Getting the Shot—Be Ready and Be Patient

I’ve had a photographic couple of days. I’m visiting San Francisco, one of the most photogenic cities on Earth, even when shrouded in fog, and home to the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the most iconic images in the world. Yesterday I spent the afternoon and early evening at SFMoMA, where the special exhibits include [...]

Grant Writing and Project Development

As mentioned at the top of Wednesday’s post, for the past ten weeks, I’ve been taking a class in grant writing. I signed up for the course for two reasons: 1) because I thought it would be a useful skill for raising money for personal projects that are better funded by sources other than my [...]

Deadlines Are Our Friends—Part II: How to Function Without One

As discussed at length in yesterday’s post, I handed in my thesis last week. As the deadline approached, I was writing furiously, madly. Now that the deadline has passed, however, I fear I may stop. (I prefer to think of my current lapse as a “break” or a “pause” as I consider my next step.) [...]

Deadlines Are Our Friends

Hello again! Yes, Mots Justes is back online, having survived the thesis throes. And yes, as a commenter on the post below notes, unfortunately it is well past November 4. Here’s what happened:
As noted in my last post, I decided that during the last month before my thesis was due, I could ill afford any [...]

The Writer’s Obsession: Notebooks

Any serious writer already keeps a notebook. Ten reasons why can be found over at Write Livelihood.
Writers can be very finicky about their notebooks—see Deeplinking’s Notebook Reviews and Black Cover, a blog dedicated to “The Search for the Perfect Little Black Notebook.” (I would caution new notebookers against getting too precious about their writing material, [...]

Life After a Writers Retreat—Part I: Analysis

First, an apology: a full two weeks have passed since my last post—a period of time I regret letting go by, as my (double-digit) views have plummeted with my neglect!
As mentioned in previous posts, I’ve spent an invigorating three weeks studying fiction and screenwriting at Cambridge University’s Pembroke College. I’ve shared some of what I’ve [...]

There’s No Such Thing as Writer’s Block

For yesterday afternoon’s screenwriting class, we had a guest speaker: Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, currently on a book tour for Crime. Unexpectedly for a writer of his cult stature, he didn’t just show up to be interviewed by Antonia, with whom I believe he’s currently working on a screenwriting project, or answer questions from the [...]

Learning Styles

Two days in to our screenwriting workshop with Antonia Bird (Ravenous) and Marcella Forster, it’s clear that we’ll be engaging the material with a lot of in-class exercises. The course started yesterday right away with a questionnaire to help us identify our learning styles.
A testament to the usefulness of the exercise was that universally the [...]

Cambridge Day One: Setting Goals

For the next three weeks, I will be living every writer’s dream: I am studying at Cambridge!
Just in the nick of time (I’m about to graduate), my master’s program has collaborated with Pembroke College to create a two-track course studying fiction and screenwriting. My thesis—due 16 weeks from today (egads!)—is a novel. But except that [...]

Writing Takes Risk … and a Good Editor

Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth. —Katherine Mansfield
In February, after working in various editorial positions (including “Editor”) for more than nine years, I left Boxoffice Magazine, a trade publication for the movie theater [...]