Facetiming a very old friend

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

#RoaringTwenties #Writing

What was it like in the 20s one-hundred years ago?

Was life more simple then

when it was finally acceptable to apply makeup in public,

to strap a flask of moonshine beneath your dress

and take a sip before voting for the first time?

Did you leave your kitchen (and your new electric icebox) behind,

climb into your new Model T

and rumble off to work outside your home for the first time?

Tell me. How was that new-found freedom?

Did it Roar with jazzy attitude

as you shimmied and twirled

and Charleston-ed your feet toward new opportunities?

I hope so.

You paved the way for me.

Authors love new readers

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

All are welcome.

Agility not required.

(Thank you, Pixabay, for the free cute monkey image. I made him pay for the book)

The Bees knees

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

Should we to go back a hundred years to the 1920s instead of our current and challenging 2020? If you see more photos posted from that era, you’ll know where my head is. My editor just informed me she will have my manuscript ready next week. So excited, but still a long way to go.

Let your breath travel

Posted on April 25, 2020 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

Venture to a road less traveled

mysteries wither, then unravel

a fate explained

a purpose gained

amidst the trodden gravel.

The Writers block

Posted on April 23, 2020 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

You know how, when you finish that memoir, novel, book of poetry, and all of a sudden, your realize it’s done? Over?

Maybe your writing is in the hands of an editor. Maybe your work is already published (Hooray!). But now?

Perhaps you’re all-too familiar with this phenomenon called writer’s block. Maybe you feel the agony of it now because any new characters at your door aren’t knocking loud enough for you to hear.

You miss forming words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into a manuscript. You long to taste new words on your tongue and massage them between your fingers. But they are out of reach. I’m included in this category of empty blockheads.

Perhaps, for novel writers, we should start with a real block. Each of the six sides holds the secrets to starting anew.

Side one: Think of a cool protagonist.

Side two: A badass antagonist.

Side three: The inciting incident. Is it dangerous? Emotional?

Side four: The setting. Dark? Beautiful?

Side five: Devise a plot around sides one through four.

Side six: There’s a theme in there somewhere. What is it?

Don’t know about you, but I’ll be tossing my block around for a while until it hits me in the head.