Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

Novelists bound by the pen, sisterhood, & more

The Immense Power of Words

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I make my living with words. Whether's it's teaching graduate classes at a Big Ten university or writing, words are my livelihood. I've had a love affair with words since I learned to read. I still vividly remember being a first grader and told I couldn't read a book because it was at a sixth grade level. Guess which book became my favorite of that year, and I still remember that story about … [Read more...]

We need to keep a little Christmas!

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It's the first day of December. I haven't even thought about decorations. I needed a Christmas gift bag this morning for a luncheon I was attending where we exchanged gifts and I remembered everything was up in the attic and I don't have the upper-body strength to bring down the heavy door. I was home alone. I searched the house and found one sad little Christmas bag in the top shelf of my closet. … [Read more...]

I’m a writer? Then why am I stuck?

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  I love writing, but I don't like getting started. It is complete drudgery to create a multi-layered proposal. When I finally reach the right depth, it sits on my computer desktop for weeks or months while publishing houses consider whether my writing is a good fit for them. [Tweet "Wonder what to do when you're stuck? @Cara_Putman pulls back the curtain & asks for help. … [Read more...]

Things I learned at Novelists, Inc.

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Hello. I just got back from the Novelist, Inc Conference which was held at the Tradewinds Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida. This year, the conference focused on Indy publishing and social media. I liken it to a gold rush. Some will strike it rich, some will find a few good nuggets and some will keep panning for crumbs. The buzzwords were all about discoverability, distribution, diversification, … [Read more...]

Pitcher Plants–Part Two

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So ... I've had people asking about the infamous pitcher plants. (I had a recent post on trekking through the swamp with my husband to find this plant.) I did some digging in the vast wasteland of my computer and finally found my husband's photos! They were buried under several layers of files since I'm not the most technically amazing person on the planet. But I'm a busy technically-challenged … [Read more...]

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