by Susan Van Kirk | Dec 9, 2012 | Blog, Susan Van Kirk
In your path is a solid cement wall, eight feet high and two feet across. If you can get over it, you are faced with an iron fence whose top is festooned with barbed wire. Beyond that is a swamp with quicksand and alligators. If you make it through the swamp you will...
by Susan Van Kirk | Dec 4, 2012 | Blog, reading, Susan Van Kirk, The Education of a Teacher
It has been two years since I finished writing and subsequently published The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks.) At the time it seemed like a gargantuan effort, especially since I began it in 2004. But little by little, word by...
by Susan Van Kirk | Nov 14, 2012 | Blog, mysteries, Susan Van Kirk
One of my former students, who is an intelligent and voracious reader, asked me this question when I announced on Facebook that I’d like to hear questions about writing. I have a couple of...
by Susan Van Kirk | Nov 7, 2012 | Blog, Susan Van Kirk, writing
You may have noticed that recently I’ve been absent from this blog. The answer is easy to explain: I’ve had a lot of deadlines as well as editing for my work in progress (WIP). Those problems have taken up every nook and cranny of my brain....
by Susan Van Kirk | Oct 31, 2012 | Blog, Susan Van Kirk, suspense
A few weeks ago I asked some of my Facebook friends to send me questions about writing novels. I thought I would also use some of the answers for blog posts about writing. One of the questions was about a novel’s structure and its author’s decisions...
by Susan Van Kirk | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog, reading, Susan Van Kirk
It is early morning (5 a.m.), and I hope I never have to give up coffee as I age. I suppose coffee is like so many other sins I have had to relinquish because they affect my blood pressure, breathing, and weight. (I am still savoring...
by Susan Van Kirk | Oct 4, 2012 | Blog, Susan Van Kirk
Banned Books Week occurs this year from September 30 to October 6. As a former English teacher of thirty-four years, I have often taught challenged or banned books in a public high school. Some of my favorite banned books are The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of...
by Susan Van Kirk | Sep 27, 2012 | Blog, Susan Van Kirk
“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” Charles DickensI was thinking about the topics of regret and gratitude this week as I worked on the first draft of my small town...
by Susan Van Kirk | Sep 20, 2012 | Blog, Susan Van Kirk, writing novels
One of the questions I’m often asked is, “How do you come up with the names of places in your writing?” So I thought I’d tackle that question today. Let’s examine some of the place...
by Susan Van Kirk | Sep 9, 2012 | Blog, Susan Van Kirk
I grew up at a drive-in theater, literally. A few years after my dad returned from WWII, my great uncle decided to buy land and build a drive-in movie theater outside our home town of Galesburg, Illinois. It was 1948 and this new outside movie idea was really catching...
