Dispatches from Draftsville
By Amanda Kabak
issues
The Ideal Idea
As a writer, I'm impossible. Plenty of times I sit around sketching out scenes and characters that float around in the ether with nothing to tether them to an actual story. I do this for days or weeks and wonder if maybe I've had my last idea and no one's tol…
Is Your Best Good Enough?
Apologies for being a couple days late on this newsletter. I know you were all watching your inbox, just waiting for it to drop, right? But I was busy turning 47 (a prime number!), and I lost track of time eating things that weren't very good for me and being…
Control, but the Fun Kind
This morning, I was driving behind someone who didn't appear to know that they could operate their car without having their foot on either the brake or accelerator at all times. It reminded me of the one year I commuted to work by car. I drove a dark purple T…
Oh Say Can You See?
I write character-driven fiction. Unfortunately, this does not free me of the necessity of coming up with a plot. I remember when I was watching the movie Chasing Amy, I thought, "This is exactly how I write: I just move from one scene of people talking and d…
Imagination and Me
One of the top-ten questions I get asked from readers about my writing is how much of me is in my characters. The answer, in case you, too, are curious is: a lot and none at all. My characters come through me and are influenced by my experiences, but they are…
You Get What You Deserve?
Funny how that always sounds negative. Getting what you deserve means you've gone and asked for it, been a troublemaker, did something that is just begging for punishment. But what if you deserve success? Happiness? A chocolate chip cookie (vegan, please)? Th…
Patience ... or that thing I hate to practice
Isn't that just the thing?The grind, I mean, not what that just made you think of. Everything worthwhile and lasting takes time and energy, and time and energy is work. Literally. Okay, in physics, work equals force x displacement, which means you do work mov…