11 November 2025 - Choices

"For any given idea, there exists a variety of technically and grammatically correct word combinations that can be used to communicate it. But each word combination alters the idea. It is the form the writer chooses, the words he picks out, that determines the content of his work, what he really says, and whether or not the writing works . . . Writing that works is also writing that assigns a job to every word in a sentence. Every word, every sentence, every paragraph must be doing some work or it should be fired." — Gary Provost -  MAKING YOUR WORDS WORK

I chose this long quote because it's important to pay attention to every word written. 

What a lot of writers don't realize is that every word has a precise meaning or imagery, or both. For example, hate is not the same thing as ire. Rage is not the same as pique. Boiling isn't the same thing as tepid.

In other words, there are many shades of meaning in-between.

When drafting a work, it's common to grab the first words that come to mind. In the revision phase, individual words should be scrutinized and more vivid or correct words swapped in.

No doubt about it—creating a story well written and well told depends on word choices. So, strive to get the words right. Your reader will appreciate it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

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October 2025 - Is it okay?

 

Although I was aware of O.K. not being okay, it wasn't until I learned from an editor that O.K. and OK might be fine for a newspaper or newsletter column, but if when writing fiction, and especially in dialogue, spell it out as the word "okay". —William Zinsser 

Fads come and go and undergo mutations, so do acronyms. I was amazed to find O.K. first appeared in a 1839 Boston Morning Post. It's been around a very long time. The abbreviation, O.K., was used as an abbreviation for "oll korrect." 

It is also not surprising to me that such a little word aggravates readers and editors. After all, OK and O.K. jump off the page like buckshot in the eyes and draw undue attention to themselves. 

On the other hand, okay flows with the words in a sentence and doesn't bother the eyes.

I knew about the difference when I was a secretary. When taking dictation the shorthand OK went down but, in the boss's letter, it went in as "okay." 

When did you learn the difference between using the acronym OK or O.K. and spelling out the word "okay?"

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September 2025 - Are You Going?

 

Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.                             — J. K. Rowling

The magic of words comes alive at a writer's conference.

When you attend a writer's conference, you'll gain clarity into what it is about writing that makes a story resonate with a reader. 

When you attend a writer's conference, you'll meet multi-published and award-winning authors who offer insights into the industry as well as the ups and downs, pros and cons, of becoming a selling author.

When you attend a writer's conference, you'll take home knowledge that will inspire, clarify techniques and devices of good storytelling, and network (meet fellow writers all on the same journey).

Make some magic for yourself and your writing by attending the one-day, Writer's Road Trip #13, in Erie PA.

Make your reservations today!

There's lots to learn - check out the speakers and workshops. I will be giving two workshops AND will be available as The Pitch Doctor.

What are you waiting for? Check it out -

https://pennwriters.org/writers_roadtrip

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August 2025 - 1 Million Words?

 

 “The first million words are just practice.” - David Gerrold 

A million words?

That's ten 100,000-word novels.

I won't go into how many shorter works it takes to get to that million words or how long it takes to write that many. 

But something else happens when you get to that million words. You write better, more economically, and tell a better story. 

Consider, too, that it takes those million words to gain a "voice"—that unique combination of words in a sequence that allows the reader to hear the writer's voice on the page or a particular character's or narrator's voice.

Have you reached your million words? 

Are you still struggling to get to that million?

Or have you set the writing aside because it's summer and you figure to get back to writing again after Labor Day?

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I'll be giving two workshops at this one-day writer's conference:

Please tell other writers about this great event 

Registration is open now. 

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2025 - July - Writing, A Life-long Endeavor

 

Being a writer—with all its successes and failures, raptures and rejections—is a life-long endeavor. Less a career choice than a calling, its rewards are often so private and ambiguous as to be unexpressible. – Dennis Palumbo Writing from the Inside Out 

Writing? A life-long endeavor? Are we talking womb to tomb?

Some might say it's a person's genetic predisposition to become a writer. Others say the writing ability sparked in early childhood from being read to by a parent or caregiver or being surrounded by books. 

Whatever the spark was, it took learning to read and then years of education to master the English language. Likely at some point, a love of words led to writing stories. 

But what about having a talent for writing? Unfortunately, talent takes one only so far. It is learning and honing the devices and techniques of the writing craft that enhances and liberates creativity. Mastering craft elements requires a stick-to-it-ness, a commitment to striving to become a really good writer—or storyteller or essayist or memoirist.

Writing and storytelling can be a life-long endeavor resulting in successful publication. Writing can also become the self-satisfaction of never publishing but knowing one writes well and tells a story well.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

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I'll be giving two workshops at this year's Writer's Road Trip #13, October 4, 2025, Zem Zem Shrine Club, Erie PA  www.pennwriters.org 

The workshops are:

A Fine-Tuned Engine: Learn the secrets, tips, and tricks to cutting words, tightening prose, and staying within word counts and page limits. This will be a hands-on session---bring 3 hard copy pages of a work in progress, double spaced, 1" margins all around, the widow-orphans feature turned off, and three highlighters (yellow, blue, and pink).

BACK TO THE GARAGE - Flashbacks, recalls, remembrances, and recollections. How not to stop the story's flow and still get in the necessary back-story elements.

And - 

THE PITCH DOCTOR WILL BE IN! Known in Pennwriters as The Pitch Doctor, I will be available to conference participants who want to practice or hone their pitches before going to their pitch appointments. 

REGISTRATION OPENS JULY 1ST. 

LUNCH IS INCLUDED IN THE FEE.

https://pennwriters.org/writers_roadtrip

Spread the word!

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2025 - June - Writing Habits

 The Law of Habit states that it is inevitable that you will be published if you cultivate good habits and break bad habits. —Elizabeth Lyons

Habits are established customs. Psychologically, and for writers, it means an automatic pattern of behavior that can be good or not so good when placing words on a page. For example— 

Procrastination is an undesirable habit. (The do it later syndrome.)

Writing every day is a good habit. (Word counts or pages are achieved.)

When it comes to procrastination, it's considered a deliberate act of finding or creating an excuse not to write.

Then there is Writer's Block. It comes in the form of the fear of a blank page or the fear of deadlines, either ones self-imposed or a publication's. Writer's Block can also be the fear of failure, telling one's self that the writing isn't good enough or perfect enough for publication so why complete a novel or submit something for publication?

And yet, cultivating the good habit of writing every day can be extremely difficult. Life intrudes— Jobs. Family. Kids. Pets. Holidays. Hobbies. Emergencies. Weather disasters—and a host of other issues take their toll on one's desire and ability to write that poem, that memoir, that essay, that short story, that novel, or that saga.

No one answer fits all situations.

Maybe it's all a matter of desire. As Brihadaranyaka Upanishad said, As your desire is, so is your will. So— 

What do you desire to achieve as a writer? 

Do you have the willpower to form good habits that will get you to that goal? 

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2025 - May - Prologues

 

This month's quote comes from Elmore Leonard— 

        Avoid prologues. They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. But these are ordinarily found in nonfiction. 

A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.

Did you know there are reasons why few how-to-write books mention prologues, why editors don't like them, and why readers skip over them? 

I'll bet when you look at a book for the first time, and it has a prologue, you flip over the prologue to get to the good stuff of the first word of the first line of the first chapter. Like you, readers want to meet an interesting character in an interesting situation.

And basically, prologues are ineffective because:  

A) the information in that prologue initially came to the writer as a message in disguise from the writer's imagination. That message was meant strictly for the writer to get the story underway. Often such information is about the story world, back history of a character, an important legend or curse, etc. 

B) again, the reader (and many editors) skip over a prologue to get to the good stuff which is Chapter 1, the beginning of the story and the introduction of the problem and the protagonist.

C) the information in a prologue often misleads the reader as to who the important characters are or what the actual theme or conflict of the story is.

D) having a prologue means extra work to create two effective hook openings, one for the prologue and one for the first chapter.

This will sound harsh, but— 

If anything in the prologue

is repeated somewhere in the story itself, 

ax that prologue. 

But you're thinking— What about the other stuff in the prologue that isn't repeated in the story, doesn't that mean the prologue stays?

Sorry.

No.

What's needed are better writing and storytelling skills coupled with good craft techniques and devices so the prologue information can be incorporated, that is, woven into the story.

After all, isn't the writer's goal to keep a reader enthralled and reading on?

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2025 April - Got Conflict?

 

The essence of story is conflict. — Donald Maass 

April 1st is April Fool's Day, but there is no fooling around when it comes to a story's conflict. 

Take the two ducklings above—two potential characters—but is there a story to be had? Technically, not yet because nothing substantial is happening between them or to them. 

Conflict is the missing ingredient in a character sketch and in a vignette (a slice of life). After all, a story is about an interesting protagonist (the central character) in an interesting setting, who is confronting or about to confront an interesting problem. That problem is the conflict.

There are three basic kinds of story conflict: mind-wrenching (psychological), heart-wrenching (emotional) or physically wrenching (physical danger). Conflicts range from the simple (like going on a job interview) to the complicated (like a gunfight at the OK Corral).

Take a moment now to look at the idea you're working on. What's the central conflict or the ultimate goal? Be honest. If what you've written is a character sketch or a vignette, consider what kind of conflict would turn the work into a story.

As to how much conflict should a writer put on the page or in a chapter, or in a book? At a Donald Maass workshop I attended a few years ago, Maass said there was no such a thing as too much conflict. I heartily agree.

Conflict is a problem to be solved. 

        Conflict is the essence of a story. 

        Conflict makes or breaks a tale.

Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Happy Writing!

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2025 March - A Writer Is . . .

 

What is a writer? 

Sol Stein defined a writer with just eight words. 

Over the years and in meeting writers from the novice to the award-winning, I've seen the proof of those eight words. And if I never publish or sell another work, I will still write because I cannot not write.

How about you?

Catherine E. McLean

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2025 February - A rose is a rose?

 

A Rose Is A Rose, Unless It's A Daisy

This year's monthly posts features a quote and February's is from author Silvie Kurtz, who wrote—  

The more concrete and specific your word choice is, the crisper the mind-images you will create for your reader, making her feel as if she's right there on the scene. 

If I say a flower, the image you get in your mind is vague and colorless. 

If I say a yellow rose, the image that pops is vivid and focused—and won't look anything like a daisy. 

Choose your words carefully to create image after image that will take your reader deep into your imaginary world, making it impossible for her to put the book down.

I wholeheartedly concur with Kurtz. Not only be specific with the setting details but also with the verbs that show action. It is not the passivity of he was standing in the corner but the vividness of he slouched in the corner the better to be ignored.

Consider too the degrees of an emotion. Does she really hate roses or does she loath them. As to hate, it runs the gamut from annoyed to blood raging murder. 

So, seek the correct word that will convey, and show, what is truly meant and your reader will stay engrossed in your story.

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day,

Catherine E. McLean
www.catherineEmclean.com

And Happy Groundhog's Day!

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2025 - January - Be SMART

 

   Clarity trumps all rules. I coined that phrase way back in 2009, and it still holds true because if the writing or story isn't clear and understandable, whose fault is that? Definitely the writer's.

And, of course, following precise rules can actually muddle matters, particularly punctuation and grammar rules that easily destroy "voice"—be it the writer's, the story's narrator's, or characters'.

So, this year, I will feature a quote each month that I value in the hope that you find the words beneficial in your writing journey.

Take note—the quote that opened this post is not the January 2025 quote. The New Year is a time for setting goals and making resolutions. So, this month's quote ties in with the SMART concept of goal setting, which you can google. If you do, look for the images of SMART goal setting templates. However, this New Year's writing goals quote of mine is from Master Phillip Minton, Black Belt, 1996, The Way, a publication of ATA (American Taekwondo Assn.):

Achievement means:

Number One

Determine what you want out of life.

Number Two

Find somebody who's achieved it.

Number Three

Study and practice and make a plan from what you learned from them.

Number Four

Check your plan and constantly make sure you're taking action to achieve your plan.

Number Five

Enjoy yourself while you're doing it!

Be SMART - write with one or more writing goals in mind and —

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