Despite not writing a blog post for, whew, almost a year, I have been writing. Writing a short story, a novel, and two plays. In all honesty, I've only tinkered around with everything with the exception of the short story.
That story I actually finished (go me!), and I'm in the middle of a second major rewrite after feedback from a few friends. This will be the first piece of fiction that I'll be submitting -- I'm really to start my collection of rejection letters!!
Maybe I'll soon have a rejection letter of my very own!
I think I might actually finish one of the plays too...it has a full outline and is coming along smoothly.
With all this writing practice and slow improvement, I figured this was the time to take James Patterson's MasterClass. This class seems perfect for me as I have no literary aspirations, but just want to tell a fun story. I am about halfway through watching the lectures. After that I plan on viewing them a second time and doing the writing exercises that come in the accompanying lesson plan.
He's a real sweetheart that James Patterson. He's so encouraging and is clear about what he thinks works -- and it must, the man sells a ton of books. But a better review than I could write, from a seasoned writer, is from Joyce Maynard. I've never heard of the woman, and I am a little embarrassed about that.
Joyce Maynard, photo by Micke
Joyce is charmed by Patterson, but I shouldn't paraphrase her -- simply reference her great article!
I now have read her Wikipedia page and know a bit more about her -- she wrote To Die For! I'm curious to read now to see how similar or different it is from Buck Henry's movie script.
So although my work life is a bit nuts and less than inspiring at the moment, this month I hope to submit my first story, finish my little play, maybe complete Patterson's course, and start reading some Joyce Maynard. Wish me luck!
never stop.
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