Tag: writing
-
Make a plan and stick to it (aka the unshakable writer and his 4 year plan)
In the fall of 2008 I had a crazy idea. Why not join a masters program to make my already insanely busy life even more so? My thinking process went like this: I could take one class a semester and within a few years I could have a second Masters degree. Or I could twiddle…
-
Thoughts on Offering My Novel for Free
I live in Penang. If you have never visited Penang, it’s like food paradise. Delicious, cheap, “hawker” food stalls everywhere – Chinese, Indian, Malay, Thai, etc… I already lament the day I have to leave, and I have no intentions of leaving anytime soon. Penangites are rather stingy when it comes to paying for food.…
-
I was a writer afraid to write
I still remember one of my professors in college saying the following: “I could never be a writer. I don’t have a big enough vocabulary.” I pondered that and said to myself, Well, if he doesn’t have a big enough vocabulary to be a writer then I certainly don’t. His vocabulary is way bigger than…
-
Don’t Judge a Character
Recently, I started teaching my new Intro to Theater Arts class. One important facet of acting which has been reinforced with me lately is the idea that an actor should not judge a character. Think about it. When we see someone doing something bad, we tend to label him or her a “bad person.” Instant…
-
Fiction Thrives When Truth Abides (guest post on Cellardoorians)
I just published a new post “Fiction Thrives When Truth Abides” on Cellardoorians. It talks about how I used my real-life experiences to help shape my fictional work. I’ll give you a teaser here and then you can read the rest on their site. Enjoy! I’ve been asked this question a lot lately in reference…
-
When it’s not good enough. (It keeps you humble.)
I’m (hopefully) very close to completing a second master’s degree – this one in Humanities with a history concentration. My thesis is now in the hands of “The Committee”, as each committee member reads and gives me feedback. My mentor sent me back a copy of it last week, and I was sad to see…
-
Practice Writing – Niagara Falls
Besides just writing – as in writing novels or plays, etc… I came to the realization that I wanted to do some writing that targeted what I perceived as a weakness of mine – descriptive writing. I’m a fast writer; it flows and I can whip off pages of dialogue in no time. But I…
-
Cooking Pizza: My Internal Clock Somehow Related to Writing
I’m a pizza baker. I love baking pizza, and my family loves that I love baking pizza. I started learning to cook pizza back around 1995 when I was living in Vietnam. I was just starting to get interested in cooking and I, luckily, stumbled upon one shop in the port city of Haiphong which…
Author Mark W Sasse 