I talked to the editor at Mouth last night. Good conversation, full of extolling of my virtues(/Lorne) She said I should read this book called "Writing Without Teachers" and if I did I'd never get writer's block again. Which feels like a big "Nuh and uh" from here but what do y'all think? Has anyone here read it?

I'm totally the wrong person to ask, love. I've never read any books on how to write - I know there are a couple that are really popular and useful to a lot of people, though.

I've read a lot of them, but you know what that means I'm not doing? Writing. So I cut back on them. Cause it feels like warming up frozen crap and reading Bon Appetit at the same time.

I think you should get the book at the library and see if it feels like it would work for you, erika -- writing is different for every writer, and what's true for the editor might not be true for you.

I haven't heard of the book myself --let me know if it's any good!

Yeah, good point, LJ. And besides, I'm a contrarian and a malcontent. The extravagant claims make me want to say "Never? Just watch me." I could talk myself into a writer's block, just to be right. My aniMunch would point and laugh. I'm doing well now, having finished most of my old stuff.(except fic and a new thing that I'm looking stuff up for) Fic is a distracting shiny object, but I also think I learn stuff from doing it.

hm i only read one writer book it was a book about writing scripts and i did it to get the format and the styles of the scripts and such ! But i dont think books like this help against writers block! When i have one i mostly sleep a few nights over it and i´ll get an idea some time .

Btw Erika .. did you get any futher with my book or are there lots of mistakes so that it takes longer?

I'm still working on it...my own work, fanfic, the odd revenge fantasy, have all gotten in the way...probably by Friday? I'm finding it to be a little bit like translating, which is to say that it requires some close attention on my part. And I have a writer friend in town and we have an embarrassingly lengthy e-mail correspondence while we duck deadlines together. Could you send me your e-mail address again, too? I lost track of it somewhere.

Cereal: I've got some thoughts, Kessie. Pay more attention to your characters and how they interact.At the beginning of the story, Kayla is a 22 yo intern with what reads like a crazy "You're so brilliant...teach me, mold me," crush on Sam(Nothing against those, I still get them. There is no other way to explain my flash of desire for Michael Moore after "Bowling for Columbine" but I digress. Ahem.) And he's her boss. Then they go on the lam together. How does that affect how they live? Think about that. How do they interact at home? At their workplaces? The grocery store? They really are each other's world? How does that feel?

Thanks Erika! email is Kessiebabe@compuserve.de or Kessie19@gmx.de Hm for the characters , I have to say the more i read the story the more i find things which i wanna change ... really should do a rewrite methinks. Thanks so much for helping ;)

Kessie, insent to compuserve with all my "editorial suggestions"...I hope you find something helpful in there.I had some thoughts for the section you are stuck on.(I read a lot of Elmore Leonard and stuff and I'm a crime geek...it's kind of my thing around here.)