Passive voice is pervasive and often unwise. This post will involve a quick grammar lesson, but I’ll keep it short. Promise. Most sentences of any length involve a subject and an object. The subject does the acting; the object is…
Yearly Archives: 2015
Editing for Passive Voice
Tagged with: Cathleen Townsend, object, passive voice, present participle, subject
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
Interview with Allison Maruska
Allison Maruska has been a blogger since March, 2012 and a started writing novels a year later. She is the author of The Fourth Descendant, an Amazon best-selling historical mystery. She’s a mom, a teacher, an avid coffee and wine…
Tagged with: Allison Marushka, blog, Cathleen Townsend, interview, revision, The Fourth Descendant
Posted in Author Interviews
Posted in Author Interviews
Looking For Opinions
So, this post is going to be somewhat different. I’ve discovered that writing this blog every day is really sapping my writing energy. I just don’t think I can write about writing every day and still keep it intelligent and…
Posted in Uncategorized
The Latest, Greatest, Shiny Idea
Mostly, writers love plot bunnies. They show up, wriggling their metaphoric noses and we’re delighted. We can’t sleep until we get started. This is going to be the best story idea yet. And then at some point, six or twelve…
Kill Your Darlings
“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.” Stephen King, On Writing. This particular quote seems to have passed into common usage. It’s a phrase often heard when a writer…
Tagged with: beta readers, Cathleen Townsend, critique, developing plot and characters, feedback, kill your darlings
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
Interview with Meradeth Houston
Meradeth’s never been a big fan of talking about herself, but if you really want to know, here are some random tidbits about her: She’s a Northern California girl, now braving the cold winters in Montana. When she’s not writing,…
Tagged with: Cathleen Townsend, characters, Meradeth Houston, setting, Travelers, upcoming works, world-building
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
Synonyms for Look and Walk
Is there an easier word to overuse than look? If you’re not careful, it’ll take over your manuscript. A judicious use of synonyms can help. Notice the qualifier. If your characters are using a synonym for look every other paragraph,…
A Different Kind of Story Prompt
Today’s post will be short because I found out about this brilliant thing yesterday. There’s not a ton to say, but it’s really worth a post on its own. I discovered it on Twitter, and it seriously made all the…
Interview with Elizabeth Welsford
Elizabeth Welsford is the author of the IPPY-winning The Five Step Plan. She’s a mom, culinary adventurer, and single malt scotch aficionado who has become obsessed with writing historical fiction. For the past few years, she’s made it her business to learn…
Tagged with: characters, comedy, Elizabeth Welsford, hysteria, interview, pelvic massage, revision, The Five Step Plan
Posted in Author Interviews
Posted in Author Interviews
Facing Fear
In some ways, it seems silly to write about this topic in connection with being a writer. What am I afraid of anyway? It’s not as though I’m going into battle. Nobody’s going to wave a sword or a gun…
Cathleen Townsend 