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About this blog

Thank you so much for checking out my blog.  I feel honored that you’re spending time reading these words, instead of plucking your eyebrows or mowing the yard or calling your mom (maybe you should call your mom).

In this blog, I’ll cover all the topics that have confounded me during the course of my writing life (and which continue to confound me).  Things like:

  • embarking on the daunting task of starting a book
  • coming up with that seductive opening line or paragraph
  • finding your way into your voice
  • knowing the difference between scene and summary
  • acquiring the two traits every writer needs
  • facing failure — part of the job description for being a writer

I’ll discuss establishing a writing schedule that works for you and making time to write.

I’ll encourage you to have a naïve faith in yourself, a sense of optimism about your work, so that you can keep going even when you know you’re about to step off the edge of the world.

I’ll address truth vs. loyalty in both fiction and memoir — how much to reveal about people close to you.

I’ll offer writing exercises to help you discover your most engaging material.

In truth, I know very little about what it means to be a writer.  But what I do know, I’ll happily share with you.  Maybe even more important, I’ll share my doubts, my struggles, the wrong turns I’ve taken, which I believe will translate into the most helpful tips I could come up with.

Thanks for reading,
Judy

In truth, I know very little about what it means to be a writer. But what I do know, I’ll happily share with you. Maybe even more important, I’ll share my doubts, my struggles, the wrong turns I’ve taken, which I believe will translate into the most helpful tips I could come up with.

Recent posts

Question for Writers: Nervous?

| Writing | No Comments
“Whenever something good happens to you regarding your writing, you get nervous,” my daughter tells me. She’s talking about when my work is accepted by…
Judy Goldman - You Wrote What About Me

You Wrote WHAT About Me?

| Memoir, Novel, Writing | 12 Comments
Back when Barnes & Noble sponsored a Discover Great New Writers program and displayed the books earning the prestigious designation on a table at the…

Fabulous First Draft, Horrible First Draft

| Writing | 8 Comments
In love. Out of love. So it goes. We fall madly in love with our first draft. Star-eyed and amorous, we adore what we’ve just…

Writing Memoir: What Does THIS Have to do With THAT?

| Memoir, Writing | 4 Comments
I was held up at gunpoint at the dry cleaners. Anybody would agree that this is a shock to one’s system. But here’s what’s odd:…

Keep Your Reader Twitchy

| Writing | 8 Comments
You lived through it, that traumatic scene you're writing about in your memoir. When it was going on, maybe you closed your eyes during most…
Judy Goldman - Rejection

Attention: Poor, Pathetic, Pitiful, Sensitive Writers

| Publishing, Writing | 6 Comments
  I set an all-time record not long ago. In a span of twenty minutes, I received three rejections. Two were no-thank-you’s in response to…
Judy Goldman - Messy Writing

Messy Writing

| Writing | 6 Comments
The concept of messy writing doesn’t make any sense at all for me, because I’m probably the world’s neatest person. My desk looks like I…
Dr. Seuss - Go Dog Go

Allowing Rough To Remain Rough

| Memoir, Writing | One Comment
I know several writers who revise as they go. Their first draft is also their second and third. They don’t tackle Chapter Two until they…