Meet Betsy
Welcome to my virtual studio. As both a writer and designer, I’m driven by a curiosity about the world. In my studio, I take that curiosity and use it to create new worlds. I write for kids and adults as well as a good deal of freelance non-fiction. Explore to find out more about me, my books, and my thoughts on writing as well as the thoughts of friends who stop by the studio. If you’ve got something you’d like to share reach out to me through the contact form. I’d love to hear from you. Scroll down to read what’s been happening in the studio.
Wise Words
I think of this poem often. This week I was thinking of it and the way it relates to the creative life. The work of creation is sending out piece after piece from ourselves. Waiting and hoping for one to catch hold.
Joy in the Details
“I think what’s missing in a lot of writers is an awareness of what’s interesting in your own personal experience. “
Patricia MacLachlan shared so many insights during her keynote address at the Winter Conference of SCBWI, but this quote stood out the most. She was talking about setting the emotional as well as the geographic landscape of our stories. She described how stories need to have a sense of place as well as a sense of being placed emotionally in the heart of real characters. If a writer is to find those two things they need to have . . .
Judy Blume’s Puzzle
Judy Blume takes on first drafts like jigsaw puzzles. Instead of plotting everything out ahead of time or beginning on page one and writing through to the end, Blume begins by . . .
New World By Candlelight
Ryan LaSala talks about revealing the innovative details of rich fantasy worlds without it becoming an info dump.
Multiplication in Revision
Elena K. Arnold and Brandy Colbert drew from their experience writing numerous novels, many award-winners, to give an outstanding webinar on revising for plot. One suggestion, that stood out is to look where multiplying the voices in a scene might add richness to your work. Typically writers . . .
Pitch Practice
Some advice I often give on queries is to practice by writing a query for some recent books you've read and loved or even a movie or tv show. Imagine how you'd pitch it to a friend. Another suggestion is finding a group of writers who have not yet read your book and form a query critique group. - Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary Agency
Wise Words
When you are following your curiosity, no matter where it takes you, it never feels like work. Where is your curiosity leading you?
Your Hero’s Journey
For her recent webinar, Kendra Levin used the Hero’s Journey as a way for creatives to keep their creativity alive through intense times like now. With pandemic, elections, remote-learning, job insecurities and so much more it is easy to undervalue our writing projects and ourselves as writers. Levin says . . .
The Iceberg
Culture is like an iceberg. There are cultural markers like holidays, food, clothes, etc. that stand out as the the small tip of the iceberg obvious above the water’s surface. What we need is work that represents the mass of details, nuances, and variety that truly define a culture. No culture is a monolith, nor is any culture explained simply by their most obvious difference from mainstream white society, but these details are concealed below the surface. Writers have to do the work to get at the base of the iceberg if they want to portraying authentic minority characters.
- From an SCBWI panel discussion with David Bowles, Linda Sue Park, and S.K. Ali
This idea was attributed to a talk Park attended by Leah Henderson. A perfect example of the goal of Words Unbound: share in the community, share the wisdom and we all grow together.
