A lot of my friends tease me about being a Doomsday Prepper because I grew up in hurricane country and tend to be prepared. For anything. Including, perhaps, zombies. But to be honest, an emergency can happen anywhere, anytime to … Continue reading →
Sunrise Over Evanston or, What’s the “O” For? Oh, my God, it’s early! (Thank you Robin Williams!)Image Copyright 2015 A. Catherine Noon; All Rights Reserved So, those of you who are paying attention will notice that it’s actually Thursday. Yup. … Continue reading →
Of the team of Noon & Wilder, I am the ‘Research Queen’ and how I adore my job. Even topics that I originally thought wouldn’t be interesting, often turn out to be the opposite. I think it’s important to get … Continue reading →
Openings. They’re hard. “You have to grab the reader in the first sentence.” “If you haven’t gotten the reader’s attention in the first three pages, you’ve lost them.” “The first three chapters are all you’ve got. If you can’t take … Continue reading →
My partner in crime, Rachel Wilder, has some thoughts about maps for you. Rachel, take it away! This turned out to tie in with the previous post. I guess great minds think alike! Maps are great in preventing you from … Continue reading →
We all use them. They’re the little words that don’t really need to be there, like “really.” They come from colloquial conversation and pepper our writing because it’s how we talk, but not necessarily how we write. Here are some … Continue reading →
When I attend prompt circles and other writerly groups, one question that keeps cropping up is, “How do I get started?” It’s usually asked by someone that, to my eye, is quite ready to get onto the page, they just … Continue reading →
I adore fiction. I always have. I wrote my first story at the age of nine, and I devoured books upon books from the library, booksellers like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, and when I discovered my first Barnes and Noble … Continue reading →
So, I went to Google today to find a funny picture to use for today’s post. So, I says, Google, give me funny character pictures. And Google says, Well, I’m not actually sure what this says. Isn’t he creepy? 🙂 … Continue reading →
By now, our regular readers have heard us talk about The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. If this is your first time, Dear Reader, hello, and welcome. I’m A. Catherine Noon, one of your hosts here at the Writer’s Retreat, … Continue reading →