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Editor's Notes #60, A private place to write
October 15, 2008
Hello,

Many an opportunity is lost
because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers.

--Anon


In this issue:

1. A private place to write
2. Tickled my funnybone
3. Thanks for the feedback
4. Coming soon to a venue near you

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1.A private place to write
When the need to write drives you, you don't need a private place to write. Any place will do. I've done writing like that -- writing that thrashes around inside until I can get near enough to writing materials to let it out. I imagine that's what writing in the Gulag was like for Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Huddled in the most dire of circumstances, he poured his words into the brains of fellow prisoners for safe-keeping.

But not all writing is like that. Sometimes it's just plain hard. And sometimes we can't find the space and time to do it.

If you are taking the advice to write in chunks, consider using the room in your house that is regularly used in small chunks of time -- the bathroom. Once you get in there and close the door, you are usually guaranteed privacy.

During a writing course, I learned about one highly successful children's author (a single mother with small children) who wrote several Young Adult novels in chunks while locked into a bathroom stall during coffee breaks at her day job.

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2. Tickled my funnybone
Thanks to Valerie for this headline:
Police found drunk in shop window.

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3. Thanks for the feedback
Wow! You responded so quickly and so enthusiastically! I had scarcely sent off the last issue before my inbox was inundated with responses.

I learned that the overwhelming majority of you -- all but two of you, in fact -- prefer the more frequent communication. So, that is what you will get.

The speed with which people replied told me something I hadn't even asked. It told me how quickly you open and read Editor's Notes. I found that more than a little humbling. I know you have choices. I'm honored that you choose Editor's Notes.

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4. Coming soon to a venue near you
The ink is not dry on the contract, so I can't tell you where I may be giving a workshop next, but I had a call asking me to stand in for another editor who can't give the workshop she had been asked to present in early November. The timing isn't great for me, so this may not happen at all.

But I thought I should remind you that I do offer workshops for writers. There's a list of topics at https://www.writershelper.com/writers-workshops.html. Maybe there's a Writer's Helper workshop in your future.

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