here, but there is another well-known TED in the world. Every year, the nonprofit groupTechnology, Entertainment, Design brings together some of the world's brightest, most creative people, and gives them 18 minutes to share their insights. There are currently over 450 lectures available for free online, and more are added all the time. There are some real gems for writers on the site, and I wanted to share one of my favorites here.

This happens to me a lot when I'm writing: I need an event to happen, or some characters to interact, but I can't figure out a way to make it happen naturally. I'll run through several scenarios, but toss them aside because each one feels forced or implausible. "That would never happen," I say, as my writing grinds to a halt. Meanwhile, my little slice of daily writing time is dwindling and I'm no further with my story. The solutio

Often, when I mention that I'm a writer, people get a wistful look and say "I'd love to write, but I just don't have the time." Really? How much time does it take to be a writer?  Very few authors make a living solely off their writing. Unless you're Janet Evanovich or James Patterson, you're likely to have a day job in addition to your writing gig. Add to that the fact that most people have family commitments (especially if kids are involved), and it does seem a bit overwhelming to fit in some writing time. So, what does it take to be a writer? What has to give?

Sometimes you can find good writing advice an unlikely place. In my case, it was in a fortune cookie (and no, the "in bed" trick doesn't apply here). The fortune said "Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity." Sure, there are several small elements that contribute to an effective and saleable manuscript - plot, characterization and pacing, to name a few - but the fortune's got great advice for a story as a whole.

Writers are very particular about their tools. People who write longhand tend to have a favorite kind of pen, or a certain brand of paper notebook. A few even prefer a manual or electric typewriter, but the vast majority of us write on a computer. I not only prefer a computer, but am addicted to my laptop. I can't hand write more than a sentence or two before I'm in agony from hand cramps, but I can type until my ideas spin down. Despite the plethora of word processing software, I use one program for all my first drafts - RoughDraft.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Well, here's a picture for you.

Got it? Now go write one thousand words. No, really. Go ahead. I'll wait.

The Eagles Over the Kennebeck blog has declared today to be Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day - a day to reflect upon your favorite SF/F works, and to thank your favorite authors. As a writer, I have tried to write straight-up literary fiction, but always find myself sneaking in the fantastical elements or a bit of scientific wizardry, so this holiday is right up my alley. I love the idea of taking a moment to thank a favorite author, too. Few things are as satisfying as hearing that someone was moved, provoked, or inspired by something I have written, and today is the perfect day to share the love.