Category Archives: writing

Me and The Doctor

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

This post originally appeared at Amanda McIntyre’s House of Muse Blog, 10/1/09. My name is Victoria and I am a Dr. Who fan. If you’ve never seen the show, it began on the BBC in 1963 and continued until 1989, … Continue reading →

Posted in television, writing, writing process | 4 Comments

Anne Sexton, "The Black Art"

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

The Black Art A woman who writes feels too much,those trances and portents!As if cycles and children and islandsweren’t enough; as if mourners and gossipsand vegetables were never enough.She thinks she can warn the stars.A writer is essentially a spy.Dear … Continue reading →

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Living/Writing Balance

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I sing in a choir. I would have more time to sing and practice music if I didn’t spend so much time writing. Or vice versa. And if I didn’t spend so much time reading, I would have more time … Continue reading →

Posted in writing, writing process | 7 Comments

Sisyphus, Writing

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I dug into my journal entries of six years ago for this post. I was working on, at the time, the first novel I ever actually completed. Looking back, I seem to have had much more anxiety over the process … Continue reading →

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Finish It. That’s All.

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Sometimes I think there’s only one piece of writing advice. “Finish it.” Finish the novel, finish the short story, finish something and then edit it or move on to the next thing and learn something new. I don’t care if … Continue reading →

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Writing is In the Mind

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

So much of writing is in the mind. Not just coming up with ideas and arranging words into sentences. To write novels, to keep up the sustained effort necessary, a psychological approach to writing is often required. For me, that … Continue reading →

Posted in writing, writing process | 4 Comments

Writing Elsewhere

Posted on September 7, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Someone asked me recently about my office, and I told them I don’t have one. I live in an apartment, and there’s no separate room where I can go to write. In fact, my bedroom and living room are really … Continue reading →

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Rituals of Writing

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Every writer has rituals about how they write. The rituals often change over time; for instance, when I was first writing, I used to write either directly into email, which went to a group of my friends, or on paper … Continue reading →

Posted in writing, writing process | 5 Comments

Digesting Critique

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I have a rule for myself. After I’ve attended my writers’ workshop and had a manuscript critiqued, I don’t work on that manuscript for at least a day or so, more sometimes. It might be tempting to go home and … Continue reading →

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Dissecting Critique, Dissecting Manuscripts

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Currently, I’m working on my third novel for Harlequin Spice, tentatively titled The Duke and The Pirate Queen. I’m about a third of the way through the first draft. I gave the first few chapters to my longtime writers’ workshop, … Continue reading →

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