Wendy Woudstra

The Best Writing Tip? Get a Dog.

The Best Writing Tip? Get a Dog. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/b...

When I read this one last year, I actually stopped reading for a few days mid-book because I wanted to give Patroclus and Achilles more time together before the inevitable tragic end.

Yup. I just killed off a character that used to be merely a suspect. I guess narratively, he got a promotion.

Last week I spared the character that was supposed to be my murder victim.

Today I realized that decision absolutely wrecked my story beats. Three chapters need to be rewritten.

Who knew murder was easier than plotting?

#mysterybooks #amwriting #writesky #writingcommunity

It's those little wins along the way that keep you going. 😁

Ants are so cool.
But I still kill them when they move in under my paving stones.

My phone restarted last night to "update the UI."

Now the "I" doesn't want to talk to the "U" so I'm pretending it's the 1980s, I'm young, and cell phones aren't a thing.

Okay, that was enough of that. Going to reset the damn thing now.

#writingcommunity #writesky

I may be one of the few writers who actually enjoys ripping scenes out of a manuscript, but hates adding new ones. So I’d rather go overboard in the first draft and cut later. ✂️

It's always the last half of a manuscript that gets me worried. I've been completely confident up to this point. Now I'm a bundle of self-doubt. 😟

Hit the halfway point in my WIP today.
I'm bouncing between
'this will never reach my word count'
and
'oh no, this manuscript is going to be way too long.'

#MysteryBooks #AmWriting #writesky #WritingCommunity

Doing pay-the-bills work today rather than having fun murdering fictional people. Listening to C. A. Belmond's first Penny Nichols book while I toil. I very much admire they way she describes her characters. I should be taking notes. But I can't because I'm working. 😑 #writesky #WritingCommunity

Will never not blow my mind how you can sit down with a blank page and no ideas and then 15 minutes or three hours later, you will have something that wasn't there before. True alchemy. You gotta sit down first, though. That's the hard part. #writing

We see a lot of papers from countries where English is not an official language that are declaring AI use for editing and readability.

whaaatttt!??! @filmfreeway.bsky.social 🏆

Season 8 Call for Entries with our new First Wave Deadline, available exclusively on FilmFreeway. 💻🔥

filmfreeway.com/killershorts

#writersky #horrorsky #scriptsky #writingcommunity

Sand Hills Literary Magazine Call for Submissions! (50th Anniversary Issue) Submit prose, poetry, and art to Sand Hills Literary Magazine’s 50th anniversary issue. Open to US writers only.

Sand Hills Literary Magazine is turning 50! Submit prose, poetry, or art for their anniversary issue + annual contests. Contest winners get $500 + publication ($12 fee). Deadline: March 8, 2026. Open to US writers.

#writers #litmag #callforsubmissions

Brilliant thread.

I don't know that I'll ever make 100, but this year I've discovered that writing genre fiction is ridiculously fun.

Not in fiction, though I’ve ghostwritten nonfiction. I’ve completed my first novel and am deep in structural edits, with the second underway. I’m taking the time to build the series properly before querying.

Join us for a weekend of spooky fiction in York with SPRING HAUNTS, where we'll be presenting two days of horror writing workshops, interviews, booksales and more! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/spring-hau... #york #yorkshire #horror #writing #writers #authors #gothic #gothicfiction

I keep a craft journal when I read in my genre. Notes on structure, pacing, characters. Sentences that really strike me as beautiful. Things I think I can apply to my own writing.

My last entry, after a very popular recent release was
“I can do it better.”

#amwriting

I’m seeing this more in scientific articles by non-native English authors. If AI clarifies meaning, great. If it rewrites meaning, that’s dangerous. We’re going to see both cases a lot more in the near future.

I downloaded the Speechify app this morning and had it read the first draft of Book 1 in my cozy series out loud.

I caught a few mistakes (excellent).

But more importantly… I think it’s actually good.

Self-doubt, you may see yourself out.

#MysteryBooks #AmWriting #writesky #WritingCommunity

Someone probably needs to see this today.
Sometimes you wonder why you're writing when chaos reigns around you.

#AmWriting #writesky #WritingCommunity

Seven chapters in and I'm *finally* getting around to the corpse. So exciting!

#CozyMysteries #MurderMystery #Whodunnit #MysteryBooks #AmWriting #writesky #WritingCommunity

Excellence isn’t a single moment.
It’s what we choose to repeat — especially on the ordinary days.

Back to the work.

#MondayMotivation
#AmWriting
#AuthorJourney
#CreativeHabit
#WritersLife

Are congratulations in order? 🎉

How the heck do you resist? Both the books I outlined today are SO compelling to me. At least with an outline I can give myself permission to get back to my WIP knowing that I won't forget them.

My brain is not behaving.

Before I could touch my WIP, I outlined last night's idea. Then 683 words… before my brain insisted on outlining an entirely different book.

It is not even the same genre.

Send coffee.
Or supervision.

Better luck tomorrow.🤞

#amwriting
#writesky
#WritingCommunity

Post from Julia Fine that says, "Write the book you want to read because you will have to read it 75 times."

#writerslife

Hyperion author Dan Simmons dies from stroke at 77 I went into Hyperion blind, decades ago, knowing almost nothing about it. I was never the same.

Really sad news about Dan Simmons. A very complete novelist, and his novel "Drood" (2009) was a revelation. #BookSky

arstechnica.com/culture/2026...