I just heard back from DFW Writer’s Conference, and I’ve been selected to teach two classes this year!  I can’t wait to share, especially my Think Like a Journalist — Write Like a Novelist class.  I hope I will see some of you there!  I love getting a chance to talk about the 5 W’s and H, and how they can apply to fiction.  I spent a lot of time developing this idea into my Story Like a Journalist Textbook/Workbook.  The whole project came out of my years of teaching creative writing and finding that while students had a decent grasp on concepts taught in class, they often were unable to apply the lessons.  Giving them the framework — and the permission — to write fiction as though it were fact often helped them get past the “I don’t know what’s correct in this part of my manuscript.”

I think a lot of powerful writing comes out of giving ourselves permission.  Permission to laugh at ourselves.  Permission to wax poetic.  Permission to open up old wounds an spill pain on the page, until we heal ourselves.

What aspects of writing do you find difficult to approach?  Have you ever had a breakthrough moment with your writing, where you wrote something more powerful than you thought you could?  How real do your characters and world feel to you?