*First, a caveat: We at WITS take no money from anyone for endorsing products. If you read it here, it's because we use it, and we believe in it.* Okay, button up, because as they say in the vernacular of Texas, I'm fixin' to gush all over you. One of the big surprises when I […]

Autumn always makes me thankful. Maybe it's because of Thanksgiving. Maybe it's because of a memory of a remote cabin in the middle exploding fall colors. Maybe it's the  reminder that I have more to be thankful for than most. I'm thankful for books. Because one saved my life. When people ask me why I began writing, […]

I just taught a class on  Beginning Pages recently, so I’ve been thinking a lot about first lines.  Stephen King had something to say about the magnitude of a novel’s first line: “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story,” he said. “It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about […]

“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."  E.L. Doctorow Y'all know I have process envy, right? I think most of us do. I always thought I'd be a plotter. I loved outlines so much that […]

I love almost all literary devices, but the three in this post's title are my favorites. I’m sure you heard of them, and have probably used them in your writing, but you may not know the definitions, so here they are: Motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, […]