Category: Style and Grace
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Versatile Blogger Award
By Patricia Zick @PCZick This week my blog Writing Tips, Thoughts, and Whims was nominated twice for the Versatile Blogger award by two bloggers I greatly admire. Thank you, So Much To Write, So Little Time and 365 Things to Wrote About. If you don’t follow them already, visit their site. I think you’ll be…
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Sticks and Stones and Words
By Patricia Zick @PCZick The biggest lie from childhood: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me. Hit me with a stick or throw a stone at me anytime rather than tell me that my face is ugly or my clothes are old or my mother wears army boots. Tell…
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Patti Smith Just Rocks
By Patricia Zick @PCZick Just Kids chronicles the rising star of poet Patti Smith and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, two free spirits let loose in New York City in the late ‘60s. Patti is the kind of artist I always longed to be: cool and free. My fear of rejection kept me from stepping off my…
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The Organic Writer
By Patricia Zick @PCZick I recently visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in western Pennsylvania. Wright described his design as organic architecture – a melding of nature and man. As I toured the home, I wanted to sit down and write. I yearned to send all the tour groups on their way so I could enjoy…
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Point of View
“I almost always urge people to write in the first person. . .Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.” William Zinsser Point of view is crucial in a novel. One of the quickest ways to turn me from a book is immature point of view. I often experiment with…
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A thought on writers
“Genius gives birth, talent delivers. What Rembrandt or Van Gogh saw in the night can never be seen again. Born writers of the future are amazed already at what they’re seeing now, what we’ll all see in time for the first time, and then see imitated many times by made writers.” Jack Kerouac A Ditty…
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My Inspiration to Write
“The Earth laughs in flowers” by Ralph Waldo Emerson Whenever I need to take a break from the computer, or I need inspiration to work on the next chapter or scene of my novel, I get up out of my chair and walk outside and adore the flowers growing abundantly this time of year. I…
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Writing Dialogue that Sings
By P.C. Zick @PCZick Dialogue in fiction is essential. Good dialogue is crucial. Nothing kills a book for me like poor dialogue. The plot might be intriguing, the characters worth getting to know, and the setting gorgeous, but if the dialogue is stilted and poorly executed, I’m ready to put the book down. I…
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The Rowboat
I want to welcome Evie McAdoo to my blog. Evie recently came to one of my writing workshops with an idea of what she wanted to write despite my instructions to come with open minds. She found soon enough why I said that because before she knew it, the muse had taken her someplace she…
P.C. ZICK 