Announcing RoundTable 360°

What makes creative people creative? What goes on in their minds that causes the ideas they put on the screen, in their books, their poems, their music, on a stage, in their songs, in a dance, on a canvas, …? Does the same blood pump through their veins as pumps through ours? What happened in their lives that causes them to express themselves the way they do? What drives their souls to shape worlds with their words, their brushes, their notes, their voices, their bodies, their steps?

Long ago and far away there were two TV shows which captivated me. One was Steve Allen’s Meeting of Minds. The other was Wim Kayzer’s A Glorious Accident. Sitting in the presence of people previously only known to me as names thrilled me. Listening to their discussion — not arguments, discussions! — of matters great and small enthralled me, and I’ve hungered for such a forum ever since.

 
Now that forum has a name and a place – RoundTable 360°. Each month a rotating panel of #actors, #writers, #dancers, #singers, #photographers, #mixed-media artists, … share, question, explore.
Come join us. Come grow with us and help us grow. Listen, learn, and share. We are all a Great Becoming.

Become with us.

Cozy Author Donna Huston Murray and I Have a Lively Discussion (Part 2)

[[Cozy Author Donna Huston Murray and I Have a Lively Discussion (Part 2)]]
Well, we’re at it again.

As I wrote in Cozy Author Donna Huston Murray and I Have a Lively Discussion (Part 1), I long ago interviewed Donna and we remained friends ever since. Donna helped me with some troublesome characters, plotting, and some marketing, and I sent her flowers and chocolate.

Okay, not really but I wanted to.

We stayed in touch and recently came up with an idea for an non-interview; just sitting and talking with each other. Minimal selling, lots of sharing.

Part 1 is linked to above.

This time out we discuss

  • Plotting v Pantsing
  • Method
  • Winning awards – being a bridesmaid
  • being insecure
  • playing pro football
  • Making sure you have extra rolls of film for your camera
  • How to get awards and their value as an author
  • Scam Awards
  • The SIEVE writing method
  • the value of constantly learning and studying
  • Writers’ Block
  • Listening to yourself
  • Using (and not using) visual description
  • Why readers skim lengthy descriptions/exposition/narration
  • The power of present-tense fillers
  • Getting a character’s voice down/Getting your authorial voice down
  • Writing characters unlike you
  • The stupidity of agents
  • and Characters with exploitable weaknesses

Enjoy!

 
By the way, you can find Donna via her website, on Amazon, and lots of other nifty places.

Cozy Author Donna Huston Murray and I Have a Lively Discussion (Part I)

[[Cozy Author Donna Huston Murray and I Have a Lively Discussion (Part I)]]
Long ago I interviewed Donna Huston Murray and we remained friends ever since. Donna helped me with some troublesome characters, plotting, and some marketing, and I sent her flowers and chocolate.

Okay, not really but I wanted to.

We stayed in touch and recently came up with an idea for an non-interview; just sitting and talking with each other. Minimal selling, lots of sharing.

 
By the way, you can find her via her website, on Amazon, and lots of other nifty places.