https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog daily 0.75 2023-05-31 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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - Boomerang - Why do we carry a demolition expert armed with the Red Ink of Doom aimed at our hearts? 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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - The Writer’s Workout - To write a book is to commit to this workout regularly for spans of years. 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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - Publishing: Rumors of Hostile Territory - Yet, publishers send our books into the world anyway. 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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/exclmation-points monthly 0.5 2023-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1664981368301-XU7JGB7YHGYD37IATYAI/setyaki-irham-qOHO7nSfQIs-unsplash+edit.jpg Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/making-progress monthly 0.5 2022-11-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1666981015930-JNF476Q686T3L0V3YREJ/qinghill-x8MZ2MoEKLE-unsplash+Progress.jpg Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - Breaking Shot - You sense possibilities careening in every direction. You grab a pen. 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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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 Compassionate Craft - Hyacinth (For Laura) - A white hyacinth symbolizes loveliness or prayers for a loved one. 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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - 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/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 Compassionate Craft - Pancakes - Did pancakes undo the knot in my mind? Yes and no. 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 Compassionate Craft - For The Platypus in All Of Us - But…our weird is the miracle. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/blog/what-holds monthly 0.5 2023-05-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/c8b1831b-ad4b-429b-89b0-b2c54d14e57d/thomas-pierre-kZ9S1PNCoWM-unsplash.jpg Compassionate Craft - What Holds - So you climbed down, let me climb up to the molded red seat with holes to engage the clutch, sputter forward until the ride became as smooth as driving my Carman Ghia, mowing down the two-feet tall meadow grasses that I could not name. https://www.karennovakwrites.com/home daily 1.0 2024-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/a83be46d-f6fd-42c2-a51d-d29a3fd83b5b/Novak+portrait+for+Canvas+Rebel+3+10-11.23+2.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/87f8e694-a4d7-4ede-8189-48e1dc18483e/41ha8YyFhoS._SL350_.jpg Home Five Mile House, by Karen Novak. First in the Leslie Stone Series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/c0230a8a-b0f4-41fd-bd55-2f7b079eecb6/318956406283400979E3F67EF00101086B422296.jpg Home Innocence, by Karen Novak. Second in the Leslie Stone Series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/7dbe2c92-0ab5-414d-92f7-1a12768ebb23/5E9F3C947178EDB5D2892A1FEC3516DD75F353C8.jpg Home The Wilderness, by Karen Novak. Third in the Leslie Stone Series. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/0fd3a85a-28e5-4a78-9b30-854f7ffc4608/72C9B9D4AFD1022BBA7FB3B562CD0E416162E288-1.jpg Home Ordinary Monsters, by Karen Novak https://www.karennovakwrites.com/classes-and-events daily 0.75 2023-02-05 https://www.karennovakwrites.com/about daily 0.75 2022-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/a50f1683-04d7-4134-a15a-5854b0d8dcc1/KN+03302022+7+edited+bw+cropped+further.jpg https://www.karennovakwrites.com/contact daily 0.75 2022-09-28 https://www.karennovakwrites.com/resources daily 0.75 2023-02-03 https://www.karennovakwrites.com/subscribe daily 0.75 2023-02-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ffc539d14eea4880004a96/1675443053542-NRD8QEX76DDO98XAPO1B/unsplash-image-0LhR05rkGHg.jpg