Reading Time: 3 Mins I am fully aware that everything I am about to write might be coming from that proud parent place where your child’s potentially mediocre output is elevated to a level that others are just incapable of seeing. I have been guilty of this in the past, as has every parent, ever,…
The Shortest Month: Looking Back
Reading Time: 2 Mins When I look back at where I was only a month ago, I couldn’t be happier with where things are at with my writing today. It was about six weeks ago that I decided to absolutely make a go of my writing and focus on it as if it was a…
When Worlds Collide
Reading Time: 2 Mins I spent the majority of my writing time over the last two days composing a new draft of a query letter for Suddenly Normal. I had been introduced to this agent already and this opportunity to query came with a request for fifty pages, and they did not have to be…
The Family Trees
Reading Time: 5 Mins Family Day is complicated for me. I find myself today feeling nostalgic for what family once was to me, angry at what it became and grateful for what it now is. My life with my daughter and fiancée is amazing and I would not change a thing. Things are amicable with…
Plantsing
Reading Time: 3 Mins I was a part of a discussion recently that asked, “Are you a Plotter or a Pantser?” Meaning, do you plot out your manuscript meticulously or do you fly by the seat of your pants? Someone introduced me to the term “Plantser” and I feel like, right now anyway, that is…
Meeting Your Characters
Reading Time: 1 Min Yesterday I found myself writing a scene and it took a turn I didn’t expect and I needed a new character that I hadn’t planned for to perform a certain task. My general first rule for characters is to not overwhelm the reader with names to remember (my first completed manuscript…
In Which I Assess How Many Romance Fiction Tropes I Have Personally Experienced
Reading Time: 4 Mins There are many more out there, I’m sure, but using this list of seven tropes as a start, here are some nuggets of my personal experience with each. The Love Triangle There was a girl in University who I was smitten with and my roommate and best friend knew it. They…
The Art Of The GIFWar
Reading Time: 2 mins Back in my corporate days there was a group of us on a text chain who celebrated every Friday afternoon with a GIFWar. Promptly at 3:00 someone would send the first GIF and the war would begin, ending at 5:00. It was something that made any Friday afternoon meetings a bit…
Turkey Time
Reading Time: 3 mins If you’ve seen my post introducing Goebbels the Turkey, then you’ll know I’ve got a little creative writing project going on outside of my focus on the main manuscript. It’s a bit of fun, gets me out of my head and getting easy words on the page pretty much daily and…
Tweet Yourself
Reading Time: 4 mins What is the best way to use the twitter platform to help grow a successful writing career? I’ve been reading up on this and, like most things on or about social media, there are a number of competing viewpoints. What I want to do on this blog and on twitter is…