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Leanne Rose Sowul

Writer. Teacher. Musician.

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retreat

Five Ways To Study Characters

January 17, 2017 by Leanne Sowul 2 Comments

I spent the past two weeks getting reacquainted with the characters for my second historical novel, BLIZZARD (still a working title). After writing the first draft over the summer, I took a break from the book to let things marinate. I’ve decided that much will be changed in the second draft. Most of the characters will retain vestiges of […]

Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: blizzard, character, description, draft, mind-map, retreat, study

Retreat From Writing

April 29, 2016 by Leanne Sowul 4 Comments

You may have noticed that I’ve been blogging a bit less over the past couple of months. I’ve been having trouble writing new material in general, but blogging has felt especially difficult because of its immediate audience. The best weeks of my recent writing life were when I was revising Waist for my agent; that invigorated […]

Filed Under: Perspective Tagged With: inspiration, pregnancy, retreat, sea girt, writer's block, writers read

Finding the Heart

May 14, 2015 by Leanne Sowul Leave a Comment

At the close of the writer’s retreat I attended recently, the moderators asked us to look back over our weekend’s work and consider which pieces worked best, and why. I jotted down a few words that described my favorite essays: “family” “relationships” and “love.” Then, reconsidering, I drew a big circle around the word “love,” because […]

Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: fiction, heart, memoir, myers-briggs, retreat

2015 Writer’s Retreat

April 30, 2015 by Leanne Sowul 3 Comments

This past weekend, I went to my very first writer’s retreat, in Sea Girt, NJ, hosted by Women Reading Aloud. It was a wonderful, terrifying, restorative, educational, intimidating, passionate experience. I feel reticent to share details about the weekend, particularly the workshops themselves; I almost feel as though it would violate the community we writers […]

Filed Under: Writer's Life Tagged With: community, poetry, retreat, workshop

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