Subscribe to my newsletter and never miss an update! How’s your NaNoWriMo project coming? Are you behind on your word count? Are you panicking already? STOP. BREATHE. Keep something in mind–whether or not you finish your project on time or not is irrelevant. It doesn’t make you a loser to not have 50k words done … Read More
Subscribe to my newsletter and never miss an update! Welcome to November hell, aka NaNoWriMo, if you’re a writer participating in the annual masochistic practice. One of the things readers frequently mention to me is they love my characters, how “real” they are. There’s not any mystery to what I do–I write what my characters … Read More
Coming Soon | Pre-Orders | Series Info I frequently hear writers lament about trying to “break through” their writer’s block. Usually with them swearing under their breath at me for how productive I appear to be to them.* There are countless blogs and articles out there about how to “smash” your writer’s block, as if it’s some … Read More
“Are you doing NaNo this year?” I’ve been asked this question dozens of times in the past couple of weeks. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has sort of become a juggernaut for writers over the years. The goal is 50k words blurped into a file over a month. I’ve tried to do it a couple … Read More
I blogged over on my WriteYourAssOff.com blog a follow-up post to my one the other day about why won’t your book sell. I’ll be putting together a series of posts detailing the various points blow-by-blow over the next few weeks. http://writeyourassoff.blogspot.com/2016/07/writingtip-checklist-to-help-your-book.html Other recent releases you might have missed… Rhymes With Orange (Suncoast Society 35, MMMF, … Read More
First of all, I didn’t write this, I got it through the Writing email list on the Internet Writing Workshop. I don’t know who originally wrote it, but kudos to you, sir or madame. I’m classifying it as a “writing how-to” post because frankly? It sort of is. *LOL*— You think English is easy??? Read … Read More
What writer hasn’t made a butt-load of lists in their life? I think it sort of goes hand in hand with the whole “I’m a writer” gig. Thanks to the magic of Twitter, I was led to this writers “list of lists” (The (Nearly) Ultimate Resource: 176 Tips for Writers) and thought it was a … Read More
Dialogue (or dialog) tags tend to trip some writers. Add to the mix that the US tag standard differs from the UK, and it can add to the confusion. CORRECT: “I don’t like spinach,” she said. CORRECT: She said, “I don’t like spinach.” INCORRECT: “I don’t like spinach.” she said. INCORRECT: “I don’t like spinach.” … Read More
Anchors away for our next topic! Um, no, not really. “Aweigh” is correct, however. This hint goes well with the word salad post from last week. See, the English language is a hair-rippingly funny beast. The bastardized, red-headed step-child of many different languages, it causes quite a bit of confusion. And that’s just for those … Read More
Continuing the writing how-to series, another frequent issue that crops up, especially in romance/erotica novels — guys speaking unnaturally. “You little minx.” Now, honestly. When have you EVER heard a modern guy call a woman a “little minx?” I’m not talking a period/historical (although in those I think it’s overused too). Or a hellcat, spitfire, … Read More
Continuing the writer how-to series, our next quickie topic: word salad. That’s probably not the best term, because there is a condition called word salad, but for the purposes of this tip it’s the phrase I’ll use. Here’s how you prevent this condition (and yes, I am screaming): DO NOT RELY ON YOUR SPELLCHECK FEATURE! … Read More
(This is my weekly contribution to the Amira Press Says blog at: http://amirapresssays.blogspot.com/ If you haven’t stopped by there lately, please go check it out! We have a lot of talented authors at Amira Press!) *** The powers that be are allowing us to free-range blog this week, so I decided to tackle the subject … Read More
Most fiction writers will probably agree on one thing if nothing else: writing the synopsis sucks. Period. In fact, it’s a current discussion in The Romance Room email list. In that same vein, I found some helpful links on writing a synopsis (obviously this is more geared to fiction writing than non-fiction). http://www.writing-world.com/publish/synopsis.shtml http://www.kathycarmichael.com/synopsis.clearwater.fiction.html http://www.writing-life.com/fiction/synopsis.html … Read More
The editing process, as I’ve found, is always a learning curve. One can never know too much about editing. The more you edit, the more you learn, which leads to better writing. Participating on a peer-review critique group is a huge help for me. Not just in terms of getting feedback on my writing, but … Read More