Make This List

Jan 12, 2025 | Blog, Life

With the new year, a favorite thing for many to do is to pause and look back at the previous year. The end of December is filled with lists of things that have happened, people who have left us, fashions that have come and gone, even new words and phrases that have...

Marvin is Quite Amazing: A Review

Jan 4, 2025 | Blog, Business of Writing

I live off my to-do lists. I have also tried many different ways of keeping them. I’ve tried keeping them on paper in my daily planner (I still do that), I have tried writing them on a little mini easel white board (I do that when I’ve got a ton of things I need to...

Do Your End of Year Wrap-up

Dec 29, 2024 | Blog, Business of Writing, Writing

Usually at this time of year there are thousands of wrap-up the year blogs and articles. Maybe it’s me, but this year I’m just not seeing so many. Is it because, like me, so many have been caught off-guard by the fact that the year is already over? Or are...

The Conflict Box

Dec 22, 2024 | Blog, Method, WIP, Writing

Continuing on with the theme of conflict (because I’ve been having so much trouble resolving the conflict in the book I’m writing and because the book I’m editing doesn’t have nearly enough), I was recently reminded of the conflict box....

World Conflict (in fiction)

Dec 15, 2024 | Blog, Writing, Writing Craft

How interesting is your world? Is it interesting enough that you would want to live there? Too interesting that it would terrify you to do so? I recently heard about someone who created a world so dull that she didn’t even want to create her story anymore (it was a...

What’s a Plotter to do?

Dec 8, 2024 | Blog, WIP, Writing

I am a die-hard believer in plotting. For the way my mind works there is no other way to write. But what to do when plotting doesn’t work? I’ve tried writing by the seat of my pants and always end up plotting a few scenes in advance, the major turning points of the...