May 12
Showing versus telling is, I believe, one of the keys to writing a great book, rather than just a good book. It’s not an easy thing for a writer to catch a hold of either because we are born story tellers, not story writers. So, sometimes, it takes a second pass at your writing to …
May 05
What do readers want from a newsletter? What do they hope for when they join a mailing list? I can’t imagine that anyone joins a mailing list in the hopes of being left alone, or without the expectation that they’re going to get notices of books being published by the author producing the newsletter. …
Apr 28
Before you get to today’s fun blog — I’ve started a newsletter sign-up. If you’d like to hear from me every couple of months with my publishing news (and, just for fun, I’m going to try to put in an exclusive short story into each newsletter), just add your name to my mailing list by …
Apr 21
I feel like I’m going on a Hero’s Journey of a sort. I’m off today for my annual Washington Romance Writer’s Annual Retreat. In fact, when you read this (assuming you read it on Sunday when it’s posted), I’ll just be on my way home. So let me delve into this analogy, if you will. …
Apr 14
How much time do you spend marketing? How much time do you spend going through your email? When I turn on my computer, usually around 8 am, I usually have over thirty emails to go through. Most are things I can just delete right away without even opening, some are digests of Yahoo! loops I …
Mar 31
Last weekend I had the pleasure of hearing Bob Mayer speak at my local RWA chapter. He was with us for two days of intense seminars. Essentially, he covered all of the material in both of his wonderful books, The Novel Writer’s Toolkit and Write it Forward: From Writer to Successful Author. But there was …
Mar 24
Well, folks, it’s that time of year again. Spring. Have you put your characters through hell yet? Have you created as much conflict as you possibly can? Killed or nearly killed your protagonist? Made his or her life unbearable – it is that time of year. What do you mean what does Spring have to …
Mar 17
It hates me and I hate it, what’s complicated about that? Some people might think that Grammar and I have a complicated relationship. I don’t think so. I hate it and it hates me… oh, all right. We just barely tolerate each other. Every so often I follow its rules. Once in a while it …
Mar 10
Why do some stories work better in one point of view than another? Why do you choose first over third, or vice-versa? It can be difficult sometimes to know in which point of view you should write a story. Sometimes you’ve just got to try it out – write the first few chapters in one …
Feb 14
Making Connections. It’s a vital life skill. It’s something nearly all of us enjoy doing in some form or other – even the most introverted of us, and writers are generally a pretty introverted group, which makes making connections even more difficult. And yet, it is through connections that we sell our books – especially …
