Author Archives: marystojak
Everything old is new again…..
Okay, it’s an old, old story. Life gets in the way, creates a space that doesn’t want you to write. You hurt your hand, or in my case your shoulder. It’s hard enough to keep doing the work that pays … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Inspiration, workshops, writing, Writing Books
Tagged Inspiration
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Getting Back in the Game
I’ve been off for a while, out of whack. Every writer probably goes through a phase where we get kind of stalled and can’t write. This year has been one of mine. Okay, so you’re totally out of it, you don’t even … Continue reading
SCBWI Post Conference
The SCBWI regional conference in Frederick, MD this past weekend was fabulous. Congratulations to Edie and Lois! I’ve never seen such a great line-up outside of a national conference! Had a critique session with agent Molly Jaffa which was great, … Continue reading
Chill Time
The beach is a great place to just relax. I’m pretty good at turning off thoughts about my day job these days but life is always interrupting our creative lives too. And then I have been reading more on line lately … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, Inspiration, Uncategorized, writing
Tagged real or fictional characters
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Pitching Agents
I love that title although it reminds me that after sweltering in the 90-something heat yesterday, the Orioles pitching was less than adept. Actually, I’m procrastinating as usual about my preparation for a meeting with an agent in about two … Continue reading
Do You Outline?
I think I said in one of my early posts that I did do an outline for my first book. I carried around a stack of note cards and wrote down scenes as I thought of them. I figured about three scenes per … Continue reading
What I Write About
Yes, I did write yesterday, all day. I was only revising ten pages for a critique at a SCBWI conference but I was transposing old verbiage into my current style. Probably would have been easier to rewrite from scratch but … Continue reading
Posted in Inspiration, writing
Tagged dystopia, Guardian, Hunger Games, Margaret Atwood, YA
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So we read, but do we write?
I woke up early (whoops not supposed to start with waking up!), I made coffee and looked out the window at the woods – birds making their racket or cheerful songs depending on your mood, I turned on my computer. … Continue reading
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What’s the one thing that makes everybody a better writer?
It’s not a trick question! The first book I remember reading had stories about Little Red Hen and the later boycotted Little Black Sambo. Grimm’s fairy tales gave me nightmares for many years. The first book I checked out of … Continue reading
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Teaching Basics of Creative Writing – #2
By the way, I ended up not liking that Gardner book. Just not my thing, is it too weird to say that it was too down? Even if we’re hearing about something terrible which wasn’t really the case with his … Continue reading
Posted in creative writing, writing
Tagged creative writing topics, margot livesey, necessary distance, Voice
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