http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/9586 Great teachings are no longer hidden from view. You don’t have to travel to India or to a remote location anymore. The Lotus Path Workshops are the brainchild of Betty Malicoat, who gained renown for her creative and innovative methods while teaching English at Fresno State University before going on to creating the Lotus Path Workshops. Fri, 05 Jul 2013 09:42:31 PST en-us http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/9586 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/9586 Fri, 05 Jul 2013 09:42:31 PST Yes it IS possible to write marketing materials that get your customers to take action. (Best yet, it’s easier then you think.) http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1023 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1023 Sun, 24 May 2009 10:52:34 PST How is a writer to access her deepest and most powerful wells of creativity? How do we tap into our talent, our genius, our greatest potential for success? Writing classes often tell us how to plot, or structure, or build characters, or create poetic images, but the question of accessing our excellence is a slippery and elusive one. It is possible we’ll need to go outside our usual sources to find an answer.Many will merely say “be born with talent,” coldly suggesting tha... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1166 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1166 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:20:15 PST When the first reviews for my most recent novel (Great Sky Woman, Random House 2006) started coming in, my emotions went through the usual roller coaster. The first, from Publisher’s Weekly, was 90% positive, but mentioned that, in their opinion, it was slow in spots. My stomach sank. Slow? In spots? Oh my God—all is lost!The second review came in two weeks later. This one, from “Booklist,” used words like “magnificent” and “engaging” and “advent... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1226 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1226 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:20:16 PST One of the core conflicts for creative artists of all kinds is the tug-of-war between art and commerce. Frankly, an artist needs to make money, and it is preferable to make it from his craft. A writer who must work a full-time job to support himself will struggle to find the time to work, and often eventually gives it up altogether. On the other hand, being able to write on any project at all can polish valuable skills, and teach one the rules of the publishing industry. ... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1238 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1238 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:20:17 PST One subject arising whenever writers gather to discuss their craft is the mining of life itself for story material. While a vital and important technique, it is important to remember that real human beings are impossibly complex, far too complicated to serve as story characters without major modification. The most complex character in all of western fiction (arguably), Hamlet, is still only 1% as complex as a real human being. One must remember that there is a unity betwe... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1324 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1324 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:20:19 PST There is a great deal of misunderstanding about what that particular branch of literature called “Science Fiction” actually consists of. Is it space-ships and monsters? Time machines? Galactic empires? Well, its all of those things, and often none of them.Science Fiction, broadly speaking, is story-telling that deals with the impact of organized knowledge on human beings. Usually, this means technology, and the way it changes us—and reveals about us. After all, most techn... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1329 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1329 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:20:19 PST Good writing is often designed around a character who has a distorted vision of himself or of the world. During the story, he is placed under sufficient pressure to force an epiphany, a moment of clarity in which, he sees the world as it is, not as he wished it to be.A classic example is “Casablanca,” where Bogart’s immortal Rick has managed to create an insular world in which he can pretend to be utterly detached and uninvolved. He supposedly has no political beliefs, an... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1331 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1331 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:20:19 PST The phone rings. The laundry pleads to be stuffed, cycled, dried and folded. Chaos reigns in the kitchen, e-mails queue for attention. Our lives are at once mundane and undeniably seductive at the same time. When we sit down to write at home, suddenly everything that marks our existence as tedious becomes compelling. Writing at home can seem tantamount to training for the Olympics past age nineteen.Yet carving out time to write at home is possible. You can even design a h... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1479 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1479 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:57:04 PST Most writing “experts” favor a particular way of looking at plot, and will adhere to it for years or an entire career. That’s all well and good, but its important to realize that any way of modeling story is just that—a model, not the depths and living essence of story itself.Problems arise when young (or experienced!) writers mistake a simplified structure for some deep and eternal truth. It’s much better to examine several structures, see what their strengths and ... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1537 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1537 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:57:06 PST After a full day of work, family and life, you fall into bed exhausted. Mentally ticking off your to-do list, you cycle through shopping lists, phone calls, appointments, feeling good about what you have gotten done, until you get to the thing you really want to do. You lay there, bathed in regret – why didn’t you get your writing done today? You vow to do it tomorrow. You will make time for your novel or that article you know would sell. You consider angles, write a few line... http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1703 http://net-teams.net/nti/Display.cfm/1703 Sun, 24 May 2009 11:57:10 PST