Tina Haapala, Excuse Editor

We're all guilty: We've put off our writing because of more "pressing" matters. After all, if we don't get done with X, we wouldn't be able to concentrate on our writing anyway. It's better to have our minds clear. So, we'll sit right down and start writing as soon as X is done, and of course Y, and, while we're at it, might as well finish Z... ZZZ. The next thing you know, you're wiped out from all of your non-writing tasks, and there's nothing left for your writing. You rationalize: It couldn't be helped, I had stuff to do... Excuse Editor's Tip: Instead of making excuses for not writing, make writing your excuse. Of course there are things that really must get done. I'm not advocating locking yourself in a room and leaving your responsibilities totally behind. I don't want to get emails from "writing widows" missing their significant others. However, if you've been struggling to get to your writing be...

It's the holidays! We shouldn't even think about our writing now, right? Wrong. There may be no better time of year for your writing than right now. 1.Better to Give than to Receive This time of year you think about generosity toward others. But what about the characters in your novel? Don't they deserve some time and attention as well? Add them to your list. Give them a gift of a new setting or plot twist. 2.Home for the Holidays  You may be looking forward to time spent with your family for the holidays. Or it may be driving you back to the egg nog again and again. Either way, pay attention. Take a step back. Let the writer in you describe the emotions. What words best describe the feeling in the room when the joyful toddler shreds the wrapping paper. What about when that one crazy cousin digs up a past event best left buried? Later, alone with your pen, a memoir might surface, or a character may discover a secret. 3.Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus Surrou...

A quick note from the desk of the Excuse Editor: I'm making my way around the world of social networking. My Space  was left to collect dust when I discovered Facebook  (I'll be announcing the Excuse Editor Fan Page soon). I even discovered the Writer's Digest Community . But it's taken a while to talk myself into 'tweeting'. Still not totally conviced, I signed up anyway. I'm certainly not a singing songbird yet, but you can find my sporadic tweets at http://twitter.com/ExcuseEditor . While navigating around the one and two liners, I came across a 'novel' idea. Did you ever play this writing game?: Someone starts off a story with one or two sentences, and then each person in the room adds one sentence at a time. I vaguely remember enjoying this as a kid. I did this for some 5th graders when I was substitute teaching one day and they had a great time with it. Well, I came across the Twitter account, http://twitter.com/Tweet2Novel . It seems l...

What's your next big Writing Trip? Are you going to travel the The Great American Novel route? Or take the back roads of A Pretty Good Book to Share with your Friends? Whatever your ambition to fill up those empty reams, Excuse Editor has a few places you'll need to stop along your journey. Inspiration Station Start asking, "What if...?" This station is full of unique characters. Take a look around you. Pay attention. Take tidbits of your life and the lives of people you hear about and start to ask, "What if...". What if the man you see timidly walking into the grocery store is on his first trip out of his house in 20 years? What if someone recognizes the dog on the Lost Pet posting because the dog had first turned up missing from the home of a neighbor whose child had been kidnapped? Let your imagination roam through possibilities until something holds on to you. Follow the trail. When you get stuck in any part of the process, know that it is part o...

If you are lucky enough to sneak away from the kitchen or the mall this Holiday-- Be Thankful you can submit your writing to one of these contests. Click on the links for more information. Deadline 11/30/09 Essay contest for Family Caregivers and Home Health Professionals Theme: What makes caregiving rewarding 1 page essay ShieldHealthCare Win up to $1000 worth of AMEX gift cheques No Entry Fee Flash Fiction Contest Open Theme 250-750 words WOW! Flash Fiction Contest 25 total prizes-- Top Prize includes $250 cash $10 entry fee Deadline 12/1/09 Fiction/NonFiction Humor Contest max 750 words Mona Shreiber Prize for Humorous Fiction or NonFiction Prize Range $100-$500 $5 entry fee-- Snail mail entry, deadline is postmark date These are 3 contests that could be written and edited over a few days if you really put your mind to it. I plan on submitting to at least one, how about you? Best Wishes for you and your Writing! P.S. These listings are just a few that are a...

It's been almost one hundred years since Virginia Woolf said, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write...". We still fall back onto this antiquated excuse. We don't allow ourselves to write because we focus on the material things we think are necessary for a writer: a desk, the latest computer, maybe even an MFA. Getting all of those things cost money, so we focus on making the money so someday we can buy the things we need to write. So we work for money, but we don't write because we feel that our time would be better spent doing "real work". That way, we can save money for an extended vacation where we will sit on the beach, writing our Great American Novel longhand, or we will rent a cabin in the mountains and our poetry will be inspired by the majestic trees reaching to the sky. After all, everyone knows we need a big space and a fat bank account to write, right? “Everybody knows it because Virginia Woolf said it... But I’v...

From the desk of the Excuse Editor: First, I decided I wanted to write. That was easy enough. I'd kept a diary since I was a little girl. As a grown up, I attended a few journaling, fiction and poetry workshops. Great, my interest was peaked, my pen desperate to start moving. But, what kinds of writing should I start with? How long should it be? My workshops focused on self-expression, and I was rightly told: write whatever you want to, write what's in your heart, write what's on your mind. Write until it's done. OK. I agree. But... What if I want to share my writing? ...if I want to get published? ...and of course, what if I want to make some money? I started to research writing markets and writing contests. Sure, I could focus on writing the Great American Novel and send it off to Oprah and hope for the best. Or Ellen. Or maybe I could get the "Colbert Bump". Instead, I kept my head out of the clouds and put my butt in the chair. Using the...