https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog daily 0.75 2026-09-01 https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/all-stories-are-ghost-stories monthly 0.5 2026-09-01 https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/for-the-platypus-in-all-of-us monthly 0.5 2023-05-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/d90f0c3a-d0ef-4f54-94df-67de6ee9ee7f/evgeni-tcherkasski-eGoU1HxZLUk-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - For The Platypus in All Of Us - But…our weird is the miracle. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/pancakes monthly 0.5 2023-05-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/555ea1f7-737a-458c-b147-b6a1b3875c66/joshua-ryder-y4K7Ydp2z3Y-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Pancakes - Did pancakes undo the knot in my mind? Yes and no. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/intuition-and-creativity monthly 0.5 2023-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/d6ac1048-1ecb-4997-b1f5-a719d1c2a21f/joshua-sortino-LqKhnDzSF-8-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Intuition and Creativity - None of us are the same person, yet every person is a different expression of the same idea. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/suitcases-and-scenes monthly 0.5 2023-05-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/196e822b-3ae1-47ce-8af7-14922d1b9ff5/belinda-fewings-1Spvd7ktFX4-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Suitcases and Scenes - Our work then becomes correctly packing each suitcase-scene for the reader’s current point in the story. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/proofreader-blue monthly 0.5 2023-04-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/3a71d769-2587-4e0b-b731-e2a5118205ed/markus-spiske-ZT4XO1WTj5w-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Proofreader Blue - If the writer doesn’t care for nitpicking, the writer is probably in the wrong business. A good proofreading is as nitpicky as it gets. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/writing-when-writing-is-impossible monthly 0.5 2023-04-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/fdb5add9-c3d4-43ef-ad40-5c40fd00b240/pete-alexopoulos-jbA2kQI0lx4-unsplash+resized.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Writing When Writing is Impossible - The thing I must remember: Life always offers more roads, roads galore—even if I have to forge them. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/spines monthly 0.5 2023-04-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/dfd52419-79c7-4f60-a747-d9b3a429e82b/james-v5gIzrQ_P60-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Spines - The effort it takes to make any weakness into a strength can feel overwhelming, but what in life isn’t overwhelming when viewed from outside the moment? https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/w monthly 0.5 2023-04-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/308b4f54-3ede-4a67-9e01-0fbaedcbd210/finn-nJupV3AOP-U-unsplash+2.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Writing and Depression - As a writer, I’d say that I need a therapist on my team as much as I need an editor. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/what-the-shadow-knows monthly 0.5 2023-03-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/202af633-3260-4f23-8cf7-148eb5ae6af6/martino-pietropoli-pirWeToS2mA-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - What the Shadow Knows - Writing can be difficult not because of what we need to say but because we don’t want the vulnerability of having the world know we said it. We don’t want to be judged. We don’t want to be shunned. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/where-did-all-these-people-come-from monthly 0.5 2023-03-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/d8421430-75df-4cf4-be8e-856a6ee28846/mario-purisic-jG1z5o7NCq4-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Where Did All These People Come From? - All your main characters, all your secondary characters arrive secreted inside the protagonist like a an ornate set of Russian dolls. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/coffee-break-whos-wearing-the-pants-in-this-story monthly 0.5 2023-03-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/5d6b391c-41ee-4965-a79c-1c3b57863f7a/ricardo-gomez-angel-OnkqXwxWYAE-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Coffee Break: Who’s Wearing the Pants in This Story? - But the image of pants hanging ordered on a laundry line proved an irresistible entry into the question of which technique, Pantsing (discovering the story as you write) or Plotting (planning out the story before you start writing), best describes any of us writers. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/hyacinth-for-laura monthly 0.5 2023-03-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/61147e22-2471-45b6-aff1-a665bd491dab/karina-b-iEx914dGKCQ-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Hyacinth (For Laura) - A white hyacinth symbolizes loveliness or prayers for a loved one. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/writing-my-way-into-a-beginning monthly 0.5 2023-03-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/4b07b2c4-03cd-4f25-8872-40faa1fefcd2/boba-jovanovic-VWmCwpWSVf0-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Writing My Way into a Beginning - I’m waiting for a person—not ideas for a character—but a fully-human human being to come wandering out of the dense forest of questioning words. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/the-tool-kit monthly 0.5 2023-02-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/0ae55d0c-bbf8-4ce9-a8d7-c6595c1ae29b/clem-onojeghuo-HpK0nVi7xOw-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - The Tool Kit - I imagine mine as a collection of bright, small boxes similar to those in the opening image. Each would offer space enough for only one bit of advice, and I would be forever forgetting which piece I stored where. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/first-prepare-your-writing-space monthly 0.5 2023-02-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/62fd31e8-5d1f-4604-8d84-d2729f61bdfc/wonderlane-6jA6eVsRJ6Q-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - First, Find Your Writing Space - The photo attached to this blog isn’t my office, but it could be. It’s close enough to how my desk looks by the time the first draft reaches its end. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/breaking-shot monthly 0.5 2023-02-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/81826745-58da-48e9-8845-7a901651742b/norbert-braun-Jh0b9QOeTqg-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Breaking Shot - You sense possibilities careening in every direction. You grab a pen. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/changing-new-years-resolutions-into-evolutions monthly 0.5 2023-02-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/68ab3b64-f54c-41bd-ba24-6b6c223c2dbf/chris-barbalis-J698hh61HPo-unsplash+11-11-22.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Changing New Year’s Resolutions into Evolutions - Instead of a futile fight with change’s mighty tidal pull, I swam with change until things changed again. And things will always change again. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/for-the-unsung-beta-readers monthly 0.5 2023-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/e68e6609-2074-4722-9832-6179b2f15e9b/roger-bradshaw-ZUfgumWrni8-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - For The Unsung Beta Readers - Simply put, a Beta Reader is one who takes on the book in its (hoped for) final draft, as though they’ve purchased this book and are honoring the writer with a meticulously careful read. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/the-hundredth-hill monthly 0.5 2023-01-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/3e80f134-d35e-447f-8e53-7075b10b8100/sunset+at+HH+2+Blog+3.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - The Hundredth Hill - You journey on until the journey is all you know. You give up your expectations, even the hope of arrival. That’s when you arrive. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/wait-what-emotions-are-not-feelings monthly 0.5 2023-01-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664855682985-OO8W83LVJOVTST1UTEYP/jack-finnigan-CR9EGFPVNoU-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Wait. What? Emotions Are Not Feelings? - This alchemy makes for the resonance we call unity of body, mind, and soul. With that paper people become flesh and blood. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/exclmation-points monthly 0.5 2023-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664981368301-XU7JGB7YHGYD37IATYAI/setyaki-irham-qOHO7nSfQIs-unsplash+edit.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Exclamation Points!!!!! - In a time when we use our !!!!!’s wantonly in email and texts to denote enthusiasm (Hi! I hope you’re good!), how are we to manage a well-tempered application of the exclamation point? That depends on the writer, but as the French say, if you have only a few francs left, buy champagne. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/worthwhile-thirty-five-years-of-writing-a-novel-to-done monthly 0.5 2022-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/d56a6b5c-0aef-4cc0-ae86-0ef1cac3ebad/ameen-fahmy-_gEKtyIbRSM-unsplash+done.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Worthwhile: Thirty-Five Years of Writing A Novel to Done - It helps to see any large project as a journey. Not only in the writing itself but in how the writing mirrors back the changes the writer lived through during the book’s creation. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/shadow-vocabularies-writing-swear-words monthly 0.5 2022-12-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664561116686-RZYSY3OKJVXG5J707ANV/etienne-girardet-0k7BqysPMG4-unsplash+vocab.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Shadow Vocabularies: Writing Swear Words - As we’ve learned more about how we work as embodied creatures, we’ve demythologized the natural necessities that make us animals as well as angels. The old words have lost their potency. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/the-five-rs-of-managing-the-no-thank-you monthly 0.5 2022-12-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1666535717127-9APA9H8DMAVKG5DQG7IW/jon-tyson-2TzSuQZOHe4-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - The Five R’s of Managing the “No, Thank You” - You’ve heard No before. You’ll hear No again. If you hope to publish, you’re going to hear No, thank you a lot. That proves only one thing. You are a real, working writer. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/publishing-rumors-of-hostile-territory monthly 0.5 2022-12-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664497919710-QZM4LQ2B16X93AWEF93N/steve-harvey-GCfCdBVNBKs-unsplash+Critical+Cat.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Publishing: Rumors of Hostile Territory - Yet, publishers send our books into the world anyway. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/empathy-and-the-query-letter monthly 0.5 2022-11-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1666422671858-5JNCU9NMNUXNLFOMKS2B/ana-municio-PbzntH58GLQ-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Empathy and the Query Letter - You don’t want just any agent or editor. You want what those publishing professionals want: to feel that your book sparks their love. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/finishing-my-forever-unfinished-novel monthly 0.5 2022-11-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664541172320-196GXCCTVL87JA520JV4/alexander-andrews--Bq3TeSBRdE-unsplash+unfinished+book.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Finishing My Forever-Unfinished Novel - What’s true for quarks and shooting stars is true for writers. To learn how far I’ve come, I have to stop. I have to finish. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/making-progress monthly 0.5 2022-11-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1666981015930-JNF476Q686T3L0V3YREJ/qinghill-x8MZ2MoEKLE-unsplash+Progress.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Making Progress - The truth? We don’t need to justify our priorities to anyone. If writing is something we do that stretches and restores us, that is a priority high on the list. Without that recharging our sense of self, we have nothing to give from. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/procrastination-the-long-lost-virture monthly 0.5 2022-11-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664819896502-CTB9RX7N795BOWO8V9AF/joe-green-BZxQ8lgSr1k-unsplash+procrastination.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Procrastination: The Long-Lost Virture - When I attempt to carry out an artificial “time management” technique, procrastination hits fast. The truth is I’ve not a clue how many words or pages I will write by the end of the day. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/the-rabbit-holes-of-research monthly 0.5 2022-11-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1665241076754-FAF26OQBQ39WJDIGNE1T/rabie-madaci-R3ELBd4UKCc-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - The Rabbit Holes and Oubliettes of Research - Personally, I used to feel compelled to offer what I found interesting. I needed to prove myself an authority on a subject—to myself. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/first-draft-blues monthly 0.5 2022-10-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1665936812451-QLNHIJSQKNPHI4KAYO29/steve-johnson-48506LeFOE8-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - First Draft Blues - If I don’t believe in the viability of my first draft, how am I ever going to stick with my alleged three-month one-draft project when it hits its fourteenth draft in year five? https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/in-praise-of-half-filled-notebooks monthly 0.5 2022-10-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664470343391-VWSOPRLOSYYQYW153N87/julia-joppien--3wygakaeQc-unsplash+stacks+of+notebooks+on+stairs.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - In Praise of Half-Filled Notebooks - I leave my notebook behind then, half-filled, unreadable, and follow my sense of direction onto the uncharted territory of the formal page. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/the-writers-workout monthly 0.5 2022-10-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664404273655-XXRZ4VJE0DF30MZS2HVW/alexandra-tran-fS3tGOkp0xY-unsplash+workout.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - The Writer’s Workout - To write a book is to commit to this workout regularly for spans of years. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/the-footprints-ive-left-behind-me monthly 0.5 2022-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/4951ca87-b97c-4607-b588-ce4ba818d39a/jason-coudriet-MfPqLexFpjA-unsplash.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - The Footprints I’ve Left Behind Me - I no longer want that future. That I didn’t see my wish fulfilled turned out a gift. I changed. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/boomerang monthly 0.5 2022-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1663638140484-NJYK3G5A4KMTI89MZPB2/nick-fewings-ka7REB1AJl4-unsplash+possible+for+Boomerang+Blog.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Boomerang - Why do we carry a demolition expert armed with the Red Ink of Doom aimed at our hearts? https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/i-quit-being-a-writer monthly 0.5 2022-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1663620127671-KZBQ8BY0TWVM8I92M7SN/aaron-burden-y02jEX_B0O0-unsplash+Pen+for+Blog+1.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - I Quit Being a Real Writer so I Could Write - My first thought on finding my dreams made concrete? Well, crap. This isn’t going to change anything. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/bread-bakers-soup-makers monthly 0.5 2022-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1663617911879-NOQTV4ZU4ISPSBIKQZHB/calum-lewis-vA1L1jRTM70-unsplash+Soup+and+Bread.jpg Relatively Erratic Blog - Soup Makers and Bread Bakers - My essential reason for preferring this point of view is that all of the above imply a spectrum in the process of writing rather than a binary division of type. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/home daily 1.0 2026-09-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/4e771857-bae2-49f3-a307-f2e4f03bb8a4/FiveMileHouse.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/0d5d9a62-cf74-421d-98f0-cb837d26cc8e/Innocent.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/50d93ab6-b2ac-4391-a635-59463a5b180f/TheWilderness.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/577c9183-cfda-44ca-a226-5e2e18e2105c/OrdinaryMonsters.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/63d54b13-a191-4df5-9063-1081776295e7/AllStories_relatively.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1b5491c9-0509-4c98-a769-57c6ec42ec86/Accumulation_AimeePokwatka.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/33cf53b9-2cf6-446b-9e1d-1f2ae27a25ac/Absence_AndrewDanaHudson.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/488d13ff-9c41-450f-b3bc-f3a86ddac351/TheSeptemberHouse_CarissaOrlando.png https://www.karennovakwrites.com/tillie-and-the-queen daily 0.75 2026-09-01 https://www.karennovakwrites.com/the-keep daily 0.75 2026-09-01