BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE, SOME WRITING ADVICE TO MYSELFDecember 21, 2012
I love this time of year. I've pretty much given up making New Year's resolutions, but late December is when I'm allowed by custom—no, obligated—to kick back and think about making a good start in 2013.
Of course, given the date of this post—December 21, 2012—thinking about next year could be a (more…) ROBERT MASSIE: BIOGRAPHY'S KEY INGREDIENTS (From TBC, October 2012)December 6, 2012 
Robert Massie: Storytellers have "three ingredients" to think about. (Photo © Alex Remnick)
CREATING A WRITING ROUTINE THAT WORKSDecember 3, 2012
We often hear that one of the most important things when writing a book is to establish a regular writing routine. That's true whether you teach, spend your days in an office, or work at home. But for most of us, it's one of the hardest things to learn how to do. (more…)
STAYING ON TRACK: THE RED THREAD OF THE NARRATIVEDecember 1, 2012 
To stay on track, keep an eye on the red thread of your story. (Image via photos-public-domain.com)
THE WRITING LIFE: BIOGRAPHY AS RORSCHACH TESTNovember 26, 2012 
Rorschach Inkblot No. 9 (Wikipedia)
Interview: DEIRDRE BAIR ON STEINBERG, CAPONE, AND CHOOSING A SUBJECT (From TBC, November, 2012)November 19, 2012 
GETTING ORGANIZED, 2: AN EASY PATH TO YOUR FILESNovember 17, 2012
This is the second of two posts about setting up an online filing system to store primary research findings.
In my last post, I discussed how I organize Word folders for SARA AND ERSKINE, AN AMERICAN ROMANCE on the principle of (mainly) the time period they cover. This post discusses the Word files to contain entry notes, annotations, and excerpts from primary sources. I store these entry files in chronological subfolders inside the primary research files. (Yes, I know what you're thinking. "Word files? Dona, they now make actual filing software for this sort of thing." Having developed my own system and gotten pretty comfortable with it, (more…) WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA? Lucy Knight on the Importance of "Firsts"November 16, 2012 
Louise (Lucy) W. Knight is the author of two biographies of Jane Addams and principal of Knight Consulting, a non-profit consulting firm.
"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?" invites published biographers and writers of nonfiction to discuss the ideas and insights that have been important to them or helped them solve one of the many challenges of writing, research, and the nonfiction writer's life. Has something helped you as a biographer or nonfiction writer? Send in a comment. I think a lot (and by "a lot" I mean all the time) about the life of my subject and how I'm telling her story. My friend Louise (Lucy) W. Knight, who's written not one but two fine books about the great social worker Jane Addams, recently told me about an epiphany she once had about telling the story of a life, an epiphany that came from reading the first volume of Richard Holmes' biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It both deepened her thinking about Jane Addams' life story and increased her confidence as a narrator. I've asked her to describe it here. —Dona Munker (more…) GETTING ORGANIZED, 1: WE BRING ORDER TO CHAOSNovember 13, 2012 Whether you're writing your first biography or your tenth, a simple yet flexible filing system can make storing and accessing information simpler, help you remember things, and generally make writing a book a lot easier. This post is the first of two about setting up a computer filing system for primary research in a biography. Or, as the Borg Queen on Star Trek might say, it's about bringing order to chaos. (more…) AND NOW, A WORD ABOUT FILING. AGAIN.November 10, 2012 
This is a sort of dirty professional secret akin to wanting to know about the inner workings of mechanical clocks. All any normal person who isn't a clockmaker really wants to know is (more…) |
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