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What do you do when your conflict doesn’t work?
Ugh! I am working off a very loose outline for my book ASHES IN THE SKY, the sequel to FIRE IN THE WOODS that releases September 23, 2014. Here I am, cruising along with about 100 pages written, and...
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What do you look for in the second novel of a series?
Last night, after being poked and prodded by my son who wants to “talk books” with me, I stared reading Divergent. I mentioned this to an author friend of mine and she said “Loved Divergent. Insurgent...
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It’s marketing time! More blog posts and interviews, less novel writing.
While I was on vacation, dreaming about getting back and leisurely finishing ASHES IN THE SKY, my publicist sent over my blog tour interviews and guest post requests. After reviewing them (14 in all so...
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The huge sigh of relief after typing “The End”
“The End.” Aren’t they wonderful words? About four months ago while polishing up my dystopian novel, I got the surprise of my life… a contract offer for my YA Scifi FIRE IN THE WOODS. And not just any...
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Longest. Edit. Ever. The tediousness of overused words.
I usually edit out overused words last, but since a few beta readers pointed some out… I started fixing, and then the overused words snowballed. I always have overused words. I think all authors do…...
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Slapping yourself into realizing: “You did it.” – Accepting that you’ve...
About a week ago, I was planning on writing an article about coming to terms with failure. By failure, I mean not achieving a goal. In this case, the goal was finishing writing ASHES IN THE SKY: Book...
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Video Blogging – Vlogging 101. Times are a-changing
For the last three months, I have not only been sprinting to finish ASHES IN THE SKY. I’ve also been on book tours to support the release of FIRE IN THE WOODS. I have to admit, with all that I …...
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Lesson Eight from the Manuscript Red-Line: Magically Appearing Items in the...
For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine? This is really more like an amendment to Lesson Seven, but I figured I’d call it out...
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Thinking about reading FIRE IN THE WOODS? Here’s your chance to read for...
If you haven’t heard, my YA SciFi FIRE IN THE WOODS has scuttled up some buzz in social media. We thought it would be fun to help people out who are still on the fence by posting the first five …...
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Looking back at 2014. Wow, what a year for me!
It was quite a year for me writing wise. I came into 2014 having queried FIRE IN THE WOODS for quite some time, and I had pretty much decided that the dystopian I was finishing up would probably be my...
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It’s time to set goals for 2015 (If you haven’t already)
Ah, yes, it’s that magical time of year. Resolutions are everywhere… but rather than resolutions, I like to set goals. That way I can look back on the previous year and say, “Yeah, that was a good...
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Sometimes the best laid plans go awry
Gah! Today was supposed to be the cover reveal for ASHES IN THE SKY. But my publisher called me to say it would be postponed. I don’t have a date yet. I guess lesson learned that no matter how well …...
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Taking a deep breath and admitting “I can’t do it.”
“I can’t do it.” Wow… coming from a neurotic, over-achiever-based upbringing, you would not believe how hard it was for me to type those words … or how hard it was for me to contact my publisher and...
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It’s the cover reveal for ASHES IN THE SKY!
Wahoo! It’s time to celebrate! Book two of FIRE IN THE WOODS is charging towards the finish line. It’s so exciting when your baby starts taking form and coming to life. And the first thing that makes...
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Finding editing help in unexpected places. AKA: Social Media Rocks!
Last week I faced a little bit of a pickle. I had a very short (147 word) scene that included a little bit of Spanish, and a line of French. I had an A+ in Spanish in high school, but … Continue reading →
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Finding the helpfulness in fun things. AKA: Fun and easy ways to improve your...
About four years ago I posted about a cool website called Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) that will make a cloud of words from the most used words in your manuscript. The words that you’ve used the...
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Lesson Twenty-Eight from a Manuscript Red Line: Very Discreet Point of View...
I’ve talked about this before, but the second time might be a charm. I think a lot of people are having trouble with discreet POV switches. The big ones… where we pop heads for half a chapter are...
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Lesson Twenty-Nine from a Manuscript Red Line: How’s your synopsis?
Side note: This is a repost from February of 2012. At that time, I was finishing a novel that I had spent several years on. I smile when I read things I had to say about that story, realizing that …...
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Gah! So much going on!
Omigosh! I have so much going on I totally forgot to post today! I’m finishing up second round edits on ASHES IN THE SKY, and writing up a formal outline for book four of FIRE IN THE WOODS to …...
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BookCon – The book lover’s event to end all book lover’s events
BookCon. If you haven’t heard of it, take a moment to try and fathom 10,000 people converging on one convention center for two days with the sole purpose of meeting authors, listening to authors speak,...
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