Cynthia Harrison

Novelist

Year: 2004

  • Writing & Depression

    I’m not talking clinical depression here. That takes medication and a shrink. I’m talking Garden Variety circumstantial depression. It sucks. Especially during the holidays when everyone is supposed to be full of the Christmas spirit. Usually, I’m a happy upbeat person. Sometimes, I get the blues. Last night was one such time. When I woke…

  • A True Story

    When I was young and trying to figure out the world, I sometimes emulated the characters in the novels I’d read, often with disasterous results. My favorite author at the time was Erica Jong. Jong’s second novel, How to Save Your Own Life, starts with what to me is still a compelling sentence: “I left…

  • Christmas or Characters?

    I did get back to work yesterday, revised 17 pages, which doesn’t sound like much, but there was a new scene in there, so some of this was fresh material. Today, I have the break-up scene, and I’ve changed things through the ms. so that the hints Eve has dropped about her past don’t get…

  • My Morning Pages

    Every writer is different, but in my case it’s not a good idea to take a break of more than a day or two from my WIP. Whenever I do this, I have a hard time getting back into it. I lose my enthusiasm and rhythm. I become one of those writers who’s reluctant to…

  • Six Feet Under

    Several days ago, I wrote this note to myself, right on my WIP: “I want to make my readers feel the way watching Six Feet Under makes me feel.” A tall order, and then there’s the thing about how I have no idea how to go about actually doing it. Jennifer Stevenson suggested I take…