Omniscient POV

Omniscient POV

I’ve been reading a book that was highly recommended—and not by just anybody, but everybody! All the blogs I read that recommend books recommended this book. Even NPR recommended the book! It’s a Regency-set fantasy which is one of my absolute favorite genres, and one...
Sustaining Your Author Career

Sustaining Your Author Career

It is the oddest fact that as an author, you cannot count on your book earnings for your livelihood. Most authors (me included) don’t earn enough on their book sales to pay the rent, let alone, utilities, groceries, and all the other expenses of every day life. We all...
Exploring the Third Rail

Exploring the Third Rail

I was preparing for a talk I’m going to be giving this weekend to the Maryland Romance Writers when I was reminded of Lisa Cron’s concept of the Third Rail. This is an easy way to think about Story, Plot, Character development, and GMC all wrapped up into one very...
Find Your Joy

Find Your Joy

Have you ever been so excited by a seminar or talk you attended that you just want to share it all with whoever will listen to you? But then, when you finally get someone to listen, it’s all just a jumbled mess of thoughts and impressions, bits and pieces floating...
Editing Software Compared

Editing Software Compared

A key tool for all writers is editing software. Grammarly, ProWritingAid, perfectest, SmartEdit—which one do you buy (or subscribe to)? I’ve spent the money and time and tried each one of these, but I would highly recommend that you at least spend the time to test out...
Everyone’s a hero

Everyone’s a hero

I’m sure you’ve heard that every character in your book considers themselves the hero of the novel. It’s why you need to know the goal, motivation, and conflict of every character (or certainly the primary and secondary characters). But can every...