A PSA on GMC

Apr 28, 2019 | Blog, Method, Self-publishing, Writing

Goal, motivation, and conflict is so incredibly necessary sometimes it just astounds me. Yes, it’s very helpful if a writer knows everything about the world in which their book is set. And yes, a knowledge of story structure is extremely helpful when writing a book....

My Advertising Journey Follow-up

Apr 21, 2019 | Blog, Method, Self-publishing, Writing

Last week I told you all that I would be trying out some advertising for the release of my newest book, the first in a series. I really wanted to make as big a splash with this book as I could since it’s a new beginning for me – this is the first completely new series...

Tropes and Trends

Apr 7, 2019 | Blog, Method, WIP, Writing

How closely should we follow trends? And where do you start when you’re plotting a new book? With my Ladies’ Wagering Whist Society Series, I started the entire series by working with character tropes. I picked popular Regency romance tropes and made them the ladies...

Drafts of a novel

Mar 31, 2019 | Blog, Method, WIP, Writing

You’ve probably all heard of Nora Roberts’ first POS draft that she writes. She’s a “pantser” – she gets an idea for a book, allows it to gestate in her brain for a little while, thinking of who the characters might be and what they want and then she sits down at her...

How to Write a Romance

Feb 24, 2019 | Blog, Method, Writing, Writing Craft

A friend of mine who writes horror was thinking of writing a romance novel as a change, so I thought maybe I’d give her a little advice. Let’s start with the definition of a romance – it’s a story where two beings (people/creatures/aliens, whatever) fall in love and...

Organize Yourself

Jan 6, 2019 | Blog, Method, Writing, Writing Craft

With the new year, I love to re-organize myself. I create a new calendar (modified from Audrey Hughey’s fantastic author planner) and take a good look at my computer filing system to make sure that all my books and pictures are well backed up and everything is easily...