Welcome to my site. I’m a creative writer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My background is in journalism, public media, and consulting to nonprofit organizations. I now devote full-time to writing. I am working on my first novel, a story of family, betrayal, and race. I will be blogging about the tools and processes I follow, and will give previews of some key chapters. Come follow my adventure and that of my protagonist, Alan Rudberg.
One of the best ways to edit your writing is to read it aloud. A member of my writer’s group suggests an improvement on the technique: have the computer read to you while you follow the text to check punctuation. Both Mac and Windows operating systems have this feature under “accessibility” options. On the Mac,… Continue reading Editing? Let your computer read to you.
Earlier, I posted about The value of critiquing the work of others. Two weeks ago, it was my turn in the barrel. The South Pittsburgh Writer’s Group critiqued the first two chapters of my WIP, Sins of Omission. I got some attaboys–“Thanks for the correct punctuation,” and “An interesting story that I will buy when… Continue reading The value of writer’s groups
As I’ve posted before, Scrivener is my writing environment of choice. I use if for my current book project and for client reports in my consulting business. It’s chief competitor is Ulysses, which I have not used. Writer Chris Rosser uses both and provides this comparative analysis of the two. While portions are a bit… Continue reading Scrivener vs Ulysses
A friend and colleague, Mark Laskowski, a copywriter for WGBH in Boston added some salient thoughts. “Forget yourself (your tastes, predilections and pet peeves), you’re not writing this for you, you’re writing it to persuade donors to take action. Get inside their heads and think about why they do (or would or should ) value… Continue reading More thoughts on fundraising letters
I was asked by one of my followers on Quora last week, “What makes an effective fundraising letter?” I answered: -A strong case that makes readers want to give to you. -A strong lead sentence/paragraph that pulls them into the story -Either an ask or an indication that you are going to ask by the… Continue reading An effective fundraising letter
