Hi, I'm Mary! Author & writing coach here to help you write your best possible book.
I help you write through resistance and finish your book by finding a creative process that works in your life. On my channel, you'll find all my best writing tips and strategies.
Want to know more? Here's my wine & cheese party bio:
Mary Adkins is the author of the novels When You Read This (Indie Next Pick, “Best Book of 2019” by Good Housekeeping and Real Simple), Privilege (Today.com “Best Summer Read”), and Palm Beach (New York Post “Best Book of 2021,” and “like a sandy beach, equal parts beautiful and uncomfortable” according to the Associated Press). Her books have been published in 13 countries, and her essays and reporting have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, and more. A graduate of Yale Law School and Duke University, she teaches storytelling for The Moth worldwide and supports aspiring authors as an online writing coach through her program, The Book Incubator.
🤔...Sooo ..."it" happened in a dark and stormy night in November...? 🧐 Incidentally, why only use space? I reserved my self my last working day in the week. I go into a café, with my favourite Leuchtturm notebook, and my favourite fountain pens. Should I forget to refill ink, ...that ink being my ((current) favourite ink, I buy new favourite ink😉
I am trying to find the best thing to write on. I don't wanna listen to music. I don't wanna watch TV all I want to do is write. I prefer to write a Microsoft Word because it corrects my horrible grammar and spelling. But I was hoping to learn more about this at first I thought It was gonna be the Amazon scribe, but that's just no. My handwriting is terrible. This might be something I might use unless someone has a better idea
Does it do dictation writing? It's fabulously overpriced for what it is, I have a problem with that. It lags when you type, which is not good. Overall I like many aspects of it, but I want it reasonably priced, and I don't suffer from distractions, so if it included more modern-day functions, that would be good.
I enjoyed your video. Could you do one where you mention the books you looked at that are considered "literary" as opposed to "commercial or genre"? I've been confused about this entire topic.
Pro Tip: select a chapter, character sketch, or notes (etc) from the left and then hit the spacebar. It opens that specific page in another window. It's amazing to use while in composition/focus mode and you have two screens.
Yeah, you should make yout characters suffer, like a lot, and you better start enjoying it, because you love your characters, the only problem is that the true key of all that process is to be good to write the response of the character, every single bad writer gets that wrong and make a mess. Also what a character suffers for is paramount, and sometimes it shouldn't be so evident either, one character might be copletely filled of resentment for one stealing their chips and decide to throw a tantrum after a bad day, or one silently enduring the loss of someone close and be of support to the other people that are suffering around him after being the sentimental one for a long time, or even one after years of solitude concluding his biggest strenght is to be a lone wolf, all things that can be of a moltitude of uses in many stories
I've submitted my application for book incubator. I look forward to hearing from you. I think it's really interesting that you went from being a lawyer to writing. I've always dreamed of being a lawyer or a writer.
The video on scrivener is great. The free training is misleading and leads to a 12k course and if you select that you are looking for low cost course she rejects your request to join (because she knows you’re not willing to pay her prices ) . Maybe good for those you can afford . I’m not sure 😅
So I downloaded “Palm Beach” last night….and was up til 4am reading it. Love it! Your writing is incredible…but here’s what I don’t get…what’s the allure of George Saunders? I’ve tried to read his stuff and it all seems frantic and chaotic…Palm Beach is amazing
Wow, thanks so much! I'm thrilled you're enjoying Palm Beach. And my admiration for George Saunders isn't necessarily universal. :) There are lots of great writing teachers and books out there that may resonate more with you and your writing style. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Sorry you had such a bad experience in your writing class. I joined a writing group and had a similar experience. Prissy, progressive, prudish, opinionated unhelpful advice verging on abuse.
Thanks for sharing your experience! It can be hard to find the right kind of feedback for sure. I hope you're able to seek more helpful readers in the future!
Analysing other writers or favorite authors is really helpful. I remember studying of one book that I enjoyed and it helped me learn how to pace. This is good advice.
There are some exceptions to the rule. I call people's names when I'm trying to emphasize something or call them out on something - usually humorously. Or to call their attention. I try to suppress eye rolls sometimes because they're rude, but one can still tell. I like to show nonverbal communication of the listener through the reactions of the talker. "So, quantum mechanics can rely heavily on quadratic equations - stop yawning! Pay attention." And so much YES to the long monologues! It's something that old timey classical writers do, like Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, etc.
I've been trying to understand this thing, and I just dont get it, and I think its because I have a method that works for me .. I write all my first drafts on typewriters like I have 5 machines but one of my favorites is my 1964 Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe BUT my go to portable, gonna be stuck in the car, park, a dealership waiting for my car, portable and quiet is my 1990 brother EP-43. It's about the same size as the Freewrite. The machine has a lid that can store 12 pages of thermal paper, yeah you carry some paper but that's a good thing its memory is paper that shows the work you have produced. The print lasts 30-40 years! I think retype copy by hand into the computer to edit and other drafts, which adds another level of editing abd story and structural understanding. Very easy to write on. Best of all, at the time I bought mine, it was for $9.00 (USD)...my Galaxie Deluxe was $64.00, still cheaper and in my opinion way better.. Again I dont get it, and this video, thank you, helped, it just came to me that I don't understand it because I already have a method I like. I get all the same things, just a tad different and for much lol MUCH Less money. Well, thank you Ladies, be well and I hit the Like, not sure this is a channel for me, but I appreciate the review on a progect i was just trying to understand. Thanks.
Thank you for your reply, and I didn't want that comment to come off grumpy, but now that I've had more time, it's not that I have my method against that, as to why I don't 'Get It' but rather it comes down to, if you want to write distraction free there are other options that are not the price of Rent, or if you go up to the Hemingway model the price of mortgage lol. There are less expensive ways to write distraction free, and I as a professional writer, I cringe when I hear the sales pitch it's what the pros use, and no it isn't, not I or the "Pros" I know. Take for example Diane Steele, what does she use and have used for all of her books??? A 19th century Olympia Typewriter she named Ollie, it's distraction free. I know a lot more writers in professional circles that use Typewriters than they do that thing. Hermes 3000 anyone? Academy award winning writers use that machine and yeah, those are expensive, but for good reason, as they are the WORLD'S Finest typewriter which Award Winning Professionals use. Starving artist with a $600.00 machine in their backpack. Okay..... That's probably why I don't get it. I understand the technology and start up company and all that but by now their price can come down and they'd probably sell more. For the price of distraction free writing with that, is what I don't get, when I can get the same thing on a $9.00 dollar machine someone asked me the other day if I bought my 1990 brother EP-43 at Best Buy??? That's what I don't understand. But again sorry this was long and I really do appreciate the reply, not a grumpy word in here more like a plea for new writers, save your money and really buy what the pros use; a typewriter. I offer my best to all who read this, thank you, Be Safe and Be Well.
I mean you could also get an old laptop like an HP stream and just install linux and focuswriter. $20 writing laptop, and distraction free since you can uninstall anything you want. hell you could install VIM and remove the desktop if you really wanted to.
This device is hideous; but I understand that some people prefer to spend 600 dollars for this instead of an old laptop running just linux in terminal mode, to not get distracted. Also it is very thick and the size of the screen is very small; maybe a good alternative is one of those netbooks from 2000, with 10'' screens, which by today's standard are good for nothing but to type on it. An ipad with the keyboard folio weight less than this device and is wider but also way slimmer, so not sure what makes this device "portable" compare to a tablet. Reminds me a lot of Sony Vaio computers from the early 2000s, with a fraction of the power. BTW there is no such thing as a backlight on eink screen, as they are not transparent as LCD screen tech screen. The only thing you can have on eink display is front light.
